The Pioneers had seven wrestlers competing at the District Three 3A sectional tournament at Hempfield on Saturday, February 18. The top four finishers at each weight class advance to the District Three/Southcentral Regional Tournament. L-S has two wrestlers still fighting for a spot at the big dance.

Jaiden Newton and Tre Spahr both finished in third place.

Newton, wrestling at 172, opened with a 4-0 decision over Arthur Rudd (Central Dauphin) in the quarterfinals but ran into Solanco's Blaine Plastino in the semifinals and suffered a 6-1 loss after a scoreless first period.

Newton, seeded second, came back with a dominating 11-1 major decision in the consi-semis over Warwick's Jack Koons and grabbed the bronze medal with a 5-1 final against Manheim Central's Brodie Daugherty. That bout was scoreless over the first two periods before Newton broke in front with a reversal and three nearfall points. He currently sits at 29-12.

At heavyweight, Spahr picked up a forfeit win over Township's Taylor Veilleux and then built a 6-1 lead over Palmyra's Jayson Albright before recording a 3:58 quarterfinals fall.

Spahr was pinned in the semifinals by eventual champ Nicholai Brotzman (Donegal) who also pinned Spahr in dual meet action back on January 4.

Spahr came back strong in the consolations, pinning McCaskey's Eliezer Santiago in 55 seconds and Manheim Central's Wyatt Kupres in 57 seconds to qualify for regionals.

Also competing for the Pioneers was Elijah Myers (114), Connor Erb (127), Josh Heisey (145), Mitchell Swarr (152), and Ian VanDeusen (189).

Erb wrestled four bouts and recorded a pair of falls while Heisey, (25-14), opened with a fall but ended his season with a sudden victory loss to Central's Aj Hondru. Heisey held a 3-0 lead heading into the second period before Hondru scored a reversal and two nearfall points to take a 4-3 lead. A technical violation tied the scoring but a takedown just 34 seconds in left Heisey on the outside.

BOWLING

Four members of the Lampeter-Strasburg bowling team competed in the Lancaster-Lebanon League Individual Championships with the girls' competition getting underway Thursday, February 16 at Palmyra Bowling and the boys following on Friday at Leisure Lanes.

Katie Pope, after six qualifying games, was sitting in sixth place with a 1095 total pin count. In the stepladder finals, Pope faced Penn Manor's Corinne Smith and fell short of advancing, 191-177. She finished in eighth place overall.

"Katie did great," praised head coach John Achille. "She came out of the gates strong, rolling a 246 in her first game. She had nine strikes total, with three in the tenth. She was in first place after that first game."

She rolled a 166 in the second game, falling to third place and was fourth after a 154 and 196. She rounded out the six-game series with a 201 and a 132.

"Her six-game total was a 182.5 game average," noted Achille, "just about her average for the season.

"Katie had a solid performance overall and has worked hard. She has been rock solid the entire season and she backed it up with her effort on the lanes."

The boys' competition was a bit shorter as none of the Pioneers qualified for the stepladder finals. Nick Bukowski had Lampeter's highest qualifying total of the day, tying Ephrata's Tanner Murray at 1116. Unfortunately, 1145 was the cutoff for the top ten.

Maddux Harsh finished with a 942 with Ethan Snyder (912) and Peter Mecouch (876) following.

"Nick finished with a 186 average on the day, six pins higher than his season average," noted Achille. "He got off to a slow start in the first game, not marking in the first three frames, but finished strong with a 177. That momentum carried him the rest of the day. He went 169, 189, 157, 188 and 236. After the third game he was in 16th place," added Achille. "He got better each game, and his confidence was building.

"Everyone else struggled a bit, bowling below their season averages.

"Overall, it was a fun two days. To have five bowlers qualify for singles playoffs was a credit to their season performance," said Achille. "They were all deserving. It did not work out the way some wanted it to, but it was a learning experience, and they are all back next year."

GIRLS' BASKETBALL

With just one senior returning and a new coach patrolling the sideline, no one was really expecting L-S to get to the post-season. No one except those surrounding that head coach Steve Villbrandt.

After finishing second in Section Three and qualifying for the L-L League playoffs, the Pioneers continued with a home game in the opening round of the District Three Class 5A playoffs against Susquehannock. A game that looked to be pretty even on paper proved to be just as even on the court as the eighth and ninth seeds battled back-and-forth in a game ultimately decided in overtime and unfortunately favored the Warriors, 51-48.

L-S, despite having lost six of its last seven games (all but one of those against playoff bound squads) came out strong. Katie Ranck scored nine first quarter points and Anna Horner added a trey and L-S held a 12-8 lead. They picked up the pace in the second frame, pouring in 13 points and extending the advantage to 23-9 before settling for a 25-13 halftime lead. Horner was a perfect 6-for-6 from the stripe and finished with eight points in the frame to lead the charge.

The Warriors just could not get a bucket to fall and managed just five points in the quarter.

All that momentum, however, changed in the second half. The Warriors picked up the pace with full court pressure and started knocking down threes to get back in the game. They hit four in the third quarter and held L-S to just two field goals, an in the paint jumper by Ava Leonard (4 points) and a layup by Leigh Saurbaugh (5 points). In fact, back-to-back Warrior threes in the final minute knotted the score at 29-29.

"We have struggled through this last portion of the season in the second half," said Villbrandt. "We didn't handle their full court pressure very well and that let them back in the game."

Horner hit a pair of treys in the fourth that kept L-S in front, both times by four points, but three straight turnovers turned the tide as Susquehannock tied the game at 39-39 on a pair of free throws and took the lead with 1:47 left.

Molly Gochnaur's bucket in the paint tied the game again, but the Warriors answered.

After another L-S turnover, the visitors looked to be in control and called timeout with 24 seconds remaining. Then, unexpectedly, Ranck, who knocked down a game-high 19 points, picked off Susquehannock's inbounds pass and tied the game on layup with 15 seconds remaining. The Warriors missed at the other end, sending the game into overtime.

Saurbaugh, with a layup, and Ranck's two free throws gave L-S its last lead of the game, 47-45. Elana Snyder hit a pair of free throws and, after a L-S turnover, nailed a trey to put the visitors in front 48-47. Saurbaugh hit one of two from the stripe to tie it up at 48-48. The Warriors connected on two more free throws and after another L-S miss, added one more foul shot to decide the outcome.

"It was a heck of a game," said Villbrandt. "The girls just work so hard. They never quit. And except for Katie Ranck, they all return next year."

Horner backed Ranck with 17 points and hit all three of Lampeter's three-pointers. The Pioneers were 11-of-18 from the foul line. Susquehannock finished with nine treys, seven in the second half.