So how are those predictions coming along now, you ask?
Just dandy; thanks for asking.
If the District 3 Quad-A girls’ bracket were one of my NCAA Tournament pool sheets (one of my 12 pool sheets, ha), it would be in the garbage.
I completely flubbed up that bracket – in the quarterfinals, I had Red Lion over Warwick (both lost in the first round), I had Reading over Wilson (Reading lost in the first round and Wilson knocked off Hempfield 50-35 on Friday), I had Cedar Crest over Lower Dauphin (LD fell to Harrisburg in Round 1, and Harrisburg upset Cedar Crest 37-33 on Friday).
I did get one right, though: I had Central Dauphin over McCaskey, and the Rams did indeed eliminate the Red Tornado with a 46-38 win on Friday.
I was at that game, and you can read my story in Saturday’s New Era.
I will say this: There were a ton of whistles in the game. CD shot 37 free throws; McCaskey just 12. The Red Tornado’s fans let the refs know about it, and it got kind of ugly at the end, when game officials at Cedar Crest tossed one McCaskey fan, and then stood there behind McCaskey’s bench for the game’s closing seconds, trying to get the fans to tone it down.
Don’t like it when it comes to that. Also dislike it when three refs call a game. Six eyes are too many, and the ticky-tack stuff gets called (like a meaningless handcheck, 10 feet away from the play). Also bothers me that when I see a three-ref crew, it seems like the trail official makes most of the calls – blowing his or her whistle from like half court on a play near the baseline. That rubs me the wrong way. Also rubs me the wrong way when three-ref crews are calling handchecks when a team is down 30 with 1:30 to play.
But I digress …
So I have one Quad-A team still dancing in my prediction bracket: Central Dauphin, which is now my favorite team of all time. Wait, I was secretly rooting for Boiling Springs down in the Triple-A bracket because I love their nickname: the Bubblers.
Oh well.
I predicted CD would fall to Cedar Crest in the semifinals, and that Crest would top Red Lion in the finale. That ain’t happening.
So in Quad-A we’re down to Central Dauphin vs. Harrisburg and Central Dauphin East vs. Wilson. I’ve seen CD and I’ve seen Wilson, although that was back in December, and the Bulldogs were without injured point guard Vanessa Rivera.
These picks won’t count against my original pick bracket, but I’ll go ahead and say Central Dauphin will square off against Wilson in the finale. That’s what my gut is telling me, at least.
I’ll make my official Quad-A pick next week when we know who’ll be in the final.
Meanwhile, I’m all over the Double-A bracket. I only missed one (1) game in the first round: I had Camp Hill over Tulpehocken, but Tulpy proved me wrong and advanced.
Picked all four winners from Friday’s quarterfinals: I had Trinity over Reading Holy Name (73-32, check; and I was at this game. This just in: Trinity is good), I had Bishop McDevitt winning (it did, knocking off Tulpy 40-27), I had York Catholic over Wyomissing (56-29, check), and I had Schuylkill Valley over Upper Dauphin (68-44, check; and if you’re wondering, yes, Corielle Yarde kept up her amazing streak with 31 points – meaning she’s scored at least 20 points in all 28 of SV’s game this season. Incredible).
So I nailed the Double-A quarterfinals, and just a reminder: I have Trinity over Bishop McDevitt and York Catholic over Schuylkill Valley in the semifinals. Those games are set for Monday.
So … some good picks, some not-so-good picks. The Quad-A bracket really threw a lot of people for a loop, especially when No. 1 Red Lion went down on Night 1, which was one of three upsets (on paper, anyway): No. 7 Harrisburg over No. 2 Cedar Crest and No. 6 CD over No. 3 McCaskey.
JUST A SIDE NOTE … Did anyone else notice how lopsided the boys’ Double-A bracket is? Check out these first-round scores:
York Catholic beat Hanover by 58 – 87-29.
Columbia beat Biglerville by 28 – 89-61.
Trinity beat Halifax by 17 – 62-45.
Delone Catholic beat Schuylkill Valley by 21 – 60-39.
Tulpehocken beat Kutztown by 21 – 43-22.
Upper Dauphin beat Newport by 30 – 59-39.
Annville-Cleona beat Wyomissing by 17 – 59-42.
Milton Hershey beat Pequea Valley by 41 – 78-37.
And none of those games were upsets. All the higher seeds won – by an average of 29.1 points a game. Yikes.
Will probably have another post Sunday night.
I’m not venturing out on Saturday; poker calls, but you wouldn’t want to know anything about that.
So check back for more updates by the end of the weekend, and I’ll let you know how my picks are coming along.
Also coming soon: team-by-team season recaps. Section 2 is about done. So sit tight.
I’m also going to post a complete history of the L-L League playoffs. I know you can’t wait for that one.
JEFFREY REINHART
