BLUE DEVIL DISPATCH 10-7-09
The Greencastle-Antrim athletic teams saw plenty of rivalry action last week and with much success in the process.
VOLLEYBALL
The Blue Devil volleyball team (9-0, 7-0 MPC-Capital) couldn’t have had a better week, coasting through some divisional matches including a rival and capping the week as the champion of a special event.
It was Dig Pink Night at Chambersburg Area Senior High School with the host Trojans, G-A and James Buchanan playing to raise money for Breast Cancer Awareness. The Blue Devils blanked Chambersburg 3-0 with games of 25-18, 25-11 and 25-19. Statistical leaders were: kills, Sami Rudy 12; blocks, Nakita Gearhart, five; assists, Erin Garns, 29; digs, Rudy, Kelsey Gearhart, six.
G-A also had the broom out earlier in the week, sweeping by a 3-0 margin, non-conference Williamsport, Md. (25-10, 25-17, 26-24) and divisional foes James Buchanan (25-20, 25-16, 25-19) and Boiling Springs (25-16, 25-14 and 25-16).
Against Williamsport the Devils got eight kills from Nakita Gearhart and Kelsey Gearhart delivered seven kills and two aces. Garns tallied 27 assists, 16 service points and a pair of aces. Bobbitt contributed nine digs.
It was rivaly time Tuesday and the Devils rocked James Buchanan in straight games. Leading the way were Kelsey Gearhart with 12 kills, Rudy with 10 kills, Nakita Gearhart with four blocks, Garns with 34 assists, Rudy with four digs and five aces.
In the Boiling Springs match Kelsey Gearhart and Rudy each cashed in with five kills. Garns put up 23 assists and had 16 service points. Bobbitt had 11 defensive digs. Kelsey Gearhart and Alex Baughman each had five aces.
In junior varsity action last week, G-A dropped a 2-0 match to Chambersburg with scores of 25-20 and 25-14. Morgynn McKenzie had four kills and Ema Bobbitt had six digs.
The Little Devils also last week got by 2-1, splitting the first two 25-23 and 24-26, before G-A ended it with a 16-14 victory. Leading the way statistically were: McKenzie, five kills; Bobbitt, 15 service points, three aces, six digs; Jenna Crunkleton, nine assists. Against JB the Devils won in two games, 25-20 and 27-25. G-A split the opening games with Boiling Springs, 25-2 and 19-25 before winning with a 15-6 third. Statistically the team was led by Crunkleton with 10 assists and McKenzie with 18 services points and four aces.
FIELD HOCKEY
The Greencastle-Antrim field hockey team (7-5-1, 4-2-1 MPC-Capital) had another solid week with two wins and a tie.
Sarah Jansen scored on an assist from Sarah Gipe with 9:10 to play in the first half against Capital Division opponent Big Spring to collect the win. “We passed the ball well against Big Spring,” said G-A head coach Jen Everetts. “As a team we did a nice job keeping our composure while playing an aggressive Big Spring team.” The Devils led in shots on goal, 9-2, and in corners, 8-7.
Non-conference Fairfield started strongly, but G-A recovered to score a 4-2 win. The Lady Knights opened with a goal in the opening minute, but Tache Smothers hit the back of the cage on a corner play three and a half minutes into the game. Sarah Jansen then scored unassisted and on an assist from Paige Klouser to extend the lead by halftime. Halleigh Benner scored in the second half for insurance. G-A dominated in the circle with 27 shots on goal to four for Fairfield and 15 corners to five. Everetts said, “We created many opportunities for our team to score. We need to continue to work on finishing the ball, especially as we finish our season with divisional play.”
West Perry came to town and scored in the first 10 minutes of the game and it looked like it may stay a 1-0 game throughout until Heather Sanders scored with 28 seconds left for G-A to tie it. An extra period couldn’t break the stalemate. Everetts said, “We played well against West Perry.” G-A equalized the shots in the divisional contest, 11-11, and had a slight edge in corners, 9-8. Kessley Carlson made nine saves.
The junior varsity Devils went 1-1-1 on the week, blanking Fairfield on a hat trick from Dustina Miller; tying West Perry 2-2 and a 2-1 loss to Big Spring. Miller got assists from Brooke Daley, Brooke Strait and Ashton Rockwell on the three goals. Kortney Gipe also scored with a Lauren Durniak assist. Against West Perry Gipe and Rockwell had goals and Shyanne Smith an assist. Rockwell scored on a Strait assists against Big Spring.
SOCCER
G-A soccer (5-6-1, 5-1-1 MPC-Capital) got a satisfactory win over rival James Buchanan and played Trinity toe-to-toe in some key divisional contests last week.
The Blue Devils traveled to James Buchanan and scored just once, but it was enough for the 1-0 victory. Jake Dempsey crossed the ball to the goal and the keeper got a hand on it, but Corey Meyers was there and put it in the cage with 14:40 left in the game. It was the difference in a game where G-A led in shots, 9-6, and in corner kicks, 5-1. Josh Spoonhour collected three saves for the Devils.
Seth Sprague delivered seven saves in holding off the Shamrocks as Trinity held the statistical advantage with 14-6 on shots and 7-1 in corner kicks.
The junior varsity game with JB was also a tie, but a scoreless one. Ditto in the Trinity game that ended as a 1-1 stalemate.
