By Ara Grigorian
The Hempfield volleyball program reclaimed the Lancaster-Lebanon League championship on Wednesday night, winning the league title for the seventh time in eight seasons. And the Black Knights did it by defeating Garden Spot the team that halted their run of six straight L-L crowns last year.
After taking the first game 25-11 at the Manheim Township High School gym, the Black Knights found themselves on the short end of a 20-17 score in the second game and in danger of losing the game when they trailed 24-23.
But with the trio of seniors Megan Forbes, Riley Kratzer and Ellie Ressler helped led the Black Knights back to eventually knot the score at 24-all. Eventually, the Black Knights served up the game-winning point and took the third game 25-18.
"I rely on the seniors a lot, with their maturity," said first-year Hempfield head coach Patrick Shawaryn in a phone interview. "They bring the team together when things aren't going right. We have a number of players that have been there before in states run. It makes it easier for a first-year coach."
The younger Garden Spot squad, which began the season with key players lost to graduation from last year's run, made an impressive run in the playoffs. But the Spartans came up empty-handed against Hempfield.
Lauren Horst had a team-high total of 11 kills for Garden Spot. Forbes had 13 kills to lead Hempfield.
The Black Knights swept Lancaster Mennonite the night before in the semis, which were also held at Manheim Township. Hempfield won by scores of 25-17, 25-17 and 25-12.
Kratzer, Forbes and junior Nicole Pyle each served up a pair of aces on the night. Ressler poured in 16 kills while Forbes and sophomore Rachel Lenz each had three blocks.
Shawaryn also credited his team's success to sophomore Rachel Lenz.
"A lot of people took Rachel for granted," Shawaryn said. "She has been unbelievable and what she has done for us has been beyond what expectations I had for her.
"Her offense is right up there with Ellie in terms in kills," he continued. "We had relied on Ellie and Megan to lead in that. Since other teams have keyed on them, it opened it up for Rachel.
"She's a sophomore and hopefully has a great future ahead of her," the coach continued.
Shawaryn also added, "Nicole Pyle has been amazing for us. She's a junior."
Shawaryn took over from Mike Vogel, who had led the Black Knights to those aforementioned six consecutive league championship as well as the state championship.
"It's nice to take it right away and set the bar high and set the expectations for the program this first year," he said. "Mike had already worked with the seniors and juniors. And the coaching at the jayvee level with Randy Paules has been great.
"We preach perfection and we settle for excellence," added Shawaryn. "They've accomplished that so far."
The Black Knights will be taking it to the next level as they play Warwick, Red Lion and Gettysburg in pool play as the District Three Class-AAA playoffs kick into high gear. The Black Knights will be playing in Pool A.
The L-L League will also be represented in the other three pools. Manheim Township will battle Dallastown, Manheim Central and Exeter in Pool B at Wilson. Garden Spot and Conestoga Valley will be in Pool C and Pool D, respectively.
The top two teams in each pool advance to the next round.
"Once we get through, hopefully, it goes into quarter-finals," Shawaryn said.
FIELD HOCKEY
The Hempfield field hockey team will face off against Hershey in the District Three Class-AAA semifinals this week thanks to a great comeback effort in Saturday's quarterfinal match with Manheim Central.
The Black Knights came back from a two-goal deficit to win 3-2 in the playoff match played at Penn Manor. The Barons had gone up 2-0 on the strength of two early goals by Logan Hollinger and Sarah Bomberger. The Barons, who came in as the number 17 seed, were poised to upset eighth-seeded Hempfield (14-5-1). It would've been the Barons' second upset of the week after they had knocked off top-seeded and undefeated Dallastown 2-1 on Tuesday.
But then the comeback began.
Senior Katy Fuhrman scored 6:59 into the second half, cutting the deficit in half. Lauren Brooks scored to even the score less than four minutes later. Laken Gehris then made it 3-2 17:49 into the second half.
Gehris and Fuhrman also registered assists on a day that Hempfield got the most out of its six shots on goal. In fact, Manheim Central out-shot Hempfield 10-6.
Kayla Denlinger stopped eight of the Barons' shots in the Hempfield goal.
Fuhrman scored twice in Hempfield's 2-1 win over Warwick in the quarterfinal round on Tuesday. She scored on a penalty stroke 9:18 into the match. She made it 2-0 on an assist from junior Lauren Brooks.
Denlinger's six saves and two more by Joanna Youssef staved off the Warriors' (20-6) non-stop attack on the Hempfield net. Emma Rissinger's goal was the lone score by Warwick.
FOOTBALL
The defensive struggle between Warwick and Hempfield in Friday night's Section One football game finally gave way for two Warwick touchdowns and a 16-0 Warrior win on their own home field. The Warriors improved to 3-3 in Section One and 5-4 overall while the Knights' post-season hopes were diminished with their 2-4, 4-5 records.
Adam Zipko's 31-yard field goal midway into the second quarter had given Warwick a 3-0 lead, which held up into the fourth quarter.
Hempfield's defense was able to withstand the big rushing game that Warwick back Chris Schaffer had. Schaffer carried for 173 yards and a touchdown on 31 carries.
The Hempfield offense managed only 89 yards. An interception at the goal line and another fumble thwarted Hempfield's comeback attempt.
Meanwhile, in the fourth quarter, quarterback Jordan Donmoyer (7-for-10, 62 yards) found Andrew Newsome for a 21-yard TD pass. Schaffer had big running plays of 22 yards and 46 yards before scoring on a five-yard touchdown later in the period.
SOCCER
The Hempfield soccer team has been involved in a few exciting games this year. And the trend has carried over to the post-season.
On Thursday, the Black Knights came through Round 1 of the District Three Class-AAA playoffs by out-shooting Wilson 4-3 in penalty kicks. Through 80 minutes of scoreless regulation time soccer and two extra time periods, junior goalie Travis Worra held the Bulldogs scoreless. He had five saves during regulation and two more in the shootout round to help his team edge Wilson 4-3.
The L-L League runners-up, who had lost a 2-0 league title match to Manheim Township on Tuesday, had earned a bye in the play-in round of districts.
In their next match, the Black Knights went up against Central Dauphin in the quarterfinals at Hershey on Saturday.
The Rams' Eric McGinnis scored with 5:53 left in regulation to break a 2-2 deadlock and give Central Dauphin (17-5) a 3-2 victory over Hempfield (15-6-1), thus ending the Knights' season.
Hempfield, with its win over Wilson, had gone to 6-0 in overtime games. But this one didn't quite reach that stage.
Connor Goldsmith gave Hempfield a 1-0 lead halfway through the first half. Zach Hollinger's goal, on a Goldsmith assist, broke a 1-1 tie eight minutes into the second half to give Hempfield another one-goal lead.
McGinnis assisted on a goal by Alex Caplan earlier in the match. Worra made three saves as did his CD counter-part Jonathan Lutz.
CROSS COUNTRY
At the District Three Class-AAA Cross Country Championships, which were held at Parkview in Hershey, two of Hempfield's runners qualified for the state championships.
Junior Matt Groff finished 16th overall with a time of 17:25. He was only a stride or two behind Garden Spot junior Jesse Mancuso, who took 14th with his 17:24 pace.
Also qualifying for the states on the girls' side was junior Natasha Henderson. She finished 12th in 20:41.
Junior Kelley Donovan came in at number 72 with a time of 22:01 but failed to qualify for states.
