By Mona Steinhauer
Their goal from the start of the season was to win the District Three Cross Country Championships. Last Wednesday, on a rain-soaked Parkview Golf Course in Hershey, that goal became a reality as the Warriors knocked off defending champs Cumberland Valley 63-135. Governor Mifflin was third (184), Chambersburg took fourth (199) and Manheim Township settled for fifth (214).
"It's been or goal all year," said head coach Ed Nixdorf. "I told the girls to dream big and that dream just got bigger."
The Warriors placed seven runners in the top 33 as they cruised to the district title.
"Because of the rain and the condition of the course, we weren't allowed to walk it before the race, but I could tell as they warmed up that they had their game faces on," Nixdorf said. "They just ran their best race of the year and on a difficult course. I am just amazed at how they ran and the condition of the course was not favorable for anyone. They stepped it up a notch."
Alli Mannon (19:49) led the Warriors, in a field of over 300 runners, with a second place effort and just 14 seconds behind Cumberland Valley's defending champ Leigha Anderson.
"Alli went out hard and was in second place after 500 meters," recalled Nixdorf. "She held that the whole way."
Freshman Emily Cameron placed ninth for the Warriors in 20:30, followed by Emily Graber (13th, 20:43), Kristine Gutshall (15th, 20:47), Alicia O'Donel (24th, 21:02), Kristi Reidenbaugh (30th, 21:08) and Alicia Spotts (33rd, 21:13).
"I thought we'd bring home maybe four medals, but we have six," Nixdorf said. "And Alicia missed one by three seconds so you can't ask for anything more than that.
"Emily Cameron was out sick and did not practice the six days before the race," explained Nixdorf. "She did get weaker as the race went on but hung on. I don't think the average runner would have held up like she did.
"Graber and Gutshall both got in position and ran with CV's No. 2 girl until about the two mile point and they pulled away. I think we got stronger as the race went on. Everyone kept moving up.
"Alicia has been up and down and was sick a couple weeks ago but she was solid and Kristi, who has been our No. 4 most of the year, was sick," he added. "Plus she got knocked down twice early in the race but she stuck with it and kept moving up and earned the last medal. It's a tribute to her that she stuck with it.
"And hats off to Alicia Spotts who really battled for a medal," Nixdorf said.
Everyone battled, the course and the competition, and the result was Warwick's first District Three Girls' Cross Country Championship.
"It felt really good. A dream come true," said Nixdorf.
The boys' team ran the last race of the day at 4 p.m.
"Our goal was to run better than we did at the league meet, which was one of our worst races of the year," said Nixdorf. "We wanted to finish in the top 25 and we were 23rd out of 46 teams. Plus we wanted to beat some of the teams that beat us during the league season and we did by placing ahead of L-S and Cocalico, who beat us in the league meet.
"This is a young group, with no seniors and no runners with varsity experience," he added. "So this was a positive way to end the season. We met all of our goals and our gap was less than it was all year."
Sophomore Bryson Long led the Warrior pack with an 18:40, good for 99th place. Freshmen Ben Mueller (131st, 19:01) and Austin Minnich (136th, 19:03) weren't far behind and wrapping up the top five was junior Matt Devlin (148th, 19:10) and sophomore Andrew Roth (200, 19:37). Also competing in a field of 343 runners were juniors Evan Hollinger (221st, 19:48) and Eric Swisher (229th, 19:51).
FOOTBALL
With a chance to qualify for districts, Warwick's football team needed to beat Hempfield this past Friday night in Lititz and they got the job done.
Chris Schaffer carried the bulk of the load, rushing for 173-yards on 31 carries and scoring once. This was the fourth straight game that the senior running back has rushed for over 130 yards.
After a scoreless first quarter, Warwick (3-3, 5-4) settled for a 31-yard field goal by Adam Zipko midway through the second frame to go out in front.
Hempfield (2-4, 4-5) looked to challenge, moving to the Warrior 16, but a Matt Rissinger interception ended the threat.
The third quarter, despite a fumble recovery by Kurtis Zimmerman at the Warrior 45, was scoreless as well. Then, in the fourth, the Warriors got things rolling. With good field position, Schaffer pushed his way to the 25. Two plays later, quarterback Jordan Donmoyer (7-for-10, 62-yards) found Andrew Newsome with a 21-yard scoring strike and a 10-0 Warwick advantage.
On their next possession Schaffer came up big again, this time sprinting 46-yards to the five. Two plays later he went around the right end for the touchdown.
Hempfield finished with 89-yards of offense on 33 plays and turned the ball over twice.
The Warriors racked up 182-yards on the ground and added 77 more via the air.
They end the regular season looking for an upset of Section One champ Wilson (6-0, 8-1) this Friday.
SOCCER
Having been denied in qualifying for the Lancaster-Lebanon League playoffs, the Warriors are making some noise in the District Three Class AAA tournament instead.
