By: BRUCE MORGAN Record Express Sports Editor, Staff Writer

Photo by Stan HallManheim Central tight end Taylor Geib, who had four catches for 80 yards last Friday night, fights for extra yardage against CV.

It’s that time of year when teams are starting to watch the out-of-town scoreboard a little bit.

Manheim Central is no different.

And unfortunately for the Barons, although they took care of their own business last Friday with a 49-7 drubbing of long-time rival Conestoga Valley in Witmer behind a solid defensive effort and a three-touchdown night by junior running back Ian Hanselman, they didn’t get a lot of help from others.

Despite improving to 7-2 overall (5-1 Section Two), the Barons gained only two spots in the latest power ratings, inching up to 13th with just one game left on the slate. They host Solanco this Friday at 7 p.m. to close out the regular season.

By: BRUCE MORGAN Record Express Sports Editor, Staff Writer

Photo by Bruce MorganManheim Central's Danae Peters runs to a 23rd-place finish at Districts last Wednesday.

Race to your potential.

That was the message that Manheim Central cross country Shane Adams delivered to his boys runners prior to the District Three Double-A Championships last Wednesday, Oct. 24.

The Barons’ boss thought if they did that, they had a realistic shot to qualify as a team for the PIAA State Meet.

Mission accomplished.

With their top five runners placing in the top 57 at Hersheys’ grueling Parkview cross country course, the Central boys grabbed the Double-A field’s third and final berth to States with 205 points, just ahead of L-L rival Lancaster Mennonite (250). Annville-Cleona won the title with 100 points, following closely by York Suburban (127).

The Baron boys’ accomplishment was the icing on the cake for Manheim Central, following a 23rd-place finish out of 234 runners in 20:41 by junior Danae Peters in the Triple-A girls race which clinched her second straight trip to States.

By: BRUCE MORGAN Record Express Sports Editor, Staff Writer

Photo by Stan HallWarwick senior Emily Buckwalter records one of her 11 kills in the District Three Triple-A playoffs last Saturday, spiking the ball over Wilson's Carley Brew (24).

The Warwick girls volleyball team’s match against Garden Spot last Monday, Oct. 22 in the L-L League semi-finals will go down as their worst loss of the season.

So how did they respond last Saturday in their first action since that setback?

Only by stepping up with what perhaps might have been one of their best defensive effort of the year.

After suffering a first-game 25-21 loss in a District Three Triple-A first-round match, the 10th-seeded Lady Warriors kept 7th-seeded Wilson’s big hitters Jessie Wallace, Carley Brew and Tiki Miller under wraps and took the next three (25-22, 25-16, 25-20) at Garden Spot High School in New Holland to clinch a berth in the quarterfinals.

"We talked about (the loss in the L-L semis) and we said we’ve got to move on," Warwick coach Jen Wanner said. "We laughed about it, we said when it rains it pours. We know that’s not the kind of team we are and we didn’t dwell on it. We had some really good practices this week and everybody knows — it’s lose and you go home."

By: BRUCE MORGAN Record Express Sports Editor, Staff Writer

On the eve of her first-ever trip to the PIAA District Three Triple-A Cross Country Championships last week, Warwick sophomore Amanda Graber had a long phone conversation with her older sister, Emily.

Emily, a 2011 Warwick grad, was certainly a good source of information, considering she had navigated Hershey’s challenging Parkview course while qualifying for States three years in a row during her high school career.

"She was saying, ‘Just keep passing people on the hills,’" Amanda said. "We like to go run hills together, so we know hills better than other girls and she said to sprint the end because that would pick up my place."

It turned out to be good advice.

The younger Graber ended up passing two competitors down the stretch last Wednesday, Oct. 24 and placed 31st overall out of 234 finishers in 21:03 to punch her ticket to the PIAA Championships, which are slated for this Saturday, Nov. 3 back on Hershey’s Parkview course. Overall, the top 33 finishers, including 13 girls who qualified with their team, qualified for States.

By: BRUCE MORGAN Record Express Sports Editor, Staff Writer

When Hempfield defensive back Havier Rodriguez intercepted a pass by Warwick quarterback Zack Hurst in the end zone late in the fourth quarter last Friday night with the Black Knights up 22-14, it looked bleak for the Warriors.

The Knights’ student section began to chant, ‘It’s all over.’

They would soon be silenced, however, as the Warriors made a defensive stand and got the ball back with 1:37 remaining in the game. The outcome, in fact, was far from being over as Hurst directed the offense 58 yards down the field to give Warwick a first-and-goal in the final minute of the contest.

Ultimately, though, a fourth-down pass intended for wide receiver Austin Myers in the corner of the end zone fell incomplete with just :22.6 to go and Hempfield survived for a 22-14 victory over Warwick in a Section One showdown in Landisville.

In less than ideal conditions on Tuesday, Manheim Central’s Haley Goodling capped an excellent sophomore season at the PIAA Triple-A Girls Golf Championships.

With the golfers dealing with a morning downpour at Heritage Hills Resort in York, Goodling fired a second-round score of 93 and ended up placing 16th with a two-day score of 175 (82-93).

