Taste of silver has gotten old for Mounts
HERSHEY — A gold medal, from Exeter’s 2021 District 3 Class 5A football championship, hangs prominently in Javon Hollis’ bedroom.
In a nearby dresser drawer there’s a bunch of silver medals, one from football last fall, a couple from Antietam basketball runs to Hershey the past two seasons.
The Mounts senior forward picked up another medal Tuesday afternoon at Giant Center. It’s going in the drawer, too.
“It didn’t really go our way this time,” Hollis said after the Mounts fell to top-seeded Lancaster Mennonite 57-44 in the District 3 Class 2A championship game. “Defense was a major part (of it). Turnovers was another major part. There’s just little things that we (made) mistakes on.”
Memories of this loss will be stuffed away, out of sight, just as they were when Antietam lost to Mennonite in last year’s championship game, and when it lost to the Blazers the year before that. The third time was not a charm for the overachieving Mounts.
“I get it,” said Antietam coach Mike Green after hearing Hollis talk about the disappointment of another loss on the big stage. “I’m tired of the silver, too. I want a gold.”
The third-seeded Mounts (13-11) hinted there was a possibility for something other than silver when they finished the first quarter on a 9-4 run, taking a 14-13 lead into the second period. Sophomore Julious Williams scored seven points in the run, including a 3-pointer and a buzzer-beating layup off a feed from Reyes-Rodriguez.
“It looked good (at that point),” Green said.
The game turned quickly after that. Five turnovers cost the Mounts dearly in the second quarter, when they scored just two baskets and fell behind 27-19 entering halftime. All-State wing Camden Hurst began to heat up for the Blazers, scoring seven points, including a 3-pointer that started Mennonite’s 7-0 finishing run.
It got even worse when the second half started: The Mounts went scoreless for four minutes and saw the Blazers score the first 10 points and essentially put the game away, building an 18-point cushion.
“Things fell apart pretty quick,” Green said.
Hollis wasn’t about to go down without a fight. He scored 11 points over an impressive five-minute span at the end of the game, aggressively taking the ball the basket and knocking down a 3-pointer.
“I knew it was probably the last time I was going to be in that stadium,” said the three-year starter, “so I wanted to give everything I had. Things weren’t going our way. I was like: ‘Something’s gotta happen,’ so I decided to take over.”
Hurst, a 1,000-point scorer, had a game-high 19 points to go with five assists and five rebounds. David Weaver, a 6-7 senior, had 10 points and a game-high 11 rebounds for Mennonite.
Hollis finished with a team-high 18 points and grabbed eight rebounds, sharing the team lead with Noah Archambault.
Sophomore Julious Williams scored 10 first-half points for Antietam but didn’t score in the second half. Hollis was about the only option at the end: He scored 16 of Antietam’s 25 second-half points.
“He was pretty much a one-man wrecking crew,” Green said. “I don’t think he wanted to go home with a silver.”
Hollis isn’t ready to go home at all. He’s looking forward to the start of the PIAA Tournament when the Mounts play at Christopher Dock, the District 1 champ, on March 11.
“We’re just gonna shake this off and go into states learning off our mistakes in this game,” he said.
Green wasn’t discouraged by the loss, either.
“I’d rather be here than not be here, you’ve gotta look at it that way,” he said. “Honestly, I didn’t think we’d get to this point (after) losing Hector (Tiburcio) and ‘Hondo’ (Alejandro Montero) (both to graduation), and losing Josh (McKoy, to a transfer to Berks Catholic), and losing the opportunity to have Kingston (McKoy, also at Berks Catholic).
“I had no thoughts of getting back to this game, so kudos to the kids; they played very well.”
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| Antietam | 14 | 5 | 11 | 14 | 44 |
| Lancaster Mennonite | 13 | 14 | 12 | 18 | 57 |
| Mounts (13-11) | FG | FT | 3’s | A | R | Points |
| Lubas | 1-2 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Archambault | 3-10 | 1-1 | 0-3 | 1 | 8 | 7 |
| Hollis | 8-15 | 0-2 | 2-3 | 1 | 8 | 18 |
| Reyes-Rodriguez | 1-7 | 1-2 | 1-5 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| Williams | 4-9 | 0-0 | 2-4 | 0 | 6 | 10 |
| Scheifly | 1-2 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Rafferty | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Lash | 0-1 | 1-2 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Totals | 18-47 | 3-7 | 5-17 | 3 | 27-31 | 44 |
| Blazers (16-8) | FG | FT | 3’s | A | R | Points |
| Weaver | 5-12 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0 | 11 | 10 |
| Sumrall | 2-10 | 2-2 | 0-3 | 4 | 4 | 6 |
| Shell | 0-1 | 1-2 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Ch. Hurst | 3-4 | 2-2 | 1-1 | 3 | 2 | 9 |
| Ca. Hurst | 7-17 | 4-6 | 1-5 | 5 | 5 | 19 |
| Halvorsen | 3-6 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 0 | 7 | 6 |
| Lilly | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Binkley | 3-4 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0 | 2 | 6 |
| Totals | 23-54 | 9-14 | 2-10 | 13 | 32-34 | 57 |
Turnovers: Antietam 19, Lancaster Mennonite 13.
