the previously undefeated District 6 champion, 64-48<\/a>, on Tuesday night in the PIAA Class 2A boys basketball semifinals.<\/p>\nThe Blue Devils (22-6) and their fans celebrated the program\u2019s first trip to the championship game since winning it all in 1932. They will face District 7 champion Sewickley Academy on Friday at 2 p.m. at the Giant Center in Hershey.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen Ryan came in, you know, he is our brother, and it wasn\u2019t just him; this was for coach (Art) Lucarelli,\u201d said Old Forge senior Cameron Parker, who scored 36 points and had three assists. \u201cThen, we have the fans right behind us, and they were erupting after every shot, after every stop and play. The fans really pushed us, and we came out with a win.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is all we have ever dreamed about. The Hershey\u2019s Kisses are flying on the court and getting the Hershey\u2019s bars. That is what it is all about. Now that we are in the final, we are going to give it all we have.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
After taking in all the emotion of the pregame, the starters each went over and hugged DeMarco after they were announced to the crowd.<\/p>\n
Old Forge wasted little time establishing control of the game. The Blue Devils raced to an 11-0 lead and never looked back.<\/p>\n
That early haymaker did more than stun United, which won its first 30 games and came off a dominant 10-point win over Paul Robeson in the semifinals.<\/p>\n
When the first quarter ended, Parker had 12 points, and Logan Fanning, the Blue Devils\u2019 6-foot-7 force in the paint, had eight, including a pair of two-handed slams. Old Forge fans were unglued, and the lead stood at an imposing 20-7.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had a big lead, but we knew they could swing a big punch,\u201d Parker said. \u201cThey were undefeated for a reason. They can hit big shots. We were confident that we could keep the lead, because our defense was great and we were making shots.\u201d<\/p>\n
Naturally, things slowed down slightly in the second quarter, but Old Forge stayed on the attack. United had no answers for Parker\u2019s quickness and athleticism or Fanning\u2019s size inside. In addition, Camren Krushnowski handled the ball with speed and grace against the Lions\u2019 pressure, as he took on the role that DeMarco had all season.<\/p>\n
Again, Parker and Fanning fueled the offense, combining for 11 points, Arthur Askew drilled a key 3-pointer and the Blue Devils maintained a 34-19 advantage at the break.<\/p>\n
In the first half, Old Forge made 13 of 26 shots and 4 of 10 from beyond the 3-point line. Fanning, the Lackawanna League Division II defensive player of the year, swatted four shots.<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew that I had a little size advantage, especially with their big guy getting into some foul trouble early,\u201d Fanning said.<\/p>\n
United is a district champion, too, and was more effective against the Blue Devils defense in the second half. Carter Payne scored six of his team-high 17 points that helped cut the deficit to 45-33.<\/p>\n
A quick surge in the fourth saw Ryan Felix and Dmitri Worthington hit a couple of 3-pointers, and tension mounted as United closed to within 51-41 with 5 minutes to play. Following a three-point play from Parker, Brody Burkett and Payne scored four straight, and Worthington swished another 3-pointer after a layup by Fanning, and Old Forge fans started to get anxious with a 56-48 lead.<\/p>\n
Old Forge settled down, and Parker and his disciplined dribbling and speed forced the defense to foul. He was money from the free throw line, going 8 for 8 down the stretch and finishing 11 for 11 in the game.<\/p>\n
\u201cFree throw shooting is huge,\u201d Parker said. \u201cYou never want to do it in practice. Our coaches force us to do them for 10-15 minutes, and it\u2019s boring. That is how you win games, though. Making those free throws represents how hard we practice.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the end, Old Forge, which endured a daunting regular-season schedule and stormed through the District 2 and PIAA playoffs to this point, proved the more battle-tested team.<\/p>\n
Parker was brilliant under the spotlight, and Fanning finished with 22 points, 12 rebounds and six blocks. Nick Salerno had four rebounds, Krushnowski had two rebounds, two assists and two steals, and Askew scored three points in the historic triumph.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis means so much because we have been playing together since we were little,\u201d said Fanning, who could not fight back his tears while being mobbed by fans after the game.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have always dreamed of this. We wanted this so bad. We knew that we had to play hard. We practiced hard, and we are so happy about going to Hershey.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have gotten so much support from our community, and we are so grateful to represent them.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nick Salerno, right, with injured teammate Ryan DeMarco after Old Forge defeated United on Tuesday in the PIAA…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":141814,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[305,178,180,179,726],"class_list":["post-141813","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-high-school-sports","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141813","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=141813"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141813\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/141814"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=141813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=141813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=141813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Nick](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/STT-L-OFB-03.jpg\"\/)
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