By Greg Schneider
It is not often that a high school football team can say it played to a split in a week, but the Golden Knight gridders can say that after taking to the gridiron twice last week.
Hosting Susquehannock last Monday in a game postponed from the previous Friday due to weather, the Golden Knights rolled to a 23-2 victory and then last Friday, in more rainy weather, lost a Homecoming heartbreaker, 16-12, to visiting York County Tech.
In Monday's matchup of two squads trying to establish themselves in the Division II hierarchy, the Golden Knights proved to be considerably further up the pecking order than are the Warriors.
With both sides starting slowly the first quarter went scoreless, but then the Knights took advantage of two short-field opportunities set up by Warrior turnovers in the second quarter to take command of the game.
The first break led to a 25-yard touchdown run by Andy Siple (23 carries, 125 yards) and a Susquehannock fumble on the ensuing kickoff set up a two-yard scoring pass from quarterback Mark Holloway (5-11-1, 44 yards) to Jared Shaffer (1 reception, 2 yards) that made it 13-0 with 5:58 left in the first half.
After the break the two squads again came out sluggish and the third quarter expired without a point scored, but the action heated up some in the final frame when the Knights got on the board twice with a touchdown and field goal.
The Warriors actually got the first points of the fourth quarter when they failed to score on four plays from inside the Eastern five-yard line, but then sacked Holloway in the end zone for a safety to make the score 13-2 with 10:14 left in the game.
If the Warriors thought the safety might jumpstart a comeback effort those hopes were dash four minutes later when Jared Smeltzer (15-80) broke loose on a 30-yard touchdown run to boost the Knights' lead to 20-2.
Four minutes later kicker Erik Moore added a 30-yard field goal to his two extra points to set the final score at 23-2 with 2:14 remaining.
The Knights finished with 235 yards on 191 rushing and 44 passing, while the Warriors racked up 173 on 78 yards rushing and 95 passing.
The Knights, who usually hammer their opponents with a relentless running attack fueled by Smeltzer and Siple, found themselves on the receiving end of a ground onslaught last Friday when the Tech Spartans, led by Davon Talley's 23 carries, 165-yard performance, rolled up 232 yards rushing in their 16-12 Homecoming spoiler.
Both squads stuck to their ground games as the windy, rainy weather made throwing (and catching) the ball a real adventure. Only seven passes were thrown in the game - all of them by Holloway - and only two were caught for 20 yards. The Spartans' quarterback, DeJon O'Conner, did not attempt a pass in the contest. But then, with the running of Talley and Jerymie Stonier (5-56), he did not have to throw the ball.
With the two sides pounding away at each other, the game actually came down to four extra points - two two-pointers successfully completed by Tech and two two-pointers that came up empty for the Golden Knights.
Tech drew first blood when Talley broke free and outraced his blockers and the entire Eastern defense 90 yards to pay dirt in the first quarter. Marcus Holley added the two-point run to put Tech up 8-0 with 1:35 left in the opening period.
The Knights had the opportunity to tie the contest late in the second quarter when Smeltzer (21-51) went 11 yards to the end zone to cap a 49-yard, 10-play drive, but Holloway's pass on the two-point try misfired and the Knights went into the intermission down by two, 8-6.
Eastern then went ahead in the third quarter on Siple's (15-88) 32-yard run, but again the Knights could not get the ball in the end zone on the two-point try and had to settle for a 12-8 lead with 8:21 left in the third period.
The lead, however, did not last long - just three plays and 85 seconds to be exact - as the Spartans answered back quickly on their ensuing possession.
Starting at their own 31 after Moore's kickoff, the Spartans got 15 yards on two runs by Talley before Stonier broke loose for 54 yards and the game-winning touchdown. Holley again added the PAT run to make it 16-12 with 6:56 left in the fourth quarter.
The Knights had one shot left at pulling out the victory and gave it a good try on their final possession, going more than 50 yards and getting to the Spartan 20 before stalling and turning the ball over on downs.
The Knights finished with 177 yards on offense, 157 on the ground and 20 through the air on Holloway's 10-yard completions to Drake Dunlap and Siple.
With the split the Knights are now 1-3 in Division II and sit fifth behind West York (3-0, 7-0), York Suburban (4-1, 6-2), Littlestown (3-1, 6-2) and Kennard-Dale (2-1, 4-3) and ahead of Northeastern (1-4, 3-5) and Susquehannock (0-4, 0-8).
SOCCER
The Eastern boys soccer team came close to picking up a YAIAA Championship last Saturday, but came up one, somewhat windblown goal away from achieving the goal.
After pitching a 1-0 shutout at West York in Wednesday's semifinals at Susquehannock to earn some retribution from the Bulldogs for an earlier tie and loss, the Golden Knights faced Susquehannock in Saturday's finals at Northeastern and suffered a tough, 1-0, defeat to see the championship slip away.
