By Mona Steinhauer
Warwick's girls cross country team went undefeated through the regular season last year. They won the Lancaster-Lebanon League meet and went on, without their number one runner, to finish third in the district and were tenth at states. This year they set their goals even higher.
"We wanted to go undefeated and defend our League Meet title," said head coach Ed Nixdorf. "And we want to place higher in both the district and state meets."
The Warriors are on their way to accomplishing those goals.
Last Tuesday at Ephrata Middle School the girls did in fact remain undefeated and successfully defending their L-L League Meet title with a team-low 33 points. They placed four runners in the top ten and brought home seven individual medals.
Freshman Emily Cameron led the way, finishing second overall in 19:06 while senior teammate Alli Mannon was right behind, grabbing third in 19:09 despite collapsing just before the finish.
"Alli went down again but right at the finish," stated head coach Ed Nixdorf. "She was extremely dehydrated."
Also placing in the top ten was junior Emily Graber (7th, 20:15) and Kristi Reidenbaugh, a sophomore who was 10th in 20:17. Seniors Kristine Gutshall (11th, 20:21) and Alicia Spotts (18th, 20:36) and junior Alicia O'Donel (21st, 20:49) followed.
"Manheim Township, who was second with 85 team points, also earned seven medals but they didn't have four runners in the top ten," Nixdorf noted.
Elco senior Kayleigh Perry was the individual champion with a time of 18:52.
"Our front runners, Emily and Alli, are good but then we have that gap," he added. "I'd like to be able to close that 1:10 split but right now we're tapering for districts and gearing up for Cumberland Valley. They're ranked around fifth or seventh in the state," Nixdorf continued. "And I think we can compete with them."
The boys' race, which got underway at 5 p.m., was another story.
"We had a great week of practice but this was our worst race of the year," Nixdorf stated. "The guys weren't happy and we can't put our finger on what went wrong so we'd like to forget and move on. It didn't help that we were missing our No. 3, Carlos Rivera (hip injury). We finished 11-10 and were hoping to beat at least one of the teams that barely beat us but it didn't happen. Again, we are very young (everyone in the lineup is new to cross country) but we were really off as a team. It was a surprise."
Leading the boys' to their 14th place team finish was sophomore Bryson Long (43rd in 17:59). He was 13 places and 24 seconds from a medal.
Also placing was Matt Devlin (63rd, 18:24), freshmen Austin Minnich (67th, 18:30) and Ben Mueller (70th, 18:35), Eric Swisher (83rd, 18:48), Jon Beyer (91st, 18:58) and Evan Hollinger (92nd, 18:59).
FOOTBALL
In a tale of two halves, Warwick's attempt at an upset fell short this past Friday in Millersville as the hosting Comets prevailed 14-12.
Penn Manor (4-1, 7-1) dominated the first half and Warwick (2-3, 4-4) returned the favor, staging a comeback in the second half that wasn't quite enough.
Manor jumped out to a 14-0 advantage in the first 8:40 of the game. Quarterback PJ Rehm found Demetrius Dixon for a 30-yard touchdown that opened the scoring. On their next possession, LaRonn Lee sprinted for a 21-yard score that pushed the lead to 14-0 with 3:20 left in the first frame.
The Comet defense held the Warriors to 51 yards in the half and the offense tallied up 174 yards of their own offense.
"We just struggled a bit in the first half," stated head coach Bob Locker. "We tried to throw the ball and struggled a bit there and it took us a bit to adjust to a new defensive look that they showed us and there were a couple things we just didn't execute. But we challenged them at the half and they did a tremendous job," he added. "They fixed what needed to be fixed and played great."
But the second half was a different story. Warwick went on the attack and the Comets fumbled. The Warriors cut the led to 14-6 when Chris Schaffer scampered seven yards late in the third frame. The PAT was no good.
Midway through the fourth, Schaffer came through again, this time punching in from a yard out. Warwick went for the two-point conversion in an attempt to knot the score. Schaffer got the call but was stopped at the 2 as the Comets held on to their 14-12 lead with 6:10 left on the clock.
Still enough time to pull off the upset. Warwick recovered the second of Manor's two fourth quarter fumbles at the Comet 28 with 4:31 left in the game. The Warriors, settling for a 31-yard field goal attempt by Adam Zipko, were denied as Manor's Garrett Young busted up the middle and got a piece of Zipko's attempt.
