Teamwork — and trust — laid the foundation for Central York basketball's state championship season

When it looked like Central York's state title was slipping away, Ryan Brown Jr.'s focus sharpened.

Parkland had flipped a double-digit deficit into a two-point lead with four minutes remaining in the state championship basketball game at Hershey's Giant Center on March 23.

Brown was Central's fifth-leading scorer this season. He'd started strong but entered a slump after sustaining a concussion in December. A week earlier, head coach Jeff Hoke chewed him out during practice, urging him to shape up. But with the season hanging in the balance, his coaches and teammates gave him their unwavering trust.

All eyes were on Brown as he calmly dribbled the ball up the court.

He passed it to a teammate, got it back and let it fly.

His 3-point shot from the top of the key — just beyond the free-throw line — dropped gently into the net. Central York reclaimed a one-point lead. The Panthers never trailed again and won their first-ever PIAA title.

“I'm a guy who likes the ball at the end of the game,” Brown said. “When we need a big bucket, I bet on myself every time.”

In just two varsity seasons, Brown showed a knack for the big moment. Fourteen months before the state final, he was a freshman thrown into the ocean and asked to swim. He stood at the free-throw line with 20 seconds left in a one-point overtime game at York High, blocked out the noise of a frenzied crowd and swished two foul shots to help secure a victory. Even back then, it felt like the start of something bigger.

A whole heck of a lot happened in those 14 months.

The Panthers won the 2023 York-Adams League crown but dropped tough road games in the district and state playoffs. They brought nearly everyone back and harbored higher expectations than any local team in recent memory. They lived up to the hype and rolled to a repeat league championship, only to find themselves “shell-shocked” after a home loss to Red Lion in the district quarterfinals. But in a fairytale twist, that setback fueled a run for the ages in the Class 6A state tournament.

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Then it was all over, and Central York escaped by the slimmest of margins to beat Parkland, 53-51, in Hershey. Intensity, belief and a shred of doubt gave way to jubilation, gold medals and a water-soaked celebration in the locker room.

They’ll tell stories for years to come about the first-ever York County public school to win a PIAA hoops title. They’ll reminisce about this assembly of talent, with three established superstars flanked by a loaded supporting cast. Greg Guidinger, a 6-foot-7 senior, became the program’s all-time leading scorer in December and finished his sterling career with a state title. Junior guard Ben Natal could be in line to break Guidinger’s record next year. And Ben Rill, a 6-8 junior who rejoined the Panthers in 2022 after attending prep school as a freshman, now has exactly what he came back for.

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Brown’s big moment, however, was a final encapsulation of what made these Panthers unbeatable when it mattered most. When defenses threw the kitchen sink at the big three, it left Brown or sophomore playmaker Brooklyn Nace open. Sophomore Ryan Jackson and freshman Doug Layer Jr. always seemed to step up when called upon. Then there’s Saxton Suchanic, nicknamed “Seatbelt” for his defensive prowess both in basketball and football, where he’s a power-conference recruit at cornerback.

At the center of the championship operation is head coach Jeff Hoke, an energizer bunny of a 54-year-old who’s worked in fitness equipment sales for decades and wears suits on the sideline — almost always with an orange tie for school spirit. He’s been known to run sprints with players during practice. He’ll have an upbeat conversation with seemingly anyone at any time, but he’s a competitor at his core. He’ll get mad if he loses to his brother in checkers. Central’s losses stick with him far longer than the wins. And all he could do as the Panthers missed four straight foul shots in the last 1:01 to give Parkland a chance was watch, pray … and then breathe a sigh of elated relief.

“I love it. It’s awesome. I’m happy for the kids. But honestly, it hasn’t totally sunk in yet,” Hoke said nearly two weeks after the state final. “And I think it’s because of the way it ended — the fact that we missed foul shots down the stretch and I was having a heart attack. I was so worried, and it’s like, ‘OK, we got through it, now what’s next?’”

Nothing is next. No games remain. Central York is at the mountaintop.

