The Best 2-21 Team In The State? First Round Hoops Playoff Action

      They might be the best 2-21 team you will ever see play. With Elkton’s 78-62 playoff win at home against North East in the opening round of the State Championships, the Golden Elks still have a chance to win it all.

     The last weeks of the season brought controversy and disappointment for the Elkton squad. The Golden Elks were forced to forfeit all of their regular season wins, save their season ending win after the forfeits, to give away all 19 wins in their 19-2 season.

     In spite of efforts by Elkton to race out to an early lead, North East made a fight of it in the first period. Indian Maurice Dickey buried three three-pointers, including a trifecta at the buzzer, to cut the Elkton lead to 18-16 after one.

     Elkton turned on their defense and the press in the second period, holding North East to three baskets and ten points. The Golden Elks put up 25 points in the second frame and blew the game wide open.

     North East’s senior leaders did their best to keep the game close. Maurice Dickey carded five three-pointers for the game and 21 points to lead the Indians. Kendall Danglade added 20 points.

     Malachi Seney posted 25 points for the Golden Elks to lead all scorers in a team effort that had ten different players putting points on the board.

     After forging their double-digit lead in the second period, the Golden Elks never let off the gas forcing numerous Indian turnovers.  In spite of eight three-pointers for the contest, North East never mounted a serious second half run, ending their season with a sixteen point loss.

     The Golden Elks have now started a new winning streak, currently at two games, and will face the winner of tonight’s Fallston-Edgewood matchup.

02-24-12 Elkton v North East Boys Basketball - Images by Eclipse Sportswire

Seven Cecil Wrestlers Claim UCBAC Titles, Earn Trips To Regionals

     Wrestlers from Cecil County schools positioned themselves for a banner day in the Upper Chesapeake Bay Athletic Conference wrestling finals. Local grapplers were in a position to walk away with eleven of the 14 titles – the next step along the road to the State Championships on March 3^rd and 4^th in College Park.

     Seven Cecil wrestlers claimed first place and earned trips to next week’s Regional Tournament in Easton, Maryland. Rising Sun was also awarded a trophy for claiming the regular season UCBAC title.

106 – Tyear Castle, Bohemia Manor, lost by a score of 5-0 to finish in 2^nd Place.

113 – Chris Brown, Perryville, won by fall to win his weight class.

120 – Weston Lynn, Rising Sun, defeated A.J. Jourdan, Bohemia Manor 9-6 to win his weight class.

126 – Andrew Brown, Perryville, won by fall to win his weight class.

138 – Amos “Buddy” Harlan, Perryville, defeated Paul Keeley, North East, 6-5 to win his weight class.

152 – Anthony Cimorosi, Rising Sun, won by fall to win his weight class.

160 – Lance Eveland, Rising Sun, won by a score of 4-2 to win his weight class.

170 – Msema Msacki, Elkton, lost by fall to finish in 2^nd Place.

182 – Jake Ritter, Perryville, lost by a score of 8-0 to finish in 2^nd Place.

195 – Jake Brown, Rising Sun, lost by a score of 8-1 to finish in 2^nd Place.

285 – Ty McGee, Rising Sun, won by a score of 3-2 to win his weight class.

02-18-12 UCBAC Wrestling Tournament - Images by Eclipse Sportswire

Keep These North East Girls Basketball Players In Your Thoughts

Many Cecil County athletes are gearing us for tournament season.  If you know them, supports them. But, sometimes real life intervenes and reminds us of the things that are important.  Not much else needs to be said beyond the Facebook post by North East girls basketball coach Alan Foskey:

Facebook friends, as many of you know, I coach High School basketball and baseball, and I have two basketball players who could sure use your thoughts and prayers. Heniyah Cannady has been suffering from an as yet unknown malady, and she is experiencing loss of sight from the medications. Hopefully, it is temporary, but there is a possibility it may not be. Please lift her up. Lexie Stevens was in an auto accident Wednesday night and suffered a broken vertebrae in her neck and has diminished vision from glass in her eye. By all accounts, she should be dead or paralyzed, but God has shown an abundance of miracles in her case so far. Both girls are Juniors- I so appreciate all the prayers I know you will send their way!

Please keep these young ladies in your thoughts.

Bo Manor Spoils Senior Night For North East

     Three minutes into North East's game tonight they had opened a 13-point lead and appeared well on the way to sending their seniors out on a winning note. But, Bohemia Manor came into North East High School hoping to spoil Senor Night for the host Indians.