In the second half, Warwick's defense held the Comets to 44-yards on 14 plays. The offense, led by Schaffer (140 yards), who has rushed for over 130 yards for three weeks straight, ran 34 plays and rushed for 143-yards.
"We didn't do anything fancy in the second half," Locker said. "We lined up and went right at them. Maybe in hindsight we should have done that a bit sooner. The kids put forth a tremendous effort. They did everything they needed to do but came up short. I feel bad for them but I'm proud of them."
The Warriors take on Hempfield this week. "We're pretty healthy right now so hopefully we'll be ready to go," Locker said. "We still have an outside chance to qualify for districts but we need to beat Hempfield."
VOLLEYBALL
In their last league match of the season, the Warriors, as expected, blanked McCaskey 25-11, 25-12, 25-3. The win leaves them with a 7-3 Section One record behind undefeated Hempfield (10-0) and ahead of Manheim Township (6-4). They will compete in the Lancaster-Lebanon League playoffs, which get underway this week.
"This was a chance for us to get a lot of girls playing time," said head coach Jen Wanner. "And we were able to work on some things we've been practicing on.
"Individually, freshman Emily Buckwalter had a great match and finished with 10 kills on 12 attempts," she added. "She has a bright future.
"And Jess Geib, our setter, continues to be solid and consistent."
Senior Courtney Keller led with nine aces and Erin Whitney and Greta Weidemoyer each settled for one block.
"In the first round of playoffs, we will get the winner of the CV/Garden Spot game," Wanner said. "I wouldn't mind seeing CV again, since we lost to them earlier this year."
FIELD HOCKEY
Under normal circumstances, head coach Bob Derr would have wanted to be competing in the Lancaster-Lebanon League playoffs held last Thursday. But this year wasn't the case. Monday they picked up a double overtime victory over Lancaster Mennonite in the first round of league playoffs. Tuesday they were bounced from the tournament with a 2-1 loss to Donegal. Friday, in a District Three Class AAA play-in game, they got by Northern York 4-1.
"If ever there was a reason it was a good thing not to be playing Thursday, this year was it," said Derr. "There are just no more easy games. Everyone is bringing everything they've got."
Back to the LMH game. The Warriors had opportunity to win that game in regulation but didn't get it done. Finally, Bethany Ashworth notched the game-winning goal with 2:42 left in the second
overtime.
Warwick, the Section One runner-up, controlled the bulk of the game. They held a 14-5 edge in corners and led 10-3 in shots on goal and missed a penalty stroke with 11:19 left to play in regulation.
"We just could not finish," Derr stated. "And missing that penalty stroke, our second miss of the season, did not help. Probably the only positive from the game was that we got to play in overtime. That was only our second OT game this year. The first was against CV and it didn't last that long," he explained. "This gave us a chance to practice it.
"Individually, Kayla Laughman was impressive," he added. "She has been injured some and seeing limited action but she played a good amount and played well at the back position."
Tuesday, in the semifinals, the Warriors were knocked from the league tournament in a 2-1 loss to Donegal. "This is the third straight time we've lost to them, and by the same score," noted Derr. "I feel we played with emotion and adrenaline but in the second half, we ran out of gas. It was a very competitive game and we got to rotate our midfield and some other players got some playing time but the bottom line was that the double overtime game against LMH took its toll. We had some moments but we couldn't execute and they have Laura Gebhart. Her ball control is phenomenal."
Donegal jumped on board a quick 1:31 into the game and they scored, what proved to be the game-winner, just 2:03 into the second half.
Warwick answered Donegal's opening goal when Jocelyn Scillia redirected Emily Harting's shot on goal at the 5:16 mark. But that was all they could muster.
The Indians held an 11-7 advantage in corners while Warwick finished with a 9-8 edge in shots on goal.
In the District play-in game Friday, the scoring started early. Ashworth struck first a quick 1:08 in but N. York returned the favor an even quicker 48 seconds later.
With the score tied at 1-1, the Warriors went on to score three unanswered goals and advanced to Tuesday's round with a 4-1 final score.
Whitney Reddig chipped in with two first half goals and Ashworth scored again at the 8:59 mark of the second half to account for the scoring.
The Warriors dominated play with a 12-2 advantage in corners and led 9-1 in shots on goal.