‘MAKE EVERYBODY BETTER’

Thirty-seven years ago, Hoke was a standout player at Trinity under coach Larry Kostelac (who’s still with the Shamrocks four decades later). He made the last 49 free throws of his high school career — which ended in the 1987 PIAA semifinals — and went on to play at Moravian College. His first high school coaching stint came at Camp Hill. He stepped away for a few years, resurfaced at Palmyra in 2007 and landed in 2008 at Bishop McDevitt, where he went 92-60 in six seasons with three PIAA playoff appearances. 

Work got in the way in 2014. Hoke received a promotion that came with a heavier load and more travel. He made the anguishing decision to resign in September 2014, leaving a McDevitt team that went 27-3 in his final season. He relocated to North Carolina, making basketball connections across the East Coast via his sales job, but didn’t seriously consider a coaching return until moving back to Pennsylvania in 2020.

The Central York job opened right after Hoke came back. It was the one he wanted. He admired how well longtime athletic director Marty Trimmer ran all of Central’s programs; by chance, he and Trimmer golfed together at an outing in Shippensburg in August 2019. “I put my full-court press on,” Hoke said, and he was hired in June 2020 to replace Kevin Schieler. Hoke started his own business — AvaFitness1127, named for his 4-year-old daughter — that September and has juggled work, basketball, family and a 45-minute commute from Hershey to Central York for the last four seasons.

Hoke took over a team coming off a 24-5 season that featured a York-Adams League title and the third state playoff win in program history. A big senior class returned with lofty aspirations in 2021 — inspired by the football team’s run to the PIAA title game that fall — but the Panthers went just 12-7 in a snakebitten pandemic season. They never had Beau Pribula, who broke his foot in the state football final. They waited on Taylor Wright-Rawls, who broke his thumb in that same contest. Nolan Hubbs, Kai’Ryn Brown and Judah Tomb wrapped their careers in the first round of districts. The breakout star was Guidinger, who averaged nearly 16 points as a freshman. (Greg’s older brother, Gabe, graduated from Central in 2020.)

The ensuing season brought even worse luck. Guidinger sprained his ankle on opening night. Senior Isaiah DeShields suffered a season-ending knee injury two days later. “We were 1-10 and everyone thought I was a terrible coach and didn’t know what I was doing,” Hoke said. The Panthers then won 10 of their final 11 games to finish at .500, but it wasn’t enough to make the league or district playoffs. There were bright spots, though. Natal started all season as a freshman and emerged as a foundational piece. Suchanic made an impact after joining varsity midway through his freshman season.

It’s easy to wonder how that winter would have gone if Rill were around. The rising freshman big man spent the summer with the Panthers but opted just before the school year to enroll at Westtown School, a prep powerhouse in West Chester. Hoke was steadfast in his support, even purchasing a streaming service to watch Rill’s games. Rill’s parents were often in the stands at Central.

Then, while Hoke was at a restaurant in New York with a client in the summer of 2022, Rill called to say he was coming back.

“I almost fell out of my chair,” Hoke said. “I bought the whole bar and restaurant drinks that night, I swear to God. I was so excited because I knew it would make the team and everybody else better.”

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Rill’s return gave Central York four potential all-stars, but it would be a young rotation with guard Ethan Dodson as the lone senior. And when Dodson broke his wrist against Father Judge that December, two freshmen — Brown and Nace — were thrown into the fire. But the young talent stepped up. Guidinger stayed healthy and won York-Adams Division I Player of the Year. Natal and Rill were D-I first team all-stars. The Panthers’ habit of overcoming slow starts earned them the “Cardiac Cats” moniker from Hoke.

Central went 15-1 against Y-A opponents and 7-7 outside the county in 2022-23. The Panthers opened with a 19-point loss at Reading, which went on to win the Class 6A state title. They had five losses by three or fewer points, including in the district quarterfinals at Hempfield. They couldn’t keep up with District 1 runner-up Spring-Ford in the first round of states, losing by 10.

“It really was everybody getting to know everybody,” Hoke said. “I don’t think people realize how well we did that year with how young we were … but the experience they got was incredible.”