     By the end of the first period, the visiting Eagles had cut the lead down to four points and clawed their way back into the game. The Indian lead continued to slowly slip away with turnovers and six missed free throws in the second period. Bohemia Manor added three three-pointers to pull even with the Indians tied 36-36 at halftime.

     Bohemia Manor came out for the second half with a different strategy, pressing the Indians more frequently on both ends of the court.  The aggressive play led to a 10-point lead for the Eagles, as the Indians only managed four buckets in the third frame.

     Senior Maurice Dickey buried two of his five three-pointers in the final period, as the Indians mounted a charge. Dickey led all scorers with 30 points for the evening. Indian Senior Kendall Danglade added 24 points.

     The Eagles countered with four players in double-digits, led by Dominique Holmes’ two three-pointers and 24 points.

     The late run by the Indians fell four points short as Bohemia Manor defeated North East 73-69.

02-17-12 Bohemia Manor v North East Boys Basketball - Images by Eclipse Sportswire

Panthers Outlast Indians For Perryville Win

     It was Cecil County theater on a Friday night, only it was high school basketball in Perryville. The North East Indians has just missed another free throw in the final frame, the Perryville Panthers were up by four points, the clock was under ten seconds and the win was sealed. Then Perryville was slapped with a technical foul, giving the Indians two free throws and the possession.

     The good fortune was all for naught. North East only sank one free throw and, shortly after the inbound pass, Indian Kendall Danglade was forced to step out of bounds. North East never had the chance to put up a game-tying three-point attempt.

     The North East squad missed three free throws in the final period, and that would be the difference in their 63-60 loss to Perryville.

     The Indians jumped out to an early lead with two three-pointers the first period and extended their lead to eight points. It seemed as if having leading scorer Gabe Sherrod on the bench in street clothes might be too much to overcome for Perryville.

     Panther Brian Matthews led all scorers with 17 points. His seven buckets and three free throws in Sherrod’s absence pushed the Perryville to close the gap for good with four minutes left in the game.

     Kendall Danglade and Maurice Dickey each dropped 16 points to lead the visiting North East Indians.

02-03-12 Perryville v North East Boy's Basketball - Images by Eclipse Sportswire

Voting Open For Cecil Scene Player of the Week #2

     The candidates for this week's Cecil Scene Player of the Week are Rising Sun's Heather Lesniowski, Perryville High School's Whitney Hynson and North East High School's Lexi Stevens.  PLEASE VOTE.

North East Tames Tome School In Girl's Hoops

     After opening the season 1-9, the North East Lady Indians reeled off their third straight victory following a 39-14 win at the Tome School.

     Playing aggressive defense from the outset, the Indians opened an 8-0 lead to start the game.  They ran the lead to 23-5 at halftime behind the strong play of Lexi Stevens, scoring nine of her 15 points in the first half. Khadijah Perry helped the Indian cause with ten points of her own.

     Even with starters sitting on the bench for much of the second half, the Indians racked up 30 rebounds and 17 steals for the game.

   Dominique Gelmann and Maddy Olewine led the Tome Titians in scoring with four points a piece. And, while the Lady Titans were outpaced from the beginning by the more experienced North East squad, they played scrappy defense that forced 23 Indian turnovers for the game.
01-30-12 Tome School v North East Girl's Basketball - Images by Eclipse Sportswire

North East Ladies Outpace Bo Manor

     The action on the court between the North East Lady Indians and the Bohemia Manor Eagles was physical, but the final score of 38-21 did not reflect that contention.

     Indian forward Lexi Stevens dropped 22 points, including all six free throws, to lead all scorers.  Stevens bombed two three-pointers in the first quarter to help the Indians build a 10-4 lead that grew to 19-6 by halftime.

01-26-12 North East v Bohemia Manor Girls Basketball - Images by Eclipse Sportswire

It's Tebow Time In Tiger Country

     It was "Tebow-Time" at center court after the Rising Sun Tigers fought through a double-digit deficit to score a 59-54 win against the North East Indians.
     The exchanges between Tiger and Indian faithful throughout the game was heated.  After Rising Sun had completed their comeback, students stormed the floor and and met at center court.

     Tiger guard Andre Moore led all scorers with 23 points, hitting three three-pointers early and knocking down 10 out of 11 free throws in the final quarter.

     North East senior guard Kendall Danglade scored 21 points to lead the visiting Indians.

