Colt Barley made the most of his opportunity to wrestle in the District Three South Central Regional tournament at Spring Grove Saturday, February 27. The senior punched his ticket to the PIAA West Super Regional tournament with a gold medal effort.

"Colt had a great weekend," lauded head coach Branden Vernalli. "He wrestled three returning state qualifiers and came out on top in each match."

The senior got past Gettyburg's Max Gourley (27-2) with a 2-0 quarterfinal decision and then fought off a 4-2 first period deficit against Carlisle's Colton Zimmerman with a pair of takedowns and a pair of escapes to advance to the finals with an 8-4 decision.

Barley's finals opponent was a familiar foe. The Comet senior suffered his only loss of the season, 6-4, to Dallastown senior Brooks Gable (21-1) back in January. This time around Barley prevailed with a second period escape. He held Gable down the entire third period to secure the gold.

"Colt placed fourth last year so claiming gold this year was something he wanted to do," said Vernalli. "I'm anxious to see Colt ride this momentum through the super regionals."

GIRLS' BASKETBALL

The Lady Comets wrapped up the 2020-21 season with back-to-back games, facing Section Three champ Cocalico (15-3) on Friday and traveling to Section Four runner-up Columbia (13-4) Saturday at noon. Finishing with mixed results, the girls' ended the season with a 6-11 overall record.

The Eagles, seeded 4th in District Three Class 5A, used a 20-14 run through the second quarter to extend their three-point first quarter lead to 33-24 at the half. The Comets almost matched the Eagles point for point in the third frame, but the hosts buckled down after that, exploding for 18 fourth quarter points and holding the Comets to a single field goal in a 68-42 win.

The Eagles got a 30-point effort from Hannah Custer. Lily Sugra's 16 points were tops for the Comets. She netted half of those in the first quarter. Sydney Shepos added nine and Izzy Kligge and Kimmy Miller combined for 13.

Saturday's game on the hill was wildly entertaining. In a game that was tied four different times and featured a combined 37 turnovers and 32 free throws taken, the Comets prevailed, 51-46.

Having played the night before, the visitors, understandably, got off to a slow start, falling behind 17-12 in the first quarter. They fought back in the second, tying the score at 23-23 with a triple by Kimmy Miller with 3:04 left in the half. The Tide finished with a 6-3 run and held a three-point lead at the break, 29-26.

Manor pushed ahead 30-29 on a three-ball by Kamia Goodley but the Tide went back in front with 2:14 left in the third and ended with a 41-36 advantage with one frame left.

A 5-0 run by the visitors to open the fourth knotted the score at 41-41. The Tide went back in front 43-41 before Manor scored eight straight, including four by Shepos, and a steal and layup by Izzy Kligee that pushed the lead to 49-43.

Columbia cut it to three and their full court pressure caused a pair of turnovers but did not result in points. Goodley picked off a pass up top and converted with a layup for the final points of the game.

Columbia's Brie Droege dropped in a game-high 22 points, including 10-of-12 free throws but a balanced effort by the Comets contributed to the win. Goodley and Morgan Miller each finished with 13 points. Shepos scored six of her eight in the fourth, Lily Sugra added six, Kligee put up five points and both Emily Riggs, who was solid on the boards, and K. Miller added three each.

BOWLING

The Comet bowlers opened a busy week by participating in the Lancaster-Lebanon League singles competition on Wednesday (boys) and Thursday (girls) and then traveled to Reading on Saturday, Feb. 27 for the District Three tournament.

"There were 51 boys competing and the top 20 advanced to the second round," said head coach Chris Vital of the L-L singles tournament. "Derek Warfel almost made the top 20. Josh Stock and Charlie Hull also competed."

In the girls' competition, Delaney Reitnauer and Lacey Slaymaker moved up through the competition and finished in fourth and sixth place, respectively.

"Lacey was ninth and Delaney in 10th place after the first round," noted Vital. "Then they bowled four more games and Lacey moved into sixth and Delaney was ninth. That set up their places for the stepladder round which ended with Delaney in fourth and Lacey sixth."

At Heister Lanes on Saturday, Slaymaker finished ninth, Eva Brubaker was 10th and Reitnauer followed in 11th place. There were 22 individuals competing.

"Districts was tough," said Vital. "They stayed on the same lanes the entire day and we've never done that. Lacey missed getting to the top six by 51 pins and Eva was off 56 pins.

"We did not have any boys qualify which is the first in a long time," the coach added.

Slaymaker's high game was her opening round 199. Brubaker threw her highest game last, rolling a 241 in the sixth game. That 241 was the highest single game in the tournament. Reitnauer also posted her highest score in the final game, a 213.

The Comets were one of two schools that had three players qualify for the tournament.