Unable to catch any breaks on the front nine, where she finished with a 51, Goodling was nine strokes better on the front nine — a stretch which included pars on holes 11 and 16, along with a birdie on par-5 hole 18. Her back nine score was better than seven other golfers on the par-72 course.

After the first day of competition Monday, Goodling was 11th overall with her solid score of 10-over 82. That included a 4-over 40 on the front nine. With the exception of a double bogey on par-5 hole 7, the Central sophomore showed a lot of consistency, registering pars on holes 2, 4, 6 and 8 and a birdie on par-4 hole 1.

Council Rock North junior Erica Herr won the State Triple-A girls championship with a two-day score of 4-under 140 (72-68). Pennsbury sophomore Jackie Rogowicz was seven strokes behind with a 3-over 147 (73-74) to earn the silver medal.

By: BRUCE MORGAN Record Express Sports Editor, Staff Writer

Manheim Central boys soccer coach Matt Schwartz and his assistants were at a loss for words with the Barons’ players at halftime of their game on Monday night.

The Central boys were executing the game plan, but yet found themselves trailing 2-0 to Lancaster Mennonite, and Schwartz didn’t know what else he could say to his players.

"There was so little to talk about at halftime," Schwartz said, "because I thought we had done so many things so well that it was just, ‘Fellas, keep doing more of the same.’"

The one thing that the newly-crowned Lancaster-Lebanon League champion Blazers might have done better than Central was finish their chances, as they scored on two of their three first-half shots to grab a 2-0 lead at the break and went on to earn a 3-1 win in a District Three Double-A first-round playoff game at Manheim’s Elden Rettew Field.

Unfortunately for Manheim Central, what Schwartz described as their most complete game of the season ended with disappointment, as the Barons closed out the campaign with a 13-7 overall record.

By: BRUCE MORGAN Record Express Sports Editor, Staff Writer

Photo by Preston WhitcraftSenior QB Zack Hurst scans the field for an open receiver in the Warriors' loss to Penn Manor last Friday.

Going into last Friday night’s action, Penn Manor’s Adam Sahd was easily the top-rated quarterback in Section One with 1,039 yards and nine touchdowns.

His most impressive stat, however?

One interception in seven games.

Against Warwick, the Comets’ senior signal-caller was again clicking on all cylinders, throwing for 222 yards and four touchdowns as Penn Manor remained undefeated with a 40-6 Section One win at Grosh Field in Lititz.

Although Sahd’s night included throwing just his second pick of the year, he certainly impressed Warwick coach Bob Locker.

"He’s a good football player," Locker said. "They’ve got a lot of good football players … (Sahd)’s got a real quick release, he reads coverages well. You can tell he’s a three-year starter. He’s fundamentally sound."

Warwick fell to 1-4 in league play (3-5 overall) heading into this Friday’s match-up against Hempfield, while the Comets improved to 5-0 in L-L (8-0 overall) with a showdown looming this week opposite Section One co-leader Wilson (5-0, 7-1).

By: BRUCE MORGAN Record Express Sports Editor, Staff Writer

Ephrata might have had a claim to victory against Manheim Central last Friday if play didn’t resume following a lengthy lightning/rain delay.

"We were kidding about it when the lightning started, ‘We could win the game by who has the first first down,’" Ephrata coach Scott Shelley joked. "We had a great shot."

Four plays into the game, the Mounts did indeed move the chains.

But after Mother Nature finally relented, it was the Barons who controlled the first downs — and the scoreboard — on their way to a 56-0 shutout at Manheim’s Elden Rettew Field. Six different players reached the end zone for Manheim Central, led by quarterback Colin Fry, who ran for two touchdowns and passed for three as the Barons improved to 4-1 in league play (6-2 overall) to remain one game behind first-place Cocalico (5-0, 8-0).

Photo by Preston WhitcraftWarwick senior Abby Wenger, who was recently named a Section One First-Team All-Star, bumps the ball to a teammate in the Lady Warriors' 3-1 win over Manheim Central in last Saturday's L-L League playoff quarterfinals.

While Monday night’s loss in the Lancaster-Lebanon League semifinals shattered the hopes of one goal for the Warwick girls’ volleyball team, this Saturday offers an opportunity to turn the page and start fresh.

The Lady Warriors, ranked 10th in District Three, play seventh-seeded Wilson at approximately 4:30 p.m. at Garden Spot High School on Saturday.

This is the first time in three years that Warwick (12-4 overall) has qualified for the District playoffs. Wilson, which plays in the Berks County League, also has a 12-4 overall record. The Lady Bulldogs were eliminated from their own league playoffs last Saturday.

The Warwick-Wilson match is the second match of a doubleheader. At 3 p.m., second-seeded Exeter Township (14-0) will play the winner of a play-in match between Penn Manor and Carlisle tonight (Thursday). The winners of the two matches on Saturday will play each other next Tuesday.

This past Monday started out as a sweet day for the Warwick girls’ volleyball program.