Close but so far away for the Manheim Central girls' volleyball team. The Lady Barons were looking to extend their season by at least one more match but instead saw their season end with a 3-2 loss to Greencastle-Antrim on October 27th. Making the loss sting even more is the fact that Manheim held a 2-0 lead after opening with wins of 25-22 and 25-19 and even held a 23-19 lead in game four but still saw the Lady Blue Devils rip off three straight games to steal the win.

"GA is ranked #1 in District 3 and is a solid team," said head coach Jason Moyer. "We are very proud of the progress we have made over the season with this group of girls. They really came together at the end of the season and made this year very special."

Addy Doerschuk dished out 36 assists with the majority going to Maddie Knier who tallied 24 kills. Kaylee Dougherty added seven digs, Natalie Siegrist three blocks while Aslin Latkovich rounded out the team leaders with three aces.

FIELD HOCKEY

"The game was a tough loss for the girls - they really played hard!" said head coach Morgan Briggs of the field hockey team's 4-0 loss in the District 3-2A quarterfinals, "We were outmatched by a highly skilled Hershey team."

The talent that Briggs was referring to was four Hershey players expected to play Division I field hockey which overshadowed what Briggs called "a great defensive effort" from Emmy Weaver and Libby Urban as well as some great saves by Laci Nelson.

Manheim Central rebounded well with a 1-0 victory over New Oxford on November 2nd that not only puts the Lady Barons in a battle with Northern York for 5th place in the 2A bracket, but also secured a spot in the PIAA-2A Championships that kick off November 8th.

"This is the first time we have qualified for the state tournament since 2018," said Briggs, "so definitely a huge achievement for the team. We are really looking forward to the game against Northern York."

Kiley Hosler used an Ella Brubaker feed to score what proved to be the game winner late in the third quarter. Three Nelson saves, combined with solid defense, were enough to make that lead hold up.

"I was thrilled with the team's win tonight," exclaimed Briggs, "The girls played aggressive and won many 50/50 balls all over the field."

CROSS COUNTRY

The cross-country team sent seven runners to Big Spring High School on October 29th to compete in the District 3 Championships. "No state qualifiers for us," said head coach Ryan Kennedy, "but it was an A- performance overall."

Five of those seven runners were Lady Barons, giving Central enough to compete in the team battle where they finished 15th in the 2A race. Reagan Ibach led the way with a time of 22:00.2, placing her 41st out of 139 runners. Jenna Moffett followed with a 50th place run, posting a 22:20.5 with Taylor Bruckhart the last Lady Baron to crack the top 100, with an 84th place run of 23:30.1. Alexa Hoffman (110th - 24:48.7) and Julie Lindberg (132nd - 26:43.6) completed the Central squad.

On the boy's side it was Carter Bruckhart with his 18:20.8 slotting him 169th while Cameron Evans finished 207th with a time of 18:53.8.

FOOTBALL

If the Manheim Central football team was playing horseshoes or quates their narrow 21-17 setback to Exeter Township on October 28th would still count. But since they were playing football, it knocks Central from the ranks of the unbeaten and puts them at 9-1 on the season. That is still good enough to earn Manheim the second seed in the upcoming District 3-4A Championship and a spot in the November 11th quarterfinals opposite the winner of the York Suburban and Donegal match-up.

The regular season finale loss started well for Manheim with the Barons scoring 17 of the game's first 24 points, unfortunately Exeter scored the final 14 while keeping Manheim in check, leading to that 21-17 final. Dylan Neff put Central on the board near the end of the opening frame, converting a 20-yard field goal for a 7-3 contest. Aaron Enterline flexed his muscle from there, snagging a 21-yard TD pass from Zach Hahn before returning a punt 73-yards for a 17-7 Manheim Central lead. Exeter needed just 41-seconds to answer with Joey Schlaffer breaking free for a 70-yard score, making it a 17-14 game at the break. Exeter's Richie Karstein capped his two-touchdown day with the game winner mid-way through the third quarter.

Enterline finished with 84 yards and that touchdown on his five catches while Hahn completed 10 of 21 passes for 121 yards and one TD. Brycen Armold broke the 100-yard plateau, posting 105 yards on 23 carries, giving him 1,723 on the season.