The pieces were on the board, but the championship puzzle hadn’t been completed. Yet.

‘SO PROUD’

Central York’s three-month, 18-day odyssey to Hershey began with a bang. 

The Panthers welcomed Reading to their home gym on Dec. 5, 2023, and put on a clinic in the third quarter en route to a statement victory. Nace — just returning to basketball after going 11-1 as Central football’s starting quarterback — led the star-studded offense with 23 points off the bench.

The Panthers had arrived.

Central went 19-2 in the regular season. Both losses came in December, and only one was at full strength. Guidinger broke the program’s scoring record, set by Rob Keller in 1986, on Dec. 28 and repeated as D-I Player of the Year. The Panthers secured a second straight league title and entered the district playoffs on a 15-game winning streak.

The wins put a hefty target on their backs. Opponents all gave the Panthers their best shot. They heard the chatter all year — via social media and word of mouth, from students and adults alike — about how good they were supposed to be, and how anything less than a championship would be a letdown.

“The pressure that they’re under to win is astronomical,” an emotional Hoke said after a 63-45 win over York Suburban in the county final on Feb. 16. “They’re 15, 16, 17-year-old kids that everybody expects to win all the time. It’s terrible. It’s my job to take that pressure off them.”

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The letdown came a week later against Red Lion. The division rivals had played two close games in the regular season, including a Feb. 8 thriller that Central won 64-62 on a Natal buzzer-beater that may or may not have gotten off in time. The No. 8-seed Lions flustered the top-seeded Panthers from the jump, and with the game tied in the final seconds, Guidinger reached in and fouled Red Lion’s Joe Sedora. The all-star senior split his free throws, and with Guidinger fouled out, Central’s final possession went awry. The Lions celebrated a 66-65 upset, while the Panthers were left to lick their wounds.

“That loss felt like we lost by 30, but we lost by one point in one of our worst games of the season,” Guidinger said. “It just was not a good game for us.”

Hoke lives close enough to the Giant Center — the site of the District 3 and PIAA finals — to see it when he walks his dog in the morning. For a couple days, he couldn’t bear to look at it. He regained his optimism after a spirited practice that Sunday night, though. Central smacked Central Dauphin in the consolation bracket two nights later to secure its spot at states, then held off Cedar Crest to clinch the fifth seed, which it also held a year ago. 

During that season-changing week, Panther players “took ownership” of the situation and practiced harder than ever. Guidinger became a more vocal leader than ever. And it led to a March unlike any other.

“For three and a half years, he knew the game, taught the game and played the game,” Hoke said of Guidinger. “But when he finally decided, ‘We’re not losing again,’ he took that leadership role to another level, and that’s what we needed.”

Central York knocked out District 1 runner-up Garnet Valley on the road to open states. Then, in a surreal stroke of serendipity, came a rematch with Red Lion. In front of a capacity crowd at Dallastown High School, the Panthers got their revenge. Natal, Guidinger and Rill combined for 62 points in a 70-54 exorcism of a win.

The Lions, of course, weren’t the final boss. Hoke worried about a comedown against Upper St. Clair, the Pittsburgh-area District 7 champion. A day before that game, he reached a boiling point with Brown and threatened to kick the sophomore out of practice for low effort. Brown responded with 17 points as Central triumphed in Altoona.

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“I was so tired of him not performing to his potential and letting him get away with his natural ability,” Hoke said. “I said it in front of everyone — ‘I love you, RB, but I just can’t have this.’ And he came back, practiced his butt off the last 45 minutes of practice and had the game of his life against Upper St. Clair.

“I was so proud of him.”

Everything came full circle against Reading. Rill dropped 28 points, Guidinger added 22 and Central York won 79-65 at Warwick on March 19 to knock out the defending champs. The Red Knights were much more polished than they were on opening night. But so were the Panthers.

In the final game of PIAA championship weekend, Central led Parkland 34-24 at halftime and stretched the lead as high as 13. But the Trojans, who started five seniors, tied the game by the end of the third quarter. Central led by five with 1:01 left, only for missed free throws by Guidinger and Nace to leave the door wide open. The defense, however, stopped the Trojans from busting through.

