By James Varano
The Manheim field hockey team pulled off an upset to open its District Three Tournament last Wednesday. Opening against the top seed, Dallastown, at Northeastern High School, the 17th-seeded Barons shocked the Wildcats, 2-1, in overtime.
The match went scoreless until the Wildcats scored with 11:58 left in the second half, but the Barons knotted the game at 1-1 and forced overtime when sophomore Brittiny Griffith scored at the 7:31 mark.
The Barons then finished off the upset, when senior Cassandra Wagner, who will attend Old Dominion University next year, notched the game winner at 8:17 in the overtime period. Wagner was credited with the assist. Senior goalkeeper Molly Hershey returned to play earning the victory in goal.
The win sent the Barons into the quarterfinals against Hempfield last Saturday morning at Comets Field in Millersville.
The eighth-seeded Black Knights rallied from two goals down to slip past the Barons, 3-2, to move on to the semifinals and drop the Barons into the consolation brackets where they will try and battle back to earn the fifth and final qualifying berth for states.
Manheim started off with a bang, getting first-half goals from senior Logan Hollinger (5:36) and junior Sarah Bomberger (2:07) to take a 2-0 lead into the intermission. Assists were credited to junior Nancy Saylor and Wagner.
Hempfield, however, came alive in the second half, cutting into the Barons lead with Katy Fuhrman's goal at 6:59. The Black Knights then needed just four minutes to tie the game at 2-2 on a goal by Lauren Brooks.
After Brooks' match-knotting goal, Laken Gehris deflected a shot over the Hershey's (three saves) head into the cage just six minutes later to give Hempfield the come-from-behind 3-2 victory.
The Baron football team upped its record to 9-0 and clinched the Section Two championship for the second straight year with a 47-0 romp over the Lebanon Cedars last Friday evening at Elden Rettew Stadium in front of a nice crowd of 1,354.
Manheim would draw first blood after senior Dan Trafford intercepted a Lebanon pass on the Cedars' opening drive to set up junior Tyler Griffith's 31-yard touchdown scamper with 10:03 left in the first quarter. The PAT was blocked leaving the Barons up, 6-0.
On their next offensive possession the Cedars moved the football into scoring position with 4:37 left in the opening period, but came away empty when they missed a field goal wide left.
The Barons added to their lead in the second quarter when senior fullback Joe Gruber, who had several tough runs throughout the game, plowed into the end zone from two yards out. Taylor Groff added the extra point making it 13-0 with 8:50 left in the first half.
Manheim got on the board again when senior quarterback Justin Gorman (8-of-16, 136 yards) hooked up with senior and Penn State bound Dakota Royer on a splendid pass completion that set up Gorman's four-yard keeper into the end zone. The PAT was again blocked to leave the score at 19-0.
Manheim struck once again in the closing minutes of the second quarter after Gorman connected on a huge pass play to Trafford that set up another Gorman one-yard touchdown run that made it 26-0 at the half.
The third quarter went scoreless, but the Barons started the fourth with a bang after senior Joe Brubaker picked off a Cedar pass with 7:28 remaining in the game. The Barons took advantage of the turnover with Gorman going one yard for his third rushing TD of the night to make it, 33-0.
With 6:06 left in the game the mercy rule kicked in after Griffith rumbled 40 yards for his second touchdown of the game that boosted the score to 40-0.
Manheim tacked on another touchdown in the final minute in the game on senior Lowen Johnson's 14 yard ramble that set the final at 47-0.
The Baron defense, top ranked in the L-L League, held Lebanon to just 181 total yards and posted its fifth shutout of the season. Senior Brett Barber sparked the defensive effort with a team-high eight tackles.
The team has a current overall record of 9-0.
"Our defense did very well against Lebanon's passing game, which was one of our concerns," said head coach Mike Williams. "We kept them under 200 yards. Winning the section title was one of our goals and are next goal is to win the district title. Brett Barber did a nice job and had some nice hits in the inside."
After a 3-0 defeat to Hempfield in the opening round of the L-L League playoffs, the Baron boys soccer team hosted Red Land last Thursday evening at Elden Rettew Stadium in the first round of the Class AAA District Three Tournament and saw their season with a 2-0 loss to the Patriots.
The third-seeded Barons trailed the 13th seeded Patriots 1-0 at the end of the first half after allowing a goal 19:50 into the match.
Red Land added a second goal at the 24:15 mark of the second half to seal the upset.
The Patriots outshot the Barons and forced an advantage in corner kicks, while their defense turned in a solid effort to preserve the shutout.
Manheim junior goalkeeper Seth Gentry had two saves.
The Section Three Champion Barons finish the season, 13-3.
Baron seniors who wore the maroon and white uniform for the last were Ben Lapp, Tanner Beck, Caleb Wise, Vinny Ferrari, Joe Dietrich, John Stoudt, Seth Crouse, Sheldon Myer, Zach Hosler, Dylan Garvey, Brandon Stoner, Taylor Groff, Taylor Hart, Joey Mattos and Alex Dombach.
"Red Land was a good team, but we did some things well," said head coach Matt Schwartz. "We did ok with making some adjustments, but Red Land was ready to take advantage of them. Our group of seniors, most of whom started for us for four years, will be difficult to replace."
The Lady Baron volleyball team nicely bounced back after a loss to Hempfield in the quarterfinal round of the L-L League Championships to blank both Ephrata and Warwick in District Three seeding matches last Tuesday night at Warwick High School.
Manheim triumphed over the Mountaineers 3-0 (25-22, 25-19, 25-11), and the Warriors 3-0 (25-19,25-17, 27-25) to take the fourth seed out of the L-L League.
At Northern York High School last Saturday the Barons knocked off Carlisle in a District Three preliminary match, blanking the Thundering Herd 3-0 (25-21, 25-13, 25-18).
The Barons were sparked by senior Alleigh Dunagan, who turned in an impressive performance with two serving aces from the back line and 10 kills at the net. Senior Destinee Horning also had a nice game defensively for Manheim with four blocks.
"It was a tough match against Hempfield with some of our kids out," said head coach Craig Dietrich. "Tuesday against Ephrata, with still one of our kids out, we played pretty well. It was a good rebound in our second game Tuesday against Warwick. We swept Carlisle 3-0, playing a good match with both Destinee Horning and Alleigh Dunagan having good nights."
The Baron cross country runners competed in the Class AAA District Three Championships last Wednesday at Parkview Golf Course in Hershey.
The boys team had two runners while the girls had just one.
Mason Hepner turned in Manheim's best finish, placing 135th in the boys Class AAA race with a time of 19:02. Christian Nolt was 324th in the field of 343 runners with a time of 21:20.
Dallastown's Chuck Lockwood won the race with a time of 16:36.
Corinna Good was the lone Baron in the girls Class AAA race and placed 152nd of 312 runners with a time of 23:21.
Leigha Anderson of Cumberland Valley won the race in 19:35.
None of the Barons qualified for the PIAA championships this Saturday back in Hershey. The last Manheim runner to run in the state meet was Brogan Garvey last year.
