TAMMY COAKLEY/The Express Two-year-old Paisley enjoys a ride on a donkey given by FFA student Luke Tanis during half-time of the Donkey Basketball game between Penns Valley and State College on April 25.

PENNS VALLEY — Donkey basketball returned to the Penns Valley High School gym on April 25 as a fundraiser for the Future Farmers of America clubs at both Penns Valley and State College high schools.

Donkey basketball has been a tradition for many years and a nice fundraiser in support of the FFA activities. In addition, concession food sales benefited the Rams while a basket raffle provided funds for the Little Lions FFA club.

Teams for the Penns Valley Rams and the State College Little Lions were members of the respective FFA clubs, facility and staff.

The donkey’s traveled to the Penns Valley area from Ohio and were provided by Donkey Ball Entertainment. Each wore boots on their feet to prevent their hooves from leaving marks in the gymnasium floor.

Much to the delight of the crowd, several of the donkeys bucked their riders off during the game. One Penns Valley female rider hit the floor hard, but got up laughing and remounted afterward.

Penns Valley principal Zac Wynkoop was one of the donkey riders during the evening. He spent more time off the donkey than riding, pulling on the reins while trying to coax his donkey into moving down the court to either sink a shot or to make a defensive stance.

“I tried everything to get the donkey to move. It just wouldn’t go. I tried pulling on it, slapping it’s behind and patting it’s head. I even tried sweet talking it, promising treats later on, but it just wouldn’t cooperate,” Wynkoop said.

“It’s really harder than you think to get them moving when they just don’t want to go,” added Wynkoop.

Penns Valley Agricultural Science instructor and FFA advisor Baylor Shunk was also a donkey rider during the game. Shunk, a Penns Valley alumni, was thrilled with the turn-out at the event. The crowd was larger than expected and was moved from the old, smaller gym to the larger gym for the evening.

One of the PV school’s resource officers, Nicole Eckley, turned out to be quite the scrapper when it came to wrestling on the floor for possession of the basketball.

Representing the Little Lions both on and off the donkey basketball court, FFA advisor and Ag Science Teacher Morgan Inhoof and school principal Laura Tobias both participated in the game..

It was a close game up until the half-time intermission, each team matching baskets, for a 4-4 score. However, into the third and fourth quarters, the game began to open up, with the Penns Valley Rams winning, 12-8, over the Little Lions of State College.

During the intermission, children were able to get a ride from one end of the court to the other on a donkey. Each donkey seemed to realize that they didn’t need to be stubborn and walked slow and steadily with the young riders.

Each year the Penns Valley Education Foundation participates in the Centre Gives campaign. Centre Gives is an online giving event on May 14-15, dedicated to distributing funds to local non-profit organizations in Centre County. This year, the funds that PVEF receives through Centre Gives will be used to benefit the Agricultural Education program and the FFA chapter at Penns Valley High School. Please consider making a contribution to Centre Gives to help Penns Valley students this year.