(EDITOR’S NOTE: Since May of 1999, the Times News Sports Department has featured an On This Date practically every day, highlighting an event that happened in the past. With the coronavirus putting a halt to sports locally and nationally, the On This Dates have been expanded to the stories that actually ran in the next day’s newspaper. Today’s On This Date story is from March 23, 1976).

By Joe Boyle

Sports Staff Writer

WILKES-BARRE - “A team that won’t be beat ..... can’t be beat!”

The element of determination behind this time-honored athletic axion was never better exemplified than last night, when Weatherly High School staged an eleventh hour comeback of unbelievable proportions in defeating Elk Lake, 67-66, in overtime, thereby advancing to the PIAA Class A Eastern Final against Bishop Klonowski of Scranton.

The latter, coached by Joe Haggerty, defeated Schuylkill Haven, 68-58, in the nightcap Tuesday in Wilkes College Gym, Wilkes-Barre, and will now clash against Coach Tony Antinozzi’s Wreckers Thursday at 11 a.m. in the Hershey Arena. The state’s grand finale will be seen on the same Chocolate Town court Friday at 2:15 p.m.

Win or lose on Thursday, Weatherly will play again Friday. Should they win, they’ll be meeting the Western champ in the 2:15 p.m. title game. In the event of a loss, they will go against the Western runner-up at 12:45 p.m. Friday.

Tickets for the Thursday and Friday games went on sale at the Wrecker school today.

Richardson in Hero’s Role

It was a Frank Merriwell finish by reserve Randy Richardson in the final two seconds of play which game the Anthracite League’s defending District 11 champs the propulsion to victory in as breathtaking a finish as has ever been recorded.

Richardson substituted for Ernie Powell when the Weatherly center left the game with 2:11 left on five personal fouls, the third Wrecker casualty in that category. The Warriors, led by All State candidtate Bob Stevenson, had a 57-50 lead when Randy came on the court and it appeared to be just a matter of time, considering Weatherly’s personnel losses due to foul infractions.

However, the Carbon County team refused to give up and, when Richardson scored on his eight-foot bank board shott off Charlie Scott’s miss, the roof almost caved in from the noise generated by the Wrecker fans. Richardson gained control of the ball just before his shot by grabbing it from the hands of 6-4 Stevenson. It was Randy’s sole basket of the contest.

Asked how he felt after his game-winning basket, Richardson replied, “Fantastic, just fantastic; I still don’t believe I did it.”

Antinozzi Praise

Coach Antinozzi was lavish in his praise of the gutsy performance of his protegees in running their season record to 22-5. It was the first loss in 25 games for Coach Mike Wallace’s Susquehanna County team which has its headquarters 25 miles northwest of Scranton.

Unable to contain his jubilation, Antinozzi said, “What a finish. Our boys just refused to quit. It was sheer guts that won this game, pure guts.”

The triumph was all the more remarkable when viewed in the light that Elk Lake led almost completely throughout, except when Joe Kurtz scored off Ernie Powell’s miss early in the game as the Wreckers assumed a momentary 2-1 margin. It was not until the start of the extra period that they resumed the lead.

It was Powell who effected the 61-all stalemate at the conclusion of the regulation game with two charity line swiahers as the clock showed 1:02 left. Then ensued a do-or-die effort by both clubs, using pressing defenses which caused steals and counter steals in fast succession. With six seconds remaining, Alan Oakley missed a chance to ice it and the Wreckers’ offense moved downcourt with Powell making a Herculean midcourt toss for glory at the buzzer. It was short and to the left of the basket.

Stevenson Great

Stevenson, who went scoreless in the first period, thanks to Weatherly’s effective box in defense, erupted in the second stanza, hitting for 13 of his club’s last 15 points. He kept right on going and had 18 points in the final eight-minute period, scoring on deftly-executed maneuvers which had to be seen to be appreciated. Only a junior, he will be back with the Warriors, who were Eastern runners-up last season, and his 34-point accumulation last night, while slightly off his 36.68 average for the 1975-76 season, brings his total in this campaign to 951. He now has 1,716 tallies in ending his second season as a varsity campaigner, having hit for 765 points (28.33) during the 1974-75 season.

