By Zak Wolf
Elimination games aren’t complicated. Two things can happen: your team either wins or goes home, it’s that simple. In these do-or-die scenarios with everything on the line, the only thing that’s needed is for your team to have more points than your opponent and you win the game. It doesn’t matter how ugly the game is, as long as when the final buzzer sounds, your team is ahead, you survive and advance.
Penn Wood didn’t play the prettiest basketball on Friday night against Spring-Ford, but it got the job done. The Patriots defeated the Rams 40-38 in a double overtime thriller in the District 1 6A playbacks, with the game deciding who went to states and whose season would be ended.
The game was tightly-contested all night, with neither team leading by more than six points at any point. Penn Wood was able to squeak out a victory on Spring-Ford’s home floor to clinch their second state playoff berth in three seasons after missing out last year.