The championship match, played in wind and rain in the first half and relatively calm sunshine in the second, turned on a first-half goal by Dakota Connor with just 54 seconds left in the half. The goal came on a long, wind-aided kick by Michael Rouse that bounced high over a couple of Eastern defenders and went to Connor, who then did the rest, putting what proved to be the game-winner in the net.
The Knights had a tough go in the first half as they were playing into the teeth of a brisk wind that made clearing the ball out of their defensive zone very difficult and when they did manage to get the ball across midfield, the Warriors would often just loft a high kick and let the wind do the rest, taking it deep into Eastern territory.
But, the second half, however, was played in even weather conditions and the Knights still could not dent the tough Susquehannock defense.
In Wednesday's semifinal battle with West York, the Knights had the better of play, finishing with 7-3 advantages in both shots on goal and corner kicks, but had to make a lone, first-half goal by Josh Smeltzer hold up for the win.
Stephen Flinchbaugh had three saves to earn the shutout in goal for Eastern.
Smeltzer's goal came at the 19:24 mark when he took a perfect feed from Donovan Schaeffer and directed in into the center of the goal past Bulldog keeper Blake Shaffer.
The win avenged an earlier 3-3 tie at West York on September 15 and a 2-1 overtime loss at Eastern on October 6.
The Golden Knights also completed their regular season last week with a 2-0 win at Biglerville on Monday.
A first-half goal by Adam Beck at 12:51 and a second-half tally by Travis Grove at 3:06 proved to be the difference in the match.
The Knights finished with a 13-5 advantage in shots, while Biglerville doubled them up in corner kicks, 6-3, but could not cash in on the extra
opportunities.
Flinchbaugh went a perfect five-for-five on his chances in goal to post the shutout.
Next up for the Knights is a District Three Class AA play-in date at Big Spring on Monday (Oct. 26). A win there moves them into the first round against third-seeded Schuylkill Valley on Wednesday.
VOLLEYBALL
The Eastern girls volleyball team had a tough week as it dropped both of its matches to see its record slip to 6-5 in YAIAA Division II.
The Golden Knights were at York Suburban on Tuesday and let one get away. After taking a 2-0 lead with solid 25-22 wins in both sets, the Knights saw the win get away when the host Trojans came back to win three strait games to hand the Knights a tough 3-2 (25-22, 25-22, 23-25, 21-25, 7-15) tiebreaker loss.
On Thursday the Knights hosted Division II champion Dover (12-0) and were defeated in three sets, 3-0 (23-25, 19-25, 11-25).
The Knights were led at York Suburban by Alex Rhein (23 assists, 10 kills, 10 blocks, 13 digs), Kelci Scannapieco (21 kills, 10 blocks, 7 assists, 4 aces, 11 digs) and Liz Myers (10 kills, 9 blocks, 9 digs), while Lindsey Arnold (14 assists, 7 kills, 6 digs, 1 ace, 1 block), Kirsten Myers (11 digs, 4 assists, 1 ace), Morgan DeRemer (8 kills, 9 blocks, 9 digs, 3 aces, 1 assist) and Tori Giandalia (3 assists) also turned in impressive efforts for Eastern.
HOCKEY
The Eastern field hockey closed out its season in impressive fashion last Tuesday when it blitzed visiting Littlestown, 5-0, to finish up 3-5 in YAIAA Division II and 6-11 overall.
The match was actually more evenly played than the final score would indicate as the Thunderbolts had their scoring opportunities in the contest, but could not get a ball past Eastern goalie Tina Clawsen, who made four saves to earn the save in goal.
Littlestown forced seven penalty corners, but could not cash in on any of them as the Eastern defense, anchored by Clawsen, rose to the occasion each time. The 'Bolts finished the match with eight shots.
The Knights, who only had three penalty corners, still managed to produce plenty of offensive pressure in the match, firing off 16 shots at Littlestown goalie Carrie Arentz, who stopped eight of the 13 that went on goal. The other five that got past her were the difference in the match.
The Knights took command with two goals in the first half and then added three more in the second to seal up the season-ending win.
Jenna Daugherty did the first-half damage for the Knights, putting what proved to be the game-winner past Arentz midway through the half (15:18) and then added another to make it 2-0 with 9:29 left in the first half.
After the break Cyrena Smith stepped up and took charge, knocking in goals at 22:52 and 17:17 to double the Eastern lead to 4-0. Lenae Walker added the final goal of the match to make it 5-0 with 10:18 left in the second half.
Smith (2) and Kayleigh Peterson were credited with assists on three of Eastern's goals.
The Golden Knights finish fourth in Division II behind West York (7-1, 11-4), Kennard-Dale (6-2, 11-5) and Susquehannock (4-4, 8-4) and ahead of Suburban (0-8, 1-12).
