The annual arrival of Christmas and the ensuing week off from school serves as an unofficial half-way point in the 2023-24 high school athletics season.
A chance to take a deep breath, press the pause button and spend time with family are benefits of having a week off. It’s also a good chance to take stock of what went right and what went wrong and what we want to do better in the year to come.
Here’s hoping that all was calm, all was bright for your Christmas 2023. A time of reflection, renewal and rejoicing. A time to lift up the name of Jesus and what his birth meant to humanity. A time to remember that all we are is because of Him and all we do should be for His glory.
In a time of great uncertainty and growing dystopia in the world, we need, more than ever, to anchor ourselves in faith, hope and love. We don’t know what the next year will bring. We don’t know what the future holds, but we know who holds the future.
And so the winter season presses on. The Waynesboro Area Senior High School boys’ and girls’ varsity basketball teams will compete in holiday tournaments, as will the varsity and middle school wrestling teams.
WRESTLING
The Waynesboro Indians varsity team will compete in the 23rd annual Neil Turner Holiday Wrestling Classic hosted by Conestoga Valley High School in Lancaster.
Waynesboro is one of 28 teams grappling in the individual tournament, which offers a glimpse of a postseason tournament with the number of teams involved.
And there are lots of good teams. Here’s the entire list: Bellefonte, Centreal Dauphin, Central York, Coatesville, Delone Catholic, Exeter Township, Fishburne Military School, Hamburg, Harrisburg, Jersey Shore, La Salle College High School, Littlestown, Methacton, Mifflin County, Montgomery, Muhlenberg, New Oxford, Penn Manor, Phillipsburg, Pittston, Radnor, Salesianum, Shikellamy, St. Georges Technical High School, St. Joseph’s Preparatory School, Tulpehocken and York Suburban.
Wrestling begins 8 a.m. Friday and Saturday.
Waynesboro’s middle school team will make the trip of 316 to Chambersburg High School to compete in the two-day MyHouse Trojan Wars. Action begins 9 a.m. Friday and Saturday.
BASKETBALL
The Waynesboro Indians will return to the annual Suave Brothers Holiday Tournament hosted by Mechanicsburg High School.
Waynesboro will play Cumberland Valley at 5:30 p.m., Wednesday. Mechanicsburg will play Selinsgrove at 7 p.m.
The winners of Wednesday’s game will face off at 7 p.m., while the consolation game will tip off at 5:30 p.m.
The Waynesboro Maidens will play in the Halifax Candy Cane Tournament on Thursday and Friday. Waynesboro will play Selinsgrove in the first round. Halifax will play Camp Hill in the second game of the first round.
The consolation and championship games will be played Friday.
