Mounts win Section Crown

“We weren’t really focused on winning the section until it became so real. ... As soon as it became real, we started really zoning in on what we needed to do to win,” Ephrata bowler Nathan Barnica said.

And so the Mountaineers did, wrapping up the Lancaster-Lebanon League Section Two title with a 7-0 sweep of Warwick on Friday at Dutch Lanes.

While Ephrata’s title seemed rather improbable earlier in the season, a Section One title for defending champion Hempfield was certainly more in the cards, though hardly a given. And on a wild ending to a crazy season, the Black Knights again emerged victorious, earning just enough points in a 4-3 loss to Manheim Township — only a handful of lanes away from where the Mounts earned their crown.

“I think we had a lot of parity in the league this year,” Hempfield coach Tom Degnan said. “Obviously, when you have six teams in two sections vying for four spots on the very last day of the season, that’s historic. That’s never happened before.”

There was only a little less suspense to the Section Two race compared to Section One. Elizabethtown had assured itself an L-L tournament berth with a 7-0 win over Lebanon on Thursday. But both Ephrata and Warwick had a chance to win the section — and a 5-2 Warwick win would have forced a three-game rolloff with E-town.

“All year, it’s been so close,” said Ephrata coach Troy DeWald. “If you look at the averages in the top four in both Section One and Two, there’s like four teams in each that are in the 970-990 range, so it was so close that on any given day, anybody can beat the other.”

In the end, the Mountaineers finished 63-28, with the Bears at 58 1/2-32 1/2. Warwick misses the playoffs with a 53 1/2-30 1/2 record.

But in Section One, the two teams at Dutch would need to know the outcome of Penn Manor’s match Friday with McCaskey at Leisure Lanes to determine their fates. The Blue Streaks entered the match in third in the section, but, with the 4-3 win, could have earned the second spot had the Comets been swept.

Penn Manor won its match 5-2, finishing a tantalizing point behind Hempfield at 59-32. The Black Knights finish 60-31 — and had they lost 5-2, there would have been a rolloff for the Section One title.

“Our second game obviously was critical,” said Degnan. “We jumped up on total pins right there and we had to hang on to total pins there in the end. ... That’s the one point we needed.”

Like Warwick, Manheim Town-ship misses the L-L tournament with a 56-35 mark.

Barnica led Ephrata to the win Friday with a 672 series. He came into the day with a team-leading 211 average.

“I feel like I did my part trying to lead this team to whatever we need-ed to do,” he said. “And we did exactly, and more, of what we needed to do.”

Right behind was Jake Buckwalter with a 671 series and Tanner Murray had a 631 as the Mounts narrowly won the first game by 10 pins before easier wins in the last two for a 3,051-2,930 edge in total pins.

Taylor Miller led Warwick with a 712 series.

For Hempfield, senior and team captain Xander Green rolled a team-high 673 series.

“Especially after the second game and hearing that McCaskey beat Penn Manor, that definitely gave us the relief that we needed,” said Green. “We did get total, everyone did well, everyone brought it, everyone did their part. That’s what we needed.”

He and Priest McKenzie, who had a 667 series, powered the Knights to a 1,131-1,007 win in Game Two after Manheim Township edged them 990-985 in the first game.

“After the first game, I was a little nervous. I was like, are we really going to pull this off?” said Green.

Derick Keller added a 636 for Hempfield.

The Streaks then won the third game, but Hempfield took total 3,100-3,041.

Bethany Jaquith led Township with a match-high 696 series, Logan Wenger had a 622 and David Broich had a 604.

Friday was only part of the late-season histrionics, with a lot still on the line entering the week.

There were a pair of surprises — well, it was hard to call any of them “surprises” anymore — on Monday, with 5-2 wins by Ephrata over Penn Manor and Conestoga Valley over Elizabethtown.

Tuesday, while Hempfield took care of business a 7-0 win, Manheim Township survived against McCaskey, winning 5-2 with an 11pin margin in total pins.

Also Monday, Lampeter-Strasburg beat Section Four champion Columbia 7-0, clinching the Section Three crown. Pioneers coach John Achille became a two-sport section champ, having previously coached the L-S boys basketball team to a section title.

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