The girls' tennis team posted two victories and improved to 9-1 (4-1 league) on the year.

It was actually Hempfield's third straight win dating back to Friday, September 16 - a 7-0 blanking of Elizabethtown.

Sophie Carson and Lydia Sullivan were 8-3 winners at number one doubles against E-town while Megan Wendell and Alex Gregory shut out their opponents 8-0. Senea Felices and Lindsay Over came away with an 8-1 win at third doubles.

Carson came back to win at number one singles 2-6, 6-4, 10-5 while Gregory, Sullivan and Wendell were all straight set winners.

The Knights traveled to Warwick on Tuesday, September 20.

The duo of Carson and Sullivan (8-0) started the 7-0 victory over the Warriors. Wendell and Gregory (8-2) and Felices and Over (8-4) made it another doubles sweep.

Carson (6-1, 6-1), Gregory (6-0, 6-3), Sullivan (6-1, 6-0) and Wendell (6-0, 6-0) made it all straight set wins in singles competition.

The same cast of doubles pairings claimed all three matches in the home match with Solanco on Wednesday. Carson came back to take singles as did Gregory and Wendell in the 6-1 victory.

FIELD HOCKEY

In Lancaster-Lebanon League field hockey action, Hempfield faced Warwick on Friday, September 16. The Black Knights' Section One rivals came into this match having outscored opponents 20-3.

The tough task of scoring against the Warriors proved to be the Knights' fate as Warwick claimed a 6-0 victory at Landisville with two goals each coming off the sticks of Adalyn Zimmerman and Faith Bollinger.

Paige Brosig stopped 11 shots in front of the Hempfield cage as the Warriors out-shot the home team 17-2.

Brosig recorded eight saves in Hempfield's next match. Township scored two second-period goals to top Hempfield 2-0.

FOOTBALL

It is a common expression regarding real estate that the three most important things in that field are "location, location and location."

In the game of football, it's pretty much the same thing, except translate the word "location" for the term "field position."

Hempfield kicker Cannon Biscoe and the kickoff coverage team pinned McCaskey deep in its own territory on multiple occasions. One of those possessions, the Red Tornado gave up a defensive touchdown to the Knights as Hempfield cruised to a 42-7 Section One league opening home victory on Friday, September 16.

"Our kickoffs backed them up really far, set us up for good situations" senior linebacker Aidan Shorter said. "We kept pushing them back."

"Special teams - primarily the kickoff team - did a phenomenal job," head coach George Eager agreed. "They set our defense up with great field positions."

Forcing the Red Tornado (1-3) to start deep in their own territory on three different occasions in the first half, the Knights went up 14-0 on a fumble recovery by Brian Williams in the endzone.

"Coming into the season, we felt defense could be our strong suit," Williams said. "Getting those big plays really helped us."

Sylas Cox stripped McCaskey quarterback Matt Remash and Williams recovered the ball for the defensive touchdown. Earlier in the first quarter the Knights scored on a 12-yard rushing touchdown by Jackson Landis - the first of two rushing TD's for the Hempfield quarterback. He increased the lead to 21-0 on a 34-yard dash to the endzone. The Knights went up by four scores on Brody Gerhard's fumble recovery and led 35-0 at the half thanks to an eight-yard TD pass from Landis to Gabe Benjamin.

Landis completed four passes for 76 yards and the touchdown to Benjamin. Cody Gehres, who scored Hempfield's only touchdown after intermission - in a running clock second half situation, completed three passes for 40 yards.

Senior linebacker and running back Grant Hoover said, "You have to give 100 percent effort no matter which side you're on - offense or defense. On kick returns too.

"We had seen that they run the sweep a lot," Hoover added. "We squeezed that and got tackles behind the line."

"We played well and ended up with a win," added Shorter.

VOLLEYBALL

On Tuesday, September 20, Hempfield dominated McCaskey 25-7, 25-8 and 25-7 in L-L League girls' volleyball action in Landisville.

Reece Calabretta and freshman Sophia Blyznyuk each registered four kills while Kate Howard led the team in digs (12) and in aces with eight. Melody Butzer distributed 14 assists in the 3-0 victory.

Hempfield was coming off a 3-0 defeat of Warwick on September 15, registering wins of 25-12, 25-4 and 25-14.

Butzer compiled 22 assists and Howard added 11 digs. Calabretta (11 kills), Amber Shenk (four kills), and Sarah Hess (two blocks) chipped in.

BOYS' SOCCER

Coming off a hard-fought 3-2 victory over Dallastown in a non-league match on September 16, the Knights faced Warwick in a Section One clash at home on Monday.

With Ben Ammon scoring one goal and assisting on another, the Knights blanked the Warriors 2-0, improving to 3-0-1 in league play (4-2-2) overall.

In the 51st minute, Devin Schmitt broke the scoreless deadlock off an assist by Ammon who himself doubled the Hempfield lead two minutes later.

In the Dallastown game, Schmitt scored in the 86th minute to not only claim an overtime victory over the Wildcats, but to also claim a hat trick for the day.

Schmitt's third goal capped a great Hempfield comeback on the road. Trailing 2-0 he scored just shy of the midway mark of the second half. Schmitt scored the equalizer at the 67-minute mark while Matthew Roth (5 saves) continued to hold down the net in the extra-time contest.

GIRLS' SOCCER

In a Section One battle at Warwick, the girls' soccer team fell short 4-2 on Monday, September 19.

On the strength of two Maya Trowbridge goals, the Knights tied the game at 2-2 with 24 minutes left in regulation. Warwick opened the second half with a 1-0 edge and doubled the lead on Alicia Sonder's goal two minutes after the break.

Trowbridge cut the deficit in half three minutes later before scoring the equalizer off a Maddie Morgan assist.

Emileigh Antesberger came away with six saves for Hempfield (3-4-1, 0-4-0 league).

GOLF

Hempfield topped Lancaster Catholic 350-355 in Section One golf at Four Seasons Golf Course on Wednesday, September 21. Cedar Crest won the match with 299 team points with Manheim Township and Penn Manor finishing second and third, respectively.

Hempfield's Ethan Greene shot a 79 two-way tie for ninth place. Reese Wilfong (89), Ethan Sample (90) and Bennett (92) rounded out the counters.

CROSS COUNTRY

The cross country squads competed in the Ben Bloser Bulldog Invitational at Big Spring on Saturday, September 17.

In the boys' Class-AAA competition the Knights finished second behind Exeter.

The girls finished seventh.

Joseph Fahrney finished first overall with a time of 16:01.59. Sam Freedman and Sam Meyer crossed the finish line in consecutive order - 15th and 16th, respectively, with times of 16:38.38 and 16:38.89.

The boys' fourth finisher was Isaiah Hollinger (23rd overall, 17:04.99) and Emerson Long was 52nd (17:53.64).

Molly Seibert had a great pace in the girls' race, taking 18th overall (20:22.89) with Roz Scott (51st, 21:57.49), Ashley Page (54th, 22:11.92) Callie Herr (61st, 22:26.86) and Norah Rynier (63rd, 22:32.03) following.