By Ara Grigorian
The District Three Class AAA team tennis championship was claimed by Hempfield as the Black Knights rolled to a 4-1 victory over Wilson last Tuesday. The match took place at the Hershey Racquet Club.
Junior Hannah Pipkin's victory in straight sets gave Hempfield a team point at number two singles. Pipkin won 6-2, 6-1.
Sophomore Mackenzie Smith took the third singles 6-0, 6-1.
At doubles, it was Kiersten Dussinger and fellow senior Carlie Wetzel winning 6-3, 6-2. Amy Schulz and Jeanette Reno took to the court for the number two doubles. The two seniors blanked their opponents 6-0, 6-0.
Wilson's only point came on Cara Wirth's win at number one singles over Chelsie Yacks.
On Friday, October 16, Hempfield had defeated Central York by a 4-1 score in the semifinals. It was Hempfield's fifth district championship in six years.
In the District Three Class AAA Doubles Tournament at Hershey Racquet Club over the weekend, the title match came down to two pairs of L-L League stars.
The Hempfield pair of Yacks and Smith faced the Manheim Township twosome of Lauren Stauffer and Caroline Barry.
Smith and Yacks defeated Katie Lytle and Marissa Singer of Central Dauphin East 6-1, 6-2 in the first round, while Barry and Stauffer dismantled the Susquehanna Township team of Chris Evangelista and Julia Krispas 6-0, 6-0.
In the quarterfinals, Yacks and Smith were 6-2, 6-1 winners over Julia Seidel and Sami Weisberg of Wilson. Stauffer and Barry came through with 6-3, 6-2 straight set wins over Emma Forster and Madeline Maria of Cedar Crest.
The semifinals pitted the Hempfield duo against Jennifer Learmonth and Maggie Golden of Central York. Learmonth had eliminated Barry in the opening singles round the previous week in districts.
And Learmonth and her partner did take the first set 6-1 over Yacks and Smith, but the Hempfield duo bounced back 6-3, 6-3, earning a trip to the finals.
Stauffer and Barry blanked Amelia Capuano and Jenna Loubach of Cumberland Valley 6-0, 6-0 in the other semifinal match.
And the Township team kept the momentum going into the title match, defeating Yacks and Smith 6-4, 6-3.
SOCCER
There was good reason to believe that the Lancaster-Lebanon League soccer semifinal match between Hempfield and Conestoga Valley on Thursday was going to be a classic.
The pesky Buckskins had already defeated Hempfield and eventual Section One champion Manheim Township earlier in the regular season.
In the opener of a twin bill played at Penn Manor's Comet Field, the Buckskins and Black Knights had just such a match. When the dust had settled, Hempfield was the team that had prevailed in a match that required all five rounds of penalty kicks before a victor could be announced. Thus the Black Knights advanced to the league title match against Manheim Township. In the nightcap of the semifinals doubleheader, Township had cruised to a 5-0 win over Lancaster Mennonite.
As the clock at Comet Field indicated that 80 minutes of soccer had been played and that regulation time was up, the Bucks and Knights were knotted at 2-2.
Joe Rushemeza's goal midway into the first half gave CV a 1-0 edge. In a span of less than 15 minutes ticking down to halftime, the Knights got goals from senior Blaise Deluca and freshman Russell Canouse to take a 2-1 lead at intermission. Another freshman got into the scoring as Jared Kieffer recorded an assist.
Tyler Martin kept Conestoga Valley's hopes alive by scoring the equalizer 2:39 into the second half. Both teams played scoreless soccer from that point on and through two 15-minute extra time periods. That's just over 67 minutes of shutout soccer by both defenses.
Hempfield goalie Travis Worra made a save on CV's fourth penalty kick attempt. Blasts by Bill Gately and Jason Keifer from the penalty spot put the game away for Hempfield.
The Black Knights improved to 14-4-1 while Conestoga Valley fell to 13-5-2 on the season.
Worra made six saves during regulation and overtime. Matt Hoffman made 10 saves to keep Conestoga Valley in the game until the penalty rounds.
The Knights had reached the semis with a 3-0 victory over Manheim Central in Tuesday's quarterfinals.
Dan Haldeman scored two goals and assisted on another as the Knights stopped a dangerous Barons squad that had lost only one match all year. The Barons fell to 15-2.
Haldeman scored twice in the second half. He also assisted on Matt Bechtel's first-half goal. Worra's evening was relatively uneventful as the Knights shielded him from facing any shots on goal.
The match at Penn Manor was the second of a doubleheader. Conestoga Valley's 3-2 victory over Lancaster Catholic was the opener.
Penn Manor will be the site of the league finale on Monday. Originally scheduled for Saturday night, the match was postponed due to rain.