In round one on Thursday, in Lititz, Warwick scored twice in the first 17 minutes to eliminate a physical Carlisle (14-6) team. The Hurd advanced with a 2-1 effort against Penn Manor that came down to penalty kicks.
This game, however, was decided early. Shaun Mearig broke the ice with a goal in the ninth minute of the game, assisted by Tyler March, and Adam Zipko added a bit of insurance when he made good on a penalty kick at the 16:24 mark.
"We played very well in the opening 35 minutes," said head coach Dale Stoltzfus.
The Hurd did have a couple of opportunities but the defense and keeper Alex Sieber (7 saves) preserved the shutout. The Warriors out shot Carlisle 11-7 and led 7-2 in corners.
"I felt we had the better play but we worked hard for that shutout," Stoltzfus said.
Saturday night, at Northeastern High School, Warwick survived Chambersburg (11-9-1) 2-1 to advance to the semifinals, which get underway Wednesday at Hershey against Central Dauphin. Game time is slated for 7:30 p.m.
"The bulk of the game really was played between the 18's," Stoltzfus said.
Ryan Bertrando sparked the locals this time, netting one goal and dishing out an assist. His first goal was set up by March's corner kick that was redirected by Rotella and put in the back of the net by Bertrando.
Not 13 minutes into the second half, the Warriors made extended their lead to 2-0 when Bertrando found Asher Klahold who beat a defender and then calmly placed the ball around a charging keeper for a bit of insurance.
"There wasn't much of an angle there," Stoltzfus said. "He did a nice job."
Chambersburg cut the lead in half with a goal in the 64th minute and pushed for the equalizer after that only to be denied by Warwick's defensive play and four saves by Seiber.
"They really pushed in the last 11 minutes," Stoltzfus said. "But the defense made the plays when they needed to."
FIELD HOCKEY
Warwick field hockey and the post-season go hand-in-hand. Their tradition of winning expects qualifying for the playoffs. So an early exit is never expected yet that was the reality last Tuesday in the opening round of the District Three Class AAA playoffs held on a rain soaked Comet Field in Millersville.
Despite outplaying Hempfield (13-5-1) for the bulk of the game, the Warriors suffered a 2-1 defeat, falling to the Section One foe for the second time this season.
"We out played them, out hustled them, out cornered (22-1) them, and out shot (10-3) them but we didn't out score them and that's what counts," said Warrior boss Bob Derr. "Our problem was the penalty corners and not being able to execute."
Hempfield's Katy Fuhrman scored twice for the Black Knights in the first half, converting on Hempfield's first shot off their only corner of the game with just over nine minutes played.
She extended that lead to 2-0 on a breakaway effort with 16:05 left in the half.
Warwick (20-6) finally got on the board when Emma Rissinger redirected a blast by Whitney Reddig from the top of the circle with 12:51 left to play.
"I think in the first part of the game we were playing to see what happens," said Derr. "Then I took that time out with 13:55 left in the first half and our intensity changed. Hempfield got basically nothing after that. We certainly had our opportunities but we came up empty handed. We needed to score to advance and we didn't score.
"I felt we were in the perfect bracket to get to the district finals," he continued. "I really thought we'd get there. The teams in this bracket I felt were beatable."
The Warriors, seeded ninth, needed a 4-1 play-in victory over Northern York to advance to the round of 16 against No. 8 seed Hempfield. The last time Warwick lost in the first round of districts was 2003.
VOLLEYBALL
In the opening round of L-L League playoffs at CV last Monday, the Warriors fell 3-1 to Garden Spot. Game scores were 25-23, 23-25, 21-25, and 17-25.
Warwick came out strong and looked to take control, sprinting to a 19-9 game one advantage and surviving a Spartan comeback to escape with a 25-23 final.
"I think we got too comfortable," said head coach Jen Wanner. "Garden Spot did not play to their potential but they finished that first game strong and carried that momentum through the rest of the match. They raised their level of play and we did not. We seemed out of synch and at this point in the season we shouldn't be."
Tuesday the locals hosted Manheim Township, Ephrata and Manheim Central in District Three seeding matches. The Warriors outlasted Township 3-2 and then fell 3-0 to Central, leaving them as the fifth seed for the district bracket.
"It was a long night," said Wanner. "The Township match was mentally draining, lasting almost two hours. It's always such a battle with them and it's always close."
Games scores were 25-12, 23-25, 24-26, 25-13, 16-14.
"We split with them during the regular season by almost identical scores," Wanner added. "We played very well, much better than we did against Garden Spot. Lauren Sproles and Tara Greiner each finished with 17 kills and played well. We were much more consistent in this match.
"But I think it took its toll when it came time for Central," she added. "We did lose to them five games two weeks ago but this time we were mentally and probably physically drained. But being the fifth seed in districts leaves us in a decent position."
Saturday the locals traveled to Central York to take on Muhlenberg in Preliminary Pool play of the District Three tournament. Warwick prevailed 3-0 (25-15, 25-18, 25-19) and will compete in pool play against Red Lion, Gettysburg and Hempfield on Tuesday.