As Parkland’s last-second shot clanked off the rim, Guidinger grabbed the rebound and hurled the ball to the ceiling. He and his teammates rushed to midcourt. They celebrated with the student section, lined up to receive their gold medals and took the party to the locker room, emptying their water bottles on their head coach’s suit.

“He was extremely happy,” Brown said of Hoke. “He’s just a great coach, and we really wanted to do this for him.”

MORE TO COME

The 2023-24 Central York boys’ basketball team featured two seniors (Guidinger and Boden Pease), seven juniors, four sophomores and a freshman. About half the team has a driver’s license, Hoke said. The group included all kinds of personalities, from the boisterous to the reserved. But they came together through basketball. It’s a tight-knit bunch — you’ll often find some of them sitting together at lunch or catching up in the hallway. 

And now they’ll be connected forever. 

Central’s depth of talent is a gift and a curse. Players who’d start at any other high school in the area are stuck on the bench. It’s easy for teenagers in such a position, let alone their parents, to grow disgruntled. But the Panthers, and their families, bought in. Hoke raved and raved and raved about the “unselfishness” of his stars, how much the second team pushed the first team each practice and how much everyone simply cared about winning.

Hoke pushed the right buttons as the director, but he had plenty of help in the control room. His three lead assistants — Drew Markle, Ricky Mosely and Dyllon Hudson-Emory, who played for Hoke at McDevitt — have been with the program for multiple seasons. Then he persuaded York Area Hall of Famer Gary Sutton to lend a helping hand this year. Sutton, who won a 1987 state title with Columbia and captured several AAU championships, was particularly hands-on with Rill, guiding the junior through the physical and mental challenges of the season.

Rill won a Pennsylvania Independent Schools Athletic Association state title with Westtown in 2021, but he was merely a role player on that team. He came home to be a normal high schooler, compete with his friends and chase the spotlight differently. 

“This is what I came back for,” he said after the title game, a gold medal over his chest. “You look at the talent, you look at the coaching staff … the work ethic on this team is unreal, and I’m just super happy to be back.”

Central York held its banquet two nights after the state final. The team visited elementary schools in the district with the trophy last week. Players still hang out both in and out of school; Hoke keeps in touch via frequent texts “because I miss them and I’m crazy.” Open gyms begin in May.

Guidinger will play basketball in college but is still mulling a slew of Division I and II offers. He joined Central’s decorated boys’ volleyball team after the hoops postseason, keeping a promise he made to the late Todd Goodling that he’d play for the Panthers as a senior with AAU hoops in the rearview. There’s no question his absence will be felt on the hardwood in 2024-25, but he’s as confident as anyone that Central York can sustain its historic success without him.

“There’s a lot of guys that did so much work behind the scenes that are gonna be able to step into some really big roles next year, and the guys are only gonna get better,” Guidinger said. “We’ve just got so much talent that there’s so much distraction and you can’t pick one person (on defense). So as long as they become even more disciplined and look for that right mismatch or that right opening, they can beat anybody.”

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Rill and Natal will be the focal points. It’s not hard to see Brown and Nace becoming double-digit scorers and vocal leaders. Jackson and Layer are prepared for bigger roles, as well. Hoke is hopeful Suchanic returns rather than enrolling early in college for football. Byron Pinkney was in the rotation this season before battling injuries. JoJo Woodard could be poised for a breakout. There’s a frontcourt role potentially available for 6-5 Eric Tati. Nassir Ruppert and Adzmir Ludvig are explosive athletes. And that’s before the JV standouts and rising freshmen join the competition this summer.

“I won’t have to ever coach them to work hard, because they’ve got the taste of what it takes to get there. And they want that,” Hoke said. “And with everybody coming back, everybody’s gonna be fighting for playing time because they’re gonna want to be on the court to fight for another title.”

And, hey, there are still a couple of boxes left unchecked. 

“Central York still hasn’t won a district championship, so we’ve got that to go after.”

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