FIELD HOCKEY
Penn Manor was also the site of the L-L League field hockey quarterfinals where the Black Knights fell to Cocalico 2-0 in the nightcap of a doubleheader.
The Eagles (16-2) posted their eighth straight win while blanking the Black Knights. Donegal (15-3) downed Solanco 3-0 in the opener.
Hempfield out-shot Cocalico 9-8. But goals by Liza Morgan and Kayla High produced the winning margin for the Eagles.
Morgan scored just 22 seconds into the second half. She assisted on Cocalico's first goal with a pass to High in the first half.
Junior Joanna Youssef made six saves in a losing effort in Hempfield's net.
The Eagles went on to face Penn Manor in the semis. The unbeaten Comets blanked Cocalico 4-0 before going on to defeat Donegal in the league championship match at Manheim Central on Thursday. The Comets wrapped up the L-L League portion of their 2009 campaign with a 20-0-1 mark.
VOLLEYBALL
As they prepared for the Lancaster-Lebanon League volleyball playoffs, the Black Knights wrapped up the regular season with a 3-0 win over Cedar Crest.
The quarterfinals begin on Monday night for the Section One champion Black Knights (10-0) and seven other league rivals. On Monday, Lancaster Mennonite will be the site for quarterfinal matches between Ephrata and the home team as well as Hempfield and Manheim Central.
Also on Monday Garden Spot (9-2) will be pitted against Section One runner-up Warwick (7-3) in the opening match of the quarterfinals at Conestoga Valley. The Lady Bucks, who defeated Garden Spot in a tiebreaker match this past Friday to determine the Section Two champ, will host Manheim Township (6-4) in the nightcap.
The semis and finals will shift to Manheim Township later in the week.
In Tuesday's win over Cedar Crest, the Black Knights won by decisive margins of 25-11 and 25-9 in the first two games. They put the Falcons away 25-18 in the third game.
Junior Nicole Pyle served up three aces to lead the Black Knights. Sophomore Rachel Lenz had 11 kills and five blocks to lead the team in both categories.
FOOTBALL
Hempfield and Reading both brought entered Friday night's football game with 2-2 records in Section One as they clashed on a rainy night at Shirk Stadium.
It was a night for the Knights. The Black Knights played the Red Knights who, by the way, have a head coach named Preston McKnight.
Despite Hempfield's 14 points in the fourth quarter, Reading held on for a 20-14 win. The Red Knights improved to 3-2 (4-4 overall). Hempfield (2-3) also came away with a 4-4 overall mark.
Hempfield's Pat Brogan threw for 46 yards while completing six passes. A fourth-quarter 16-yard completion found the speedy Hansel Akers on the receiving end of a touchdown reception.
That touchdown cut the Reading lead in half at 14-7. Later in the fourth quarter, Spencer Lehr, who found enough footing on a wet night to gain 88 yards on 17 carries, ran the ball in from 19 yards out. Dan Haldeman converted his second PAT of the night and the score was tied 14-14.
But it was Reading's final drive that proved to be the difference. Jason Stewart, who gained 113 yards on 30 carries, scored his second touchdown of the game as he pushed his way across the goal line from the Hempfield 1-yard line. The touchdown came with 1:12 left on the clock, giving Reading the 20-14 margin of victory.
Stewart scored in the third quarter from seven yards out. The Red Knights led the Black Knights 7-0 at halftime thanks to a first-quarter touchdown by junior running back Denny Nazario.
Hempfield will be on the road for its next contest. The Black Knights will take on the Warriors at Warwick next Friday. The Warriors also lost a close game on Friday night as Penn Manor scored two touchdowns in the first quarter and hung on for a 14-12 win.
CROSS COUNTRY
Juniors Matt Groff and Natasha Henderson both finished in the top-five as they represented Hempfield in the L-L League Cross Country Championship race at Ephrata Middle School last Tuesday.
Groff's fourth-place pace in 16:59 helped Hempfield finish fifth as a team with 155 points.
Henderson finished fifth among the girls, racing across the line in 19:49. The Hempfield girls finished fourth overall with 163 points.
The top runner in the boys' race was Jon Jackson of Cedar Crest. He finished in 16:44.
Groff was part of a leading pack that included McCaskey's Quichon Walker (16:50), Jackson's teammate Alex Galli (16:56), Garden Spot senior Jesse Mancuso (17:01) and sixth-place finisher Keith Mast (17:04) of Lancaster Mennonite. Elco's Kyle Kessler wasn't far behind, finishing seventh at 17:05 while Elizabethtown's Keith Kreider (17:08) took eighth.
Henderson was a good 17 seconds ahead of fifth-place finisher Emily Martin of Garden Spot. Both Henderson, Martin as well as the rest of the pack weren't able to catch Elco senior Kayleigh Perry, who won for the second year in a row (18:52).
