Central York boys' basketball beats Parkland for first-ever state title
Thomas KendzioraHERSHEY — Central York boys’ basketball has completed its march to immortality.
The Panthers captured their first-ever state championship on Saturday night, holding off Parkland for a 53-51 victory in the PIAA Class 6A title game at the Giant Center.
Central York completed its dream season with a 29-3 record, but it wasn’t easy. The Panthers took a 34-24 lead into halftime and went up by as many as 13 points in the third quarter before the District 11 champion Trojans stormed back into the game. It all came down to a Parkland 3-pointer in the final seconds, which the Panthers could only watch in agonizing anticipation.
As the shot went wide, senior Greg Guidinger grabbed the rebound and heaved the ball toward the rafters at the buzzer. He then sprinted to midcourt and joined his teammates for the celebration they’d all been awaiting.
“I can’t be more proud of my guys,” Guidinger said. “There were so many moments where we could have caved in, so many moments where we could have just shut it down and called it a year. But every time someone punched us, we punched back even harder. … (This game) is an example of how hard we’ve been working.”
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Ben Rill led Central with 17 points and pulled down seven rebounds. Fellow junior Ben Natal finished with 15 points. Ryan Brown added eight, including a go-ahead 3-pointer with just over four minutes left after Parkland took its only lead of the second half. Guidinger notched seven points and eight rebounds in his final high school contest; he didn't score in the second half, but he still left the court with pure elation.
Nick Coval led Parkland (26-6) with 18 points, although the Panthers limited the superstar sharpshooter to 7-of-22 on field goals and 3-of-12 on 3-pointers. Zaire Smaltz added 15 points and eight rebounds for the Trojans, while Jayden Thomas had 11 points and six boards. Parkland started five seniors on Saturday, although it was freshman Blake Nassry who hoisted the final shot.
“I think (I just felt) relief that these guys didn’t have to go through it,” Central York coach Jeff Hoke said of the near-heartbreak. “They’re like my sons and I don’t want to ever see their feelings hurt. ‘Let them fall and pick them back up’ — I don’t want my boys to fall.”
No York-Adams League public school had ever won a state championship in basketball, although York Catholic and Delone Catholic have won both boys’ and girls’ titles in lower classifications. Only York High’s boys had previously reached PIAA finals in the highest class, earning silver medals in 1949 and 2009. The boys’ teams from Eastern York in 1988 and Fairfield in 2001 also lost title games in Hershey.
It was a historic night indeed.
This Central York group has carried lofty expectations since the summer of 2022, when Rill returned to his home school district after attending a prep school as a freshman. With multiple NCAA Division I prospects and plenty more young talent, the Panthers won division and league titles in 2023 before finishing 22-8 overall. Central York made the leap this winter, dropping just two regular-season contests and repeating as division and league champions.
The Panthers had their sights on playing at the Giant Center in the District 3 Class 6A final, but instead suffered a 66-65, last-second setback against rival Red Lion in the quarterfinals on Feb. 23. After winning two consolation games to place fifth at districts, Central York embarked on a different path to Hershey. Hoke’s team beat District 1 runner-up Garnet Valley on the road, got revenge against Red Lion, knocked out District 7 champion Upper St. Clair and handled defending state champion Reading en route to the final.
Central led 20-17 Saturday after a back-and-forth first quarter, which featured no stoppages whatsoever in the first 6:52 of game action. The Panthers took control in the second period and stayed hot early in the third. Then Parkland went on a 16-3 run to knot things up at 43-43 in a flash. The Trojans briefly held a 47-45 lead before Brown’s 3-pointer with four minutes left. Rill broke a 48-48 tie with a pair of free throws, and Natal slithered through the lane to double the lead with 1:30 left.
It seemed over when Guidinger blocked a 3-pointer and went to the line with 1:01 remaining and Central up five. But he missed both foul shots, and Coval’s 3-point play brought Parkland within two. A jump ball gave the Trojans another chance, only for Robbie Ruisch’s go-ahead triple to bounce out. Brooklyn Nace was fouled and missed two free throws of his own with 8.1 seconds left, setting up the final sequence.
“I was just saying, ‘Please, God, don’t go in,’” Hoke said of Nassry’s last shot. “These kids don’t deserve that.”
Hoke, who lives just two miles from the Giant Center and sees the arena when walking his dog each morning, briefly changed his route after the loss to Red Lion. Now he’ll have fond memories with every glance.
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Parkland’s second-ever run to the PIAA final (the other came in 2004) included a pair of victories over Philadelphia Catholic League stalwarts. The Trojans defeated Roman Catholic — the 2022 state champion and 2023 runner-up — in the quarterfinals, avenging a loss in that round last March. They then knocked off Archbishop Wood in Tuesday’s semifinals. Coval finished a historic career with 2,123 points and will play collegiately at Davidson.
Guidinger, who became Central York’s all-time leading scorer in December, posted a final tally of 1,621 points for his high school career. He has received a handful of mid-major Division I college offers and plans to make a decision this spring. He'll also join the boys’ volleyball team, keeping a promise he made to late coach Todd Goodling that he'd play for the Panthers as a senior.
“This means a lot to him,” Rill said of Guidinger going out on top, “but it means the world to me. Greg is not only a really good basketball player, but he’s such a good guy too. I promise any college that’s gonna pick him up is gonna get an absolute stud.”
Central York is slated to return 12 of its 14 varsity players next year, with only Guidinger and reserve Boden Pease in the senior class. They’ll remain the team to beat not only in York County but in all of District 3. They’ll want to add a district title, and maybe another state crown, to their list of accomplishments together.
But this group, and this run, won’t be forgotten anytime soon.
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