Having a hard time with the rankings this week because so much is going on.
Hempfield making a late-season push for the Section 1 crown …
Conestoga Valley holding on by its fingernails for the Section 2 lead …
Lebanon and Lampeter-Strasburg battling it out for the Section 3 title …
Lancaster Mennonite and Lebanon Catholic having at it for the final playoff spot in Section 4 …
I put all the teams in a hopper and here’s what I came up with …
- Lancaster Catholic (last week 1) 14-0, 19-2 – Crusaders are biding time before the L-L League playoffs (82-40 over Columbia; 81-50 over Lebanon Catholic; 77-24 over Annville-Cleona), and they have even bigger fish to fry after that: trying to repeat as District 3 Triple-A champs. The weapons are here.
- McCaskey (last week 3) 13-1, 19-2 – Tornado is finding ways to win, and in senior forward Tyeshia Brooks, they’ve found another solid low-post threat to go along with junior forward Cherelle Simmons. Rematch in the L-L League finale? Sure is starting to look that way, eh?
- Hempfield (last week 6) 11-3, 17-4 – Black Knights get a big bump up after slaying Cedar Crest. Talk about crashing the party.
- Lebanon (last week 4) 12-2, 15-6 – Cedars are closing in on the Section 3 crown, but must solve Manheim Central and L-S this week (both on the road). This is my sleeper team; I wouldn’t want to play Lebanon on the first night of the league playoffs.
- Cedar Crest (last week 2) 12-2, 18-3 – Last-second loss to Hempfield will sting, and could cost the Falcons the section crown. We’ll see how they bounce back.
- Lampeter-Strasburg (last week 5) 11-3, 15-6 – Pioneers are still in good shape; if they can get to Lebanon on Thursday unscathed, they can force a tie and a one-game playoff. Fun times in Lampeter.
- Warwick (last week 8) 9-5, 14-7 – Warriors can play major spoilers on Monday if they can knock off Cedar Crest.
- Lancaster Mennonite (last week 9) 8-6, 14-7 – Blazers gave Lancaster Catholic all it could handle last Tuesday, and if they can defend their home court on Tuesday vs. Lebanon Catholic, Mennonite is in great shape for second place.
- Conestoga Valley (last week 7) 7-7, 11-10 – Rough week for the Bucks (0-2, both gut-wrenchers), but CV is still in the driver’s seat for the Section 2 title.
Also receiving consideration (listed alphabetically): Elco (9-5, 12-9), Garden Spot (6-8, 10-11), Lebanon Catholic (8-6, 8-13), Manheim Central (10-4, 13-8), Manheim Township (7-7, 13-8) and Solanco (6-8, 10-11).
JEFFREY REINHART
