January 13-15

Friday lunch with Jenny at her place, in the evening we were at JPM for the start of a forgettable weekend in more ways than one. The Red Tornado finished the first half of the league schedule with a date against Hempfield. The JV squad continued its winning ways but the result of the varsity game was not as favorable. We lost 62-50 in a game that is hard to describe, we were never really out of it but then it never felt like we were ever really in it either. All night long it seemed like something good was going to happen but it simply never did. Ricky Cruz had another solid night with 23 points but no one else reached double figures. On Saturday we reconvened at the school at 2:30 for a non-league road game (thus the reason for the rare Friday lunch in Quarryville), the destination was one hundred-thirty miles north in Williamsport (best known as the home of the Little League World Series). There was sleet and snow in the forecast, on Route 15 between Selinsgrove and Lewisburg we were slowed down by road crews salting the highway. Our bus driver was planning to stay on 15 all the way to Williamsport, I convinced him to go east on Interstate 80 and pick up I-180 instead. I figured an interstate road would likely be in better shape and we would avoid the hilly areas on 15 approaching Williamsport. My father was from Elmira, New York and I can't count the number of times we made the trip through Williamsport on family vacations either coming or going, on this occasion my knowledge of the area came in handy because using I-180 proved to be the right move. We arrived at the school about thirty minutes before the scheduled 6:00 start time, the JV game required overtime before JPM prevailed 75-69. The varsity game was another exercise in frustration as we lost 72-65. The club put forth a stronger effort but a game against a tough opponent in their gym is never easy and turnovers at crucial times were a killer. Three players hit double figures (Ricky Cruz 19, Isiah Speller 15, R.J. Godwin 12) but it's all just so much eyewash when you lose the game. The record stands at 5-7 overall and 4-3 in the league, the next game is at home on Tuesday the 17th. We weren't back in Lancaster until almost 1:00 Sunday morning, Sunday itself was typically quiet except for a morning visit to the local ER. Over the last week or so I have had an annoyingly persistent cough that simply refuses to go away and I decided enough was enough. They took a chest X-ray and told me I have a tough of bronchitis, they prescribed antibiotics which I got started on right away so hopefully this thing goes "bye-bye" before too long. Take care, thanks for reading.