Stoppage time

Losing the handle

Loyalsock girls and North Penn boys fell last night. At least according to word of mouth, Hughesville lost by a lot tonight in Hershey.

The Lyco men fell to Widener Saturday, the same afternoon as Williamsport's boys playoffs run ended vs. Chester. And Bucknell was trailing Navy at the half, 34-24.

Yeah, it's been a pretty depressing four days for area basketball fans, even if Williamsport's close loss against Chester — ranked No. 6 in USA Today nationally — was viewed by most as a Moral victory.

But, for me, the worst part of this was two teams getting, in the end, what they deserved from their own relatively weak schedules.

The North Penn Panthers have some excuse. Way up in Blossburg, it's a difficult job to schedule anyone that's a real level above the NTL competition they play against. Even Elmira and Corning are 45 minutes to an hour, and the hoops up there aren't so great either. North Penn one of the Elmira Star-Gazette's last teams left in their postseasons on both sides of the border.

Still, throughout Tuesday's game, I wondered what the Panthers would've done if they had the chance to attack the type of pressure and transition approach Math, Civics and Science unloaded upon them, especially in the first three quarters.

Then there's Loyalsock, whose toughest opponents outside of the conference were Lewisburg (a district playoff loser) and sub-.500 Jersey Shore (who beat the Lancers, by the way). I know there is no perfect way to schedule, especially in an area and a year where quality girls teams were few and far between. But how different would a 59-52 loss Tuesday have turned out if the Lancers had seen, say Selinsgrove, Shikellamy and Milton at some point between early December and late February.

The quotes from both teams after their games hinted at moral victories. Which are all well and good. But the scheduling more than hints at fear of putting yourself up against the best competition there is.

If our scholastic sports are supposed to be lessons for life, what lesson are we teaching when we let our teams stay within their comfort zones until the last possible minute? Lest we wonder why so many of our children, athletes or otherwise, try to venture outside Lycoming county and follow their dreams, only to return back within a year.

Williamsport, from what I hear, was damn mad about losing it's game. And good for them. Allen Taylor and his team went in search of good games all over the state this year, and especially in leagues and tournaments this summer. And even tho they hate losing, they'll get over it.

But if they weren't mad, it would've meant they never believed in their dreams.