Hempfield moved into the top of the Section One standings with Tuesday's triumph at home. In an exciting finish, the Black Knights downed McCaskey 62-59, improving to 5-2 in the Lancaster-Lebanon League (6-2 overall) while the Red Tornado fell to 4-2 (4-6). It was Hempfield's third victory in its last four games against league rivals.

The scoring pace picked up intensely in the fourth quarter with McCaskey outscoring the Knights 21-20. Hempfield's 34-26 halftime advantage began to dwindle away with the Red Tornado outscoring the home team in the third period as well.

Hempfield's Ryan Hilton and McCaskey's Jonathan Byrd were the top scorers in the game with 20 and 19 points, respectively. Hilton made a pair of three-point baskets as did Miguel Pena, who scored nine points in the game. Davion Edmond-Greene poured in 11 points for the Knights.

The Knights were coming off an easier victory from Saturday, February 6, when they stopped Penn Manor 62-43 at home.

A dominant opening period in which the Knights outscored the Comets 19-5, set the tone. The Comets did match the Knights point-for-point in the second stanza. However, Hempfield maintained the lead the rest of the way.

Hilton and Pena tied for the game's top scoring total of 18 points. Each of them made three treys. Brandon Hagel added eight points.

GIRLS' BASKETBALL

The girls' team soared into first place with a 48-30 win at McCaskey on Tuesday, February 9. The win was Hempfield's fourth in a row and third straight against a Section One rival.

In the third quarter, the Knights began to pull away from what had been a two-point halftime advantage. They outscored the Red Tornado 24-8 in the second half.

Jess Weinoldt's 12-point game led the way in scoring. Lauren Moffatt made a pair of three-pointers and racked up 10 points. Autumn Cook and Orianna Edmond each poured in nine.

The previous day, the Knights visited Penn Manor for a Section One clash. The Knights' 21-3 dominating first quarter gave very little hope for the Comets to return. Hempfield went on to win 54-30.

In the balanced attack, Cook led all scorers with five points, hitting twice from three-point range. Weinoldt and Moffatt each chipped in with nine points while Edmond finished with eight.

WRESTLING

What are the contributing factors to the success of the Hempfield wrestling team?

Experience? Hard work? Exceptional athletes?

"I think anytime you have success, it's a combination of those things," said head coach Shane Mack, whose team improved to 6-0 in L-L League competition with Monday's defeat of Penn Manor. "Kids are working hard, and we have a lot of good wrestlers.

"It didn't just happen by accident," he added. "We built a solid foundation from the youth program years ago. We definitely have a lot of depth, making sure we get kids in every weight class."

In the 59-7 defeat of Manor, the Black Knights registered six pins, a technical fall and two more wins on decisions.

Those two decisions came at the 106- and the 138-pound matches with Jorden Williams and Clay Gainer, respectively. Williams won by an 8-6 margin while Gainer eked out a 6-5 win against Tanner Stefanick.

Gio Luciano dominated at 113 with a 17-2 technical fall.

"He's a great athlete and very competitive," Mack said of his senior wrestler. "He's very physical."

Braden Edwards (126) and Kamron Fickes (138) each came away with pins. Both occurred in the final 10 seconds of the opening periods and were sandwiched around Gainer's decision.

"Kamron Fickes is having a good a season," Mack remarked. "He's a young kid and has wrestled a lot of good competition.

"Edwards is tough as nails," continued the coach. "He has wrestled a lot for us."

A Penn Manor forfeit followed by Dylan Bard's pin at 152 increased Hempfield's lead to 41-0. Jobeth Plaza pinned his opponent at the 172 bout. Gordy Hoover (215) and Caleb Mussmon (285) also registered pins.

"Caleb Mussmon is only a sophomore," Mack noted. "He's a big kid with a lot of room for growth. That's a tough weight class when you're in 10th grade. But he keeps working hard in practice and continues to get better."

Expanding on the success at Spring Ford and how these non-league matches help, Mack remarked, "We try to make sure our kids are prepared for districts and states. We have a good balance of competition. We're seeing a lot more duals."

SWIMMING

Swimmers from the L-L League schools converged on the Roy G. Snyder Natatorium at Wilson High School for the two-day league championship meet, Thursday and Friday, February 4-5.

The Hempfield girls finished third in the team standings with 64 team points. Manheim Township won both the girls' team crown (110 points) and the boys (123 points). The Hempfield boys finished eighth.

"I'm really proud of my girls this year. They rose to the occasion," said Hempfield coach Casey Lear. "We had some great swims and dropped over a minute and a half collectively as a team."

One key to the squad's success was how well the relay teams performed.

In the 200-yard medley relay, the quartet of Caroline Schweigert, Ella Root, Maggie Shaffer and Emily Taylor combined for a second-place time of 1:50.38.

The 400 freestyle relay team of Shaffer, Rory Cantwell, Cassandra Christoffel and Anna Koger took fourth place in 3:44.04.

Koger also anchored the 200 free relay that included Taylor, Cantwell and Micaeh Wiglesworth.

"We have a deep squad of girls so we can mix and match where we need to in the relays," said Lear.

Shaffer and Taylor took fourth and eighth, respectively, in the 200-individual medley with times of 2:12.89 and 2:15.88. Shaffer finished fifth (54.42) in the 100 butterfly.

"Maggie Shaffer is a 'lead by example' kind of girl," Lear commented. "She shows the other girls what it means to compete on a higher level. She's also good about going anywhere we want her to."

Root had a phenomenal time of 1:05.72 in the 100 breaststroke - an event won by Donegal's Jordynn Park at 1:05.00. Taylor finished seventh (1:10.37) in the breaststroke.

In the 100 backstroke, Schweigert's time of 1:01.91 was good for sixth. Lillian Farmer finished eight (1:03.20) and also took sixth (5:27.72) in the 500 freestyle. Christoffel was eighth in the 200 free (2:02.15).

The boys' team had two fifth-place finishes. In the 200-freestyle relay, Jackson Root, Ardan McHugh, Xander Hughes and Tobin Marco posted a time of 1:35.22.

The 400-free relay (3:38.58) earned fifth with Root, Gavin Krawizcki, Jase Colino and William Russell.

The 200-medley relay (1:46.89) earned seventh with Hughes, Colino, Krawizcki and Kiran George.

George also earned eighth (1:03.10) in the 100 breaststroke.