The prevailing thought in the high school basketball world is that the games become tougher once you reach the district playoffs. If that is true, someone forgot to tell the Manheim Central boys' team. The Barons recently posted two wins with an average margin of victory of 14-points.

The first of those wins came on February 23rd when Central topped Muhlenberg by a 64-54 count. Manheim started slowly, allowing Muhlenberg to build a 14-9 lead over the initial eight minutes of action. The Barons began the work of digging out from that five-point hole with a 14-11 edge in the second quarter. Central inched a bit closer in the third, holding a 19-18 advantage that made it 43-42 entering the final stanza. The Barons found another gear in the fourth leading to a 22-11 run and the 64-54 final.

Only seven players saw action for Manheim with all seven scoring, led by Trey Grube's game high 21 points. Aaron Enterline was the only other Baron to reach double digits, finishing with 12 points. Collin Neiles and Jackson Tracy each added eight points. Chase Book followed with his seven-point game and Zachary Banner chipped in with six points with Mason Rogers cleaning up the final two points.

The D3-5A semifinals saw Manheim Central blow right past Mechanicsburg, 70-52, and on into the 5A title game. Grube dropped another 21 points with Enterline and Book joining the double-digit club, with 18 and 11 points, respectively.

This time around Manheim wasted no time taking control, finishing off the opening frame holding a 26-15 lead. The cushion ballooned to 27-points at the break thanks to a 15-9 run through the second quarter. A 14-10 edge coming out of the break pushed the lead to 31-points but Mechanicsburg claimed the fourth 18-15 to shrink the final margin to 18-points.

While the sailing in the District 3-5A bracket has been nothing but smooth for the boy's squad, the Lady Barons hit a snag on February 24th, falling to York Suburban, 44-40, in their quarterfinal tilt. The loss ended Central's district title hopes but not their season as the Lady Barons moved to the consolation side of the bracket for PIAA tournament seeding.

As for the game opposite York Suburban, Manheim Central controlled the opening half leading to a 25-19 lead at the break. Suburban came out of the break on a mission leading to a 10-6 edge in the third, but Manheim still held a slim, 31-29 lead heading into the final frame. Central's struggles continued in that final frame, allowing the Lady Trojans to steal the win with a 15-9 edge om the quarter.

Maddie Knier collected a game high 24 points in the loss. Abbie Reed added nine points while Kylie Kroll (five points) and Payton Snyder (two points) finished the scoring.

The Lady Barons used the frustration from that loss as motivation in their February 28th consolation game with West York, leading to a comfy 56-35 victory. While the win was the main story, Knier stole some of the spotlight for herself, becoming just the eighth L-L female to crack the 2,000-point barrier thanks to a game high 25 points pushing her career tally to 2001. She also became Manheim's all-time leading scorer, male or female, passing Taylor Funk's 1977 career points.

Despite the 21-point victory on the back end, Manheim stumbled out of the gate leading to a 9-8 West York lead heading into the second quarter. Knier and the rest of the Lady Barons got on track in the second with the senior scoring 10 points during Central's 21-7 burst. That made it a 29-16 game at intermission with the Lady Bulldogs trimming that lead down to 38-27 after three quarters.

Another hot frame came in the fourth for Central with Knier netting nine of the team's 18 fourth quarter points, setting the final at 56-35.

BOWLING

Manheim's bowling season came to a close on February 25th with Hailey Kowalski's participation in the District 3 Championships. Kowalski made the short trip to Clearview Lanes for the qualifying round, finishing 27th in the 40 person field. Kowalski's high in qualifying, 190, came in the third game with the senior adding games of 141, 166, 164 and 136 to finish with a 797.

WRESTLING

The remaining members of Central's wrestling team made the trek to Spring Grove High School on February 24th and 25th for the 2023 edition of the District 3-3A Championship. Two Barons, Brett Barbush and Braxton Keiffer, performed well enough to keep their season alive.

Keiffer went 3-1 at the district tourney, suffering his lone loss in the 114-pound championship bout to Manheim Township's Kaedyn Williams. Keiffer's run to silver started with a 16-0 tech fall win over Daniel Boone's Jackson Drumheller and continued with a quarterfinal pinfall win over Isaiah Jackson (Gettysburg). Keiffer's final win of the weekend came over Cedar Cliff's Keegan Zeigler, 11-5 in the semifinals.

Barbush also went 3-1 over the two-day affair but did so in the 160-pound bracket where a finals loss to Shippensburg's Dominic Frontino left the senior holding a silver medal. Barbush kicked off his weekend with a pinfall win over New Oxford's Lane Johnson, adding an 8-0 major decision win over Conestoga Valley's Luke Needham and an 11-7 win over Gettysburg's Jaxon Townsend before falling in the finals.

Two of the three remaining Barons managed just one win before bowing out of the tournament. Barrett Keiffer was the first, picking up his lone victory in the opening round of the 127-pound bracket. Keiffer topped Exeter's Joey Henderson by a 2-0 final before losses to Luke Mentzer (Chambersburg) and Jerry Battoli (New Oxford) ended the freshman's season.

Brodie Daugherty claimed the remaining victory, knocking off Waynesboro's Titus Mong via pinfall in the first round of consolation action at 172 pounds. Daugherty suffered both his losses via pinfall, falling to Wilson's Blaise Eidle in the opening round and to Cocalico's Jonathan Rathman in the consolation bracket.

Wyatt Kupres was the final Baron to compete at Spring Grove, but the senior was unable to find his footing. That resulted in losses to Twin valley's Ean Winchester and Red Land's Ethan Eisner.