Semus Mack continued to dominate on the wrestling mat. The Hempfield junior earned three victories as he wrestled in the South Central Class AAA Regional tournament at Spring Grove on Friday and Saturday, February 24-25.

Having made it through as the 127-pound weight class champion at the Section Two sectionals the previous weekend, Mack took on Twin Valley senior Hunter Goff in the opening round at Spring Grove. Mack registered a first-period pin before going after and dominating Boiling Springs freshman Ian Longenberger on an 18-2 technical fall.

Dallastown's Damian Key could not unlock the secret to defeating Mack, who earned a pin 55 seconds into the semifinals match.

The title match came down to Mack and Section 4 champ Tyler Adams of York Suburban. Adams managed to stay ahead of Mack for a 5-2 decision.

"It was a close match - Seamus got the first takedown," Hempfield coach Shane Mack explained. "They got into a scramble. Seamus got caught on his back and gave up points. In close matches like that, those are the difference makers."

The sectionals runner-up at 139 pounds was Kam Fickes. In the regionals, Fickes fell just short in a close 5-4 decision with Wylan Damon of Red Lion in the opening round. In the wrestlebacks, Fickes lost a 5-1 decision to Josh Weaver of Cedar Cliff.

Also entering regionals as the number two seed from Section 2 was Hempfield's Braden Edwards at 145. At Spring Grove, Eddie Alcantara of Shippensburg and Wyatt Dillon of Central York could not keep up with Edwards, losing in a first-period pin and on a 13-3 major, respectively.

Edwards went up against Aiden Swann of Cocalico in the semis. Swann, billed as the section 1 champ, finished with an early third-period pin only to lose an 8-0 major decision to Matt Repos of Central Dauphin in the championship match.

"We actually beat him in the league finals," Mack noted. "In this match, it didn't start well or end well."

The consolations pitted Edwards against Ean Wilson of Boiling Springs. The eventual third-place finisher re-routed Edwards to the fifth-place match where Dalton Redden of Gettysburg battled to a 7-2 win. Edwards took sixth in the weight class.

Junior J.J. Plaza, the third-place seed out of section 2 squared off against another Lancaster-Lebanon League wrestler - Garden Spot's Blake Weaver, who had come through section 1 the previous week at Governor Mifflin as the second seed at 189.

Plaza outlasted Weaver in a 3-2 decision. In the next round, Northern York junior Cole Bartram, who came into the tournament with a 33-1 record, won by a technical fall en route to a second-place finish.

Just as he had started with a close one-point decision, Plaza's run ended on the same type of outcome. He lost a 2-1 decision to Rob Sterner of South Western in the consolations.

"He wrestled well," Mack said of Plaza. "He has made huge improvements from last year. He had a great performance, and it was good to see."

Just as Plaza had gone up against a formidable foe at 189, Caleb Mussmon shot out of the gate with a victory only to lose to one of the top seeds in the next round.

In the battle for the heavyweight gold medal, Layton Schmick of Carlisle came in with a 32-1 record and promptly pinned Micah Smith of New Oxford in the first round.

"Schmick beat him last year in districts - same tournament last year," Mack recalled.

Mussmon, following a second-period maneuver where he put Gov. Mifflin's Hunter Unger on his back, lost in the final seconds of the first period of the quarterfinals to Schmick - the eventual champ.

Mussmon wrestled back with a 1-0 win over Ethan Nelson of Red Lion only to fall to Michael Hershey of Spring Grove

"Mussmon looked good in that match against the kid from Governor Mifflin," Mack said. "That kept him alive. He had a couple of other opportunities to score there but did squeak out with a win."

As for Spring Grove's heavyweight representative, Mack said, "He's a big physical kid. He took him off his feet and onto his back."

Asked to assess how things have been winding down for this year's squad, Mack replied, "On the whole, I think we had half of our lineup with seasoned wrestlers. We had a nice year. It's difficult making it to the state tournament. You're talking four kids from each weight class out of sixty schools.

"Looking ahead, in order to keep our success in the league and districts going in the right direction, our returning wrestlers will have to continue working hard."

BASKETBALL

When the high school basketball season reaches late February and your team is still playing, then you've had a successful campaign and you're at some stage of the postseason.

On Friday night, February 17, the Black Knights earned a thrilling 61-58 victory at home over Central York, advancing to the District Three Class 6A boys' basketball semifinals.

The excitement was prompted by the Panthers' unyielding bid to claw back into the contest after Hempfield (23-2) had outscored them 23-10 in the opening period. The Panthers (17-7) slashed that deficit to nine points by halftime and down to one single point heading into the fourth quarter - 47-46 Hempfield.

The Knights had four players score in double figures. Kamyn Lawrence led the way with 17 points, Ben Troyer poured in 14, including a pair of three-point baskets, and Chase Calabretta came away with 12. Michael Pena added 11 points, including three treys, and reached the 1,000-point mark of his career.

Ben Rill and Ben Natal each scored 14 for Central York.

The Black Knights' drive for a district trophy was derailed, however, as Cumberland Valley topped Hempfield 46-35 on Monday, February 27, in a semifinal match at CV. The Eagles, coming in as the second-seeded team, took a 27-19 lead into the locker room at halftime thanks to a 17-11 run in the second quarter.

Lawrence led Hempfield with 14 points while Pena hit in a pair of treys on a 12-point performance. Calabreatta finished with seven points.

BOWLING

In the District Three Class 3A boys' bowling singles semifinals, Hempfield's Derick Keller faced off against Cameron Wegert of Middletown. Keller, the second seed in the brackets, had earned a first-round bye while Wegert edged Central York Bryce Kline 248-245.

In the semis, Wegert maintained the momentum, topping Keller 223-207.

The Hempfield junior finished third in districts while Wegert won it all, defeating Zach Wentzel of Elizabethtown in the championship game 246-200.

Keller reached the finals by tallying 1135 points in the qualifiers. Wentzel finished as the top seed with 1153 points. Wegert's 1118 was good for third place.

Keller's big game was in the first set of frames where he recorded a 279. Aside from Wegert's perfect score of 300 in the fifth game of the qualifying rounds, Keller's 279 was the highest score among the top six bowlers.