Coming back from 13-point arrearages (35-22) in the closing seconds of the third period made Weatherly’s victory all the more phenomenal. They were down, 17-8, at the end of the first period, staying behind, 35-24, at halftime and trailed, 41-38 going into the finale. Ed Hadzick having pared the lead at that point on a nice fake.

Then came the finale and it was apparent the Wreckers were not about to lie down and play dead. Thet were determined to make it to the finish line in good form, notwithstanding the fantastic scoring challenges of Mr. Stevenson. He opened the finale with a drive that described description. For a big man, who missed an opportunity to become the state’s fourth player to score 1,000 points in one season through his team’s elimination, Stevenson scored 38 points, one above his average, and drew raves from the fans all night, as Elk Lake suffered through a close call in Friday night’s 75-70 conquest of District 1 champion Swarthmore.

Superb Performance

He was no less brilliant against Weatherly and, on several of his scoring drives, he was aloft for a seemingly long period of time, causing one fane to remark, “He should be penalized for flying too high.” On other occasions, his strong and quick moves around the basket were productive of important points, moving with great deception, outstanding head and body fakes and great body control.

Weatherly’s orange and black combine had trouble finding the basket at first. Otherwise, they would have won by a more comfortable margin. Elk Lake, meanwhile, was hitting with amazing accuracy from outside, with Frank Licata, 5-7 senior, and Jim Hunsinger, 5-10 junior, doing the swishing honors. The Warriors threw a box and one defense at the Wreckers in contributing to their erraticity from the field.

It was quite a different picture at the end as the Wreckers started hitting the net. Long shots by Gary Gerhard and Scott’s larcenies for resultant scores combined to help break the back of the Warriors. Both Scott and Gerhard fouled out of action before Powell and it was this deficiency which posed the greatest threat to Weatherly’s security as the game progressed toward finality.

Kurtz High With 20

Joe Kurtz was a tower of defense and he finished high with 20 points, with Hadzick and Scott also in double figures with 14 apiece. Gerhard finished with nine and Powell, after a slow start, was good for eight before bowing out.

Wrecker Defense Tough

It was Weatherly’s effective 2-3 zone defense which gave the Warriors fits at strategic points in the torrid action. As a result, Elk Lake had 33 turnovers to Weartherly’s 21.

Stevenson was tops in rebounds with a grand total of 22, but he was charged with no less than 10 turnovers in what Coach Wallace said was one of his poorer performances of the season. Even at that, he was sensational in hitting 13 out of 23 tries from the field.

A shin bone injury sustained by Weatherly’s Kurtz last Friday night did not slow his down appreciably, considering his 20-point performance.

A big disappointment was Elk Lake’s 6-7 junior, Mark Schulze, who tallied only four points.

As for the Wilkes gym being the site of this all-important game, it was one of the PIAA’s biggest calamities from the standpoint of good public relations. Hundreds of fans, including a lot of Weatherly fans, were left at the gate, unable to secure admittance, and one of these summed it up best by stating angrily, “This is a disgrace.”

The gymnasium, from the standpoint of fan attendance, was totally inadequate and many had to sit on the floor close to the baselines at the ends of the court. In some cases, fans had to be asked to stop from in front of the floor level scoreboard so cogested was the crowd.

Then, too, the gymnasium was extremely hot, causing many fans to remove jackets early.

WEATHERLY

Kurtz 9-2-4-20, Scott 7-0-0-14, Hadzick 7-0-0-14, Powell 3-2-2-8, G. Gerhard 4-1-2-9, B. Pfeiffer 0-0-0-0, Richardson 1-0-0-2, Neidlinger 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 31-5-8-67.

ELK LAKE

Hunsinger 3-3-4-9, Schulze 1-2-2-4, Wooden 2-0-1-4, Oakley 2-0-1-4, Stevenson 13-8-16-34, Rezykowski 0-0-0-0, Licata 4-3-6-11. TOTALS: 25-16-30-66.

Weatherly 8 16 14 23 6 - 67

Elk Lake 17 18 6 20 5 - 66

Officials: Ken Rozelski and Ed Law.