GOLF
The Blue Devil golf team finished its regular season with another second place finish to Trinity at the Cumberland Golf Club. The result improved the G-A record to 35-7 in the Mid-Penn Conference Capital Division, good for second place overall. The Devils handed champion Trinity (41-1) its lone loss of the season.
Corey Main led the charge on the Cumberland links, with a tie for second and a 79. Ben Powers tied for fifth by carding an 82. In a tie for seventh with 83s were Dylan Emmett and jared Grove. Nathan Pool and Andrew Zeger were both at 85 and Dylan Schaeffer completed the G-A scoring with a 93.
Team-wise G-A shot a 412, 10 strokes behind Trinity’s 402.
Next up for the golfers is the Mid-Penn Conference Tournament at Range End Golf Club in Dillsburg.
CROSS COUNTRY
The Greencastle-Antrim cross country teams got to run on their home course last week and came up just short against Gettysburg. The boys dropped a 24-31 decision and the girls came ever so close at 27-30.
In the boys’ meet, Brandon Thrush and Daulton Monn were third and fourth with times of 18:47 and 18:56 respectively. G-A had a surprise entrant as Joe Pasquarello returned to the team after being sidelined all season. He was fifth in 19:02. Michael Hohl was right behind in sixth at 19:11. Also running for the Devils were: Justin Meridith, 10th, 20:43; Zack Husband, 11th, 21:36; Stephen Spinder, 13th, 21:56; and Logan Zehrung, 18th.
Mary Ward led the girls’ team with a second place finish in a time of 21:25 which was just nine seconds off the winning pace. Charmayne McFadden, who shook off a twisted ankle, and Kari Mellott clocked times of 21:37 and 22:16 for third and fourth respectively. Gettysburg packed in the next five runners to fuel their win. Also competing for G-A were Kaitlyn Conner, 10th, and Rebecca Florentine, 11th.
The Blue Devil runners also got on the invitational trail last week with a trip to Boonsboro and the Frank Keyser Invitational. It was a photo finish in the small school girls’ race where G-A’s McFadden was the runner up with a time of 19:17.1, less than a second off the winning pace. Mellott cracked the top 10 with 10th in a time of 20:37.
G-A’s girls were one short of a team. Other finishers were Candace Johnson and Conner.
In the boys’ race, Thrush was solid with a 20th finish in 17:38.7 to lead the team to a ninth place. Fueling the result were: Monn, 27th; Hohl; Meridith; Husband; Spinder.
In news from the previous week’s Carlisle Invitational run, Brandon Thrush and Daulton Monn qualified for the district run.
JUNIOR VARSITY FOOTBALL
The high school junior varsity football team entertained the Hershey Trojans and sent them home with a 20-12 setback. After a 6-6 halftime score, G-A got a fumble recovery from Joseph Dominick and turned it into points on a run from Aaron Bumbaugh. The Blue Devils iced the game with 8:36 left in the fourth quarter as Denton Cordell ran it in from 11 yards out. Grant Murray connected with Cordell on the successful two-point conversion. Justin Root hit Cordell for 61 yards and the opening score.
The Blue Devil's gained 228 yards behind the starting offensive line of Nate Hykes, Seth Izer, Joshua Horenstein, Tyler Mills and Zachary Mowen. Denton Cordell rushed for 56 yards and had 61 yards receiving and two touchdowns. Denver Cordell gained 45 yards on the ground followed by Bumbaugh with 44 and a TD.
The Blue Devil defense was led by Nicholas Potter with six tackles and an interception. Ian Spencer had five tackles followed by Dylan Piper and Frank Juarez with four apiece.
MIDDLE SCHOOL
FOOTBALL
Greencastle-Antrim scored on its first offensive set and fought off the pesky Big Spring Bulldogs en route to a 31-14 victory. It was a game of big plays in the early going and G-A held onto a 16-14 lead at the half. The turning point came in the third when the Devil defense held at its own one yard line and the offense marched 99 yards for a score. The defense kept the momentum going with a turnover and the offense turned it into points to seal the deal.
Total offense for the Devils equalled 423 yards, led by Josh Young, who ran 122 yards on 11 carries. Austin Scott rushed for 83 yards on 16 totes and had two TDs. He tossed a 65-yard touchdown pass to Danny Stepler, who had seven receptions for 147 yards. Gabe Fridgen snagged one pass for 28 yards.
Defensively the Devils got nine tackles from Stephen Ernharth. With four tackles each were Fridgen, Adam Moore and Jeff Seilhamer.
CROSS COUNTRY
G-A’s girls’ team defeated Shippensburg 21-34 and the boys’ team dropped a 19-36 tally. The Devils went one, two and three in the girls’ race with Nikki Garns (12:55), Lauren Powers (14:08) and Tabby Rudy (14:33). Completing the scoring for the winners were Caitlyn Hetrick, seventh; Sammy King, eighth; and Andrea Crider.
For the G-AMS boys, who each secured a personal best time, Hunter Heuer led the way to finish fourth in 14:13 and in fifth was Alex Jackson with a time of 14:51. The rest of the team finishers were: Ben Hockman, Taylor Liddiard, Trent Wilson and Braden Boward.
FIELD HOCKEY
The Greencastle-Antrim middle school varsity teams played just one regular date last week. Both teams dropped narrow 1-0 games to Boiling Springs. The varsity Blue Devils then played in the Central Dauphin Rams Rally tournament. No results were available.
