BLUE DEVIL DISPTACH 10-28-09
Greencastle-Antrim field hockey began its way into the postseason last week, while soccer and volleyball will follow into district play this week.
FIELD HOCKEY
The Blue Devil field hockey team (11-6-2) ventured into new territory Friday and came out strong with a 4-0 win over Kennard Dale during a play-in battle for a spot in the first round of the District 3-AA Tournament. The game was preliminary round action in which 18th seeded G-A advanced to the first round where the Devils will be taking on second seed and unbeaten Bermudian Springs (17-0).
Against 15th-seeded Kennard Dale the Devils went right to work and took a 2-0 halftime lead on a pair of unassisted goals from Sarah Gipe. While the defense continued to hold the Rams out of the cage the offense stayed the course. Brooke Daley and Shyanne Smith each scored in the second half.
G-A led in shots on goal, 11-6, and in penalty corners, 4-3. Kessley Carlson made four saves in goal.
SOCCER
G-A’s soccer team mixed in a little rivalry at the end of its schedule and finished up a 9-7-2 regular season with a solid win over Milton Hershey to claim its spot in the District 3-AA Tournament.
Both the Blue Devils and Waynesboro Indians were vying for district playoff spots when the non-divisional opponents met on the soccer field last week. At the end of spirited play by both squads the Tribe claimed a 2-0 victory, with the second goal coming on a penalty kick late in the game. G-A trailed in shots on goal, 14-10, and in corner kicks, 6-2. Seth Sprague made six saves.
The Devils rebounded for a 2-0 win over Milton Hershey and secured a spot in districts. Seniors Kevin Piper and Jesse Herman each scored unassisted for the goals as G-A led in shots, 14-2, and in corner kicks, 7-1. Josh Spoonhour made one save.
G-A earned the 18th seed in the district tournament and will open against 15th-seeded Juniata (12-3-2) in a play-in round game.
In junior varsity action last week, G-A dropped a 2-0 decision to Waynesboro and finished the season with a 1-0 win over Milton Hershey.
VOLLEYBALL
The Blue Devil volleyball team (15-0, 12-0 MPC-Capital) added yet another divisional crown in completing an unbeaten dual match schedule last week. The effort sends the team into this week’s Mid-Penn Tournament which will determine seedings into the District 3-AA Tournament. That event will be played at Gettysburg with Trinity, James Buchanan and Shippensburg in the mix.
Last week the Devils took care of business with straight game 3-0 wins over Steel-High (25-7, 25-14, 25-9) and rival James Buchanan (25-14, 25-18, 25-21) to cap the perfect regular season at 16-0 and take the Capital Division 12-0.
Against the Rollers, Erin Garns spent a lot of time at the service line, accumulating 22 points and eight aces. Garns also delivered 23 assists. At the net, Sami Rudy delivered 11 kills. Nakita Gearhart added five kills, 10 service points and five aces.
The Devils weren’t about to let James Buchanan keep them from a perfect season and jumped out quickly before ending the match in the minimum three games. Leading the statistics were: Nakita Gearhart, 12 kills, three blocks; Garns, 31 assists, seven aces;
In junior varsity action last week, G-A dumped Steel-High (25-15, 25-7) and JB (26-24, 25-19) in straight games.
Against Steel-High, Dani Morgan tallied four kills and Tiffany Briggs eight assists. Amanda Hammer piked up 13 service points and five aces. In the JB match, Jenna Crunkleton had seven assists and Miranda Sharp had four kills, 13 service points and 11 digs.
MIDDLE SCHOOL
FIELD HOCKEY
The Greencastle-Antrim Middle School field hockey teams are having a busy end-of-season schedule.
After a bit of a slow start against Waynesboro, the varsity Blue Devils poured it on in a 7-1 win Wednesday. Bret Morgan finished off five offensive efforts by the team. Moriah Woods and Kara Timmons each added goals. G-A claimed a 12-3 advantage in shots on goals while the Maidens had a 5-4 edge in penalty corners. Abbie Siner had six saves for the Devils.
The Blue Devils returned to their home field Thursday to take on an always-tough Faust squad and again played tough to a 2-1 defeat on the scoreboard. Timmons hit the cage for G-A and Siner added three saves. G-A led in shots, 4-2, while Faust claimed four corners to three for the Devils.
An aggressive Boiling Springs team came to town Friday and pulled out a 2-1 win.
The junior varsity Devils played to a scoreless tie with Waynesboro. Megan Witmer had two saves in goal. Faust scored a 3-0 victory. Each team had three corner attempts. Witmer recorded two saves.
FOOTBALL
A competitive game played out Wednesday on Kaley Field with the visiting Waynesboro Indians with the homestanding Blue Devils taking an 18-13 victory.
First quarter scores by each team left the Devils trailing 7-6, however in the second G-A found its scoring touch on a Dan Stepler pass reception and a long drive for an 18-7 lead at the half. The Blue Devil defense dominated the second half. Waynesboro only broke the plane on a blocked punt that was recovered and returned to the end zone.
Statistically, the Devils picked up 179 yards rushing on 30 totes and led by Josh Young with 62 and Adam Moore with 59. G-A added 83 more yards through the air on 8-for-12 passing. The defense was led with eight tackles each by Ronnie Stine, Stephen Ernharth and Corey Staley. Cam Chilcote and Matt Montedoro added five hits each.
