Last year, Berks Catholic was denied its chance at three straight District 3 Class 4A titles in a row. Instead, Eastern York captured the title and would find themselves defending their title against the champions before them.
What looked like a great matchup turned out to be the opposite. The top two seeds in the district with 40 wins and seven losses between the two of them at a neutral site. On paper, this was going to be a hard fought game.
However, the Saints had plans early on to make sure it got out of hand fast. After taking their first lead, they wouldn’t surrender it for the rest of the game. After they took a double-digit lead, they never let it get back to single digits.
Berks Catholic (20-4) defeated Eastern York (21-4) 67-44 Thursday afternoon at the Giant Center in Hershey to capture the District 3 4A championship.
The Saints were hitting from distance early with six three-pointers in the first quarter. BCIAA Player of the Year Kingston McKoy racked up 14 of his 16 first half points in the opening quarter.
Berks Catholic took a commanding 28-10 lead at the end of the first. Zachary Suski also got off to a hot start that included three three-pointers in the first quarter and eight points in the second half to keep Eastern York at bay. Suski would finish with 19 points, second most on the team.
Eastern York’s Carter Wamsley was determined to keep his team’s back-to-back district title dreams alive. Wamsley went into halftime with 13 points to keep the score within reach.
The momentum nearly began to go in Eastern York’s direction after the half. Wamsley scored the opening bucket of the half and Bryce Nicholson added his first points of the game to cut a lead as large as 18 down to 11.
That’s when McKoy would respond with nine straight points for Berks Catholic to push the lead back up to 17. The Saints went into the final period with a 56-37 point lead and finished the quarter on a 15-6 run.
Wamsley made a courageous effort to help his team repeat as district champions. His 21 points alongside Noah Cunningham’s four three-pointers helped give Eastern York hope in spurts, but the Saints efficiency from deep and McKoy’s 29 points were too much for them to overcome.
The Saints emptied their bench and Berks Catholic remained as the last team to repeat as District III 4A champions and capture their third title in four years. A convincing 67-44 victory heading into the state playoffs.
Berks Catholic will host its first round matchup in the PIAA playoffs on Friday, March 7.
Source: Berkshire mont
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