Sports

Tense, action-laced play is what the PIAA state basketball tournament brings to high school sports fans every March.

St. Teresa of Calcutta School in Adams County hosted its second annual “Crusader Cup” basketball game on March 17, with a team of priests and seminarians tipping off against eighth graders at the school’s Conewago Campus.

It was a tall order for the visitors to beat the Lady Bucks of Dunmore at Pottsville’s venerable Martz Hall in the PIAA Class 3A semifinal in front of a partisan, raucous Lady Bucks crowd on March 20.

The Bishop McDevitt boys’ 200 free relay team set a new state record on their way to a gold medal in the PIAA Swimming Championships at Bucknell University on March 15.

At Lourdes Regional, “making states” has become a nearly annual ritual for the Lady Red Raiders’ basketball team.

Going deep in the PIAA state basketball playoffs is common fare at Trinity – especially so the last 39 seasons, as under the tutelage of Coach Larry Kostelac, Jr., the journey there is an expected rite that comes with March.

After his hand was raised as the victor of the 285-pound weight class in the PIAA Class 2A State Wrestling Championships, Bishop McDevitt’s Riley Robell touched the mat one last time – driving an imaginary sledgehammer into the squared circle to signal the end of his stellar wrestling career.

Student-athletes from several Diocesan high schools made waves at the District 3 Class 2A Swimming and Diving Championships at Cumberland Valley High School’s Natatorium, most notably the boys’ swim team from Bishop McDevitt, who found themselves at the top of the overall podium for the sixth consecutive year.

Though the Crusaders of Lancaster Catholic were the number-one seed in the Class 4A District 3 tournament, the favorite in the championship game at the Giant Center in Hershey on February 28 was Columbia.

If imitation is the best form of flattery, then hats off to the Spartans of Wyomissing, who edged the Squirettes of Delone Catholic to capture the District 3 Class 3A title in a matinee game at the Giant Center in Hershey on March 2.