01-11-12 Rising Sun v North East HS BBall - Images by Eclipse Sportswire

Sixteen Schools Meet At Bohemia Manor For 16th Wrestling Invitational

   The weekend of the Battle at the Bridge Invitational is a big one for Cecil County high school wrestling. Dozens of wrestlers, representing sixteen schools, from as far away as Virginia and New Jersey converged on host Bohemia Manor High School in Chesapeake City this Friday and Saturday to compete.

     The tournament, in its 16th Edition, offered a chance for the five schools from Cecil County to test their mettle against these rival schools.

     Many local wrestlers made it through pool play with a chance to vie for a meet championship, but no match was more anticipated or heated than the semi-final pairing of Elkton's Timmy Taylor and Rising Sun's Joe Jurgans.  Before a packed field house at Bohemia Manor, Jurgans tallied early takedowns and reversals to open up a large lead and came away with the win against the previosuly undefeated Taylor.

     In the slideshow below are scenes from throughout the day at Bo Manor. Enjoy.

01-07-12 Battle At The Bridge Wrestling - Images by Eclipse Sportswire

North East Leads Gate-To-Wire To Defeat Perryville

     The North East Indians came out of the gate scoring eight unanswered points against cross-county rival Perryville and never looked back. They extended their lead to 21-2 and were never headed by the Panther squad.

     The Indians were led by Brandon Smith scoring 19 points on the game and leading all scorers. Guard Kendall Danglade added nine points. The Perryville Panthers were led by Tyrelle Hollingsworth who scored 16 points.

     The final score favored North East 55-39.

01-06-12 North East v Perryville Boys HS BBall - Images by Eclipse Sportswire

What goes into to deciding which photos to run?

     Should we run the photo or not? That is the question many a photo editor has asked, and the answer is never really the same. Some people believe, no matter what, you run a great photo – no matter the content. In bigger markets covering professional sports, this may be true.

     But now, take a look at the decision Cecil Scene had last night. The North East Lady Indians had clawed their way back into contention against the Rising Sun Tigers from a 12-point deficit. The Lady Indians fought hard in overtime as well, but ultimately the Lady Tigers prevailed.

     The teams shook hands at half court, the referees packed up and left, the fans filed out of the gymnasium and in a moment of “this is last call” that you might see at a bar, the lights went out. There were a couple dozen people still in the gym.

     Then I noticed a North East High School player sitting there alone. She was obviously in the middle of packing up to leave when the emotion of the hard-fought loss hit her. Her basketball shoes were sitting there beneath her as she held her head in her hands and cried.

     In what was pretty much darkness, I scrambled to get my camera up, winged it on setting what might get me a frame of the moment and made one photo before it was all over. The player got up, shoes in hand and walked off the court.

     Now, what to do with this image.  I knew it was of North East guard Heniyah Cannady. But, this wasn’t a pro athlete I had photographed, it was a high school student who had just laid her heart and soul out on the basketball court for 36 minutes. Do I run this photo as part of out coverage or not. Will she like the photo or hate it. You just never know. If she hated the photo, to me, it just didn't feel right to run the image. And, of course, there was just no way to know.

     There was also a bigger question for Cecil Scene. We are still getting going. This is a website for the community, about the community and run by someone who lives in the community. Is this the statement we wanted to make about Cecil Scene?

     We held the photo after much conversation and decided to err on the side of caution.

     Heading into tonight’s boy’s game at North East I ran into Varsity Girls basketball Coach Alan Foskey and told him about the image. As luck would have it, the first person he ran into going into the gym was Ms. Cannady. Moments later she ran up to me in the stands as I was setting up. She wanted to see the photo. I pulled it up on my cell phone and showed it to her.

     She loved it, and here it is. But, more thought went into making this photo live on the web then just hitting Publish.

Lady Tiger's Defeat Lady Indian's In Overtime

     The pressure of full-court and half-court presses didn’t keep the North East Indians from erasing the host Rising Sun Tigers 12-point lead in regulation, but it did lead to a 53-49 win in overtime for the Lady Tigers.

     The second half charge from a double-digit deficit to a briefly held  lead was capped by an Emily Hammer jump shot in the final minutes. The jubilation didn’t last, as the Lady Tiger’s pounced on turnovers to force overtime.

     Led by senior Heather Lesniowski’s 15 points, the Lady Tiger’s jumped out to a quick lead in overtime and survived for the  4-point win.  The loss dropped the Indians to a 1-5 record, while the win moved the Tigers to a 4-3 record.

01-05-12 Rising Sun v North East Girls HS Basketball - Images by Eclipse Sportswire