The Hempfield boys' basketball team played two crucial Section One contests as the regular season drew close to an end. The Black Knights had already suffered a tough loss the previous week at home to Manheim Township on a night where the Blue Streaks came out of the proverbial hole to not see their shadow and thus deemed themselves worthy of challenging the Knights for first place - a 54-37 Township victory on February 2.

Therefore, it was even more critical for Hempfield to come away with a win at McCaskey on Tuesday night, February 8. McCaskey played host to Hempfield in that Section One contest, managing the momentum shifts well enough to come away with a 54-46 victory.

The two league losses dropped Hempfield to 9-4 in league play. Meanwhile, Township ran its L-L League win streak to seven straight, thus pulling even with the Knights atop the Section One standings at 9-4.

The McCaskey match was a close one. The Red Tornado (11-11, 7-6 league) outscored the Knights 28-25 in the second half.

Miguel Pena led everyone in scoring. The Hempfield junior poured in 23 points, including five three-point baskets.

Hasan Williams (15), Shamell Burke (14) and Jared Kumah (14) led McCaskey.

Despite these setbacks, Hempfield (16-4 overall) found itself fourth in the District Three Class 6A power rankings.

WRESTLING

Hempfield played host to Conestoga Valley and York Suburban in the District Three Class AAA duals on Tuesday, February 1. In the first round the Knights topped the Buckskins 43-16 and went on to defeat Suburban by a nearly identical score of 43-13 in the championship quarterfinal round.

Braden Edwards had a pin against his Suburban opponent while earning a 16-6 major decision over CV's Luke Needham at the 152-pound weight class.

Dylan Bard notched a pin at 189 against Suburban and also earned an 8-6 decision in the 172-pound battle versus CV.

Reagan LeFevre came up short in a tight 4-3 decision in the CV match, losing to Keaton Fischer in the 145-pound class. He posted a 9-5 victory over the Trojans' Noah Rice.

Also winning one match and finishing a couple of points shy in the other was Grant Hoover. The Hempfield junior took 55 seconds to pin Abdoul Akala of CV in the 160-pound battle but suffered a 6-4 loss at the hands of the Trojans' Jamal Lewis.

Zy McCain-Murray had a great match in the Knights' win over the Buckskins. He notched a pin over Bryce Bowman. McCain-Murray was on the short end of a 5-2 final in the Suburban match.

At 126, Seamus Mack worked a 4-2 victory versus Suburban's Zach Emory. He also posted a pin in the CV match.

Taking the heavyweight bout in both matches was Caleb Mussmon. He pinned his Buckskin opponent and won the other match via forfeit.

Going from heavyweight to the 106-pound class, Jorden Williams also drew similar results - winning by forfeit against CV and earning an 8-3 win in the York Suburban match.

In the Suburban match, Clay Gainer won on an 11-3 major decision at 138 while Kamron Fickes pinned Dakota Shue only 35 seconds into the 160-pound bout. Also registering a pin in the Suburban match was Michael Karpathios at 113.

J.J. Plaza battled hard in both of these matches. He lost a 6-2 decision in the CV match, wrestling at 189. He was bumped up to 215 in the Suburban match, where he lost an even closer battle - 3-1.

The District semifinals took place two days later at Spring Grove where the Knights suffered a tough 36-24 battle to Gettysburg.

Mack's pin came 29 seconds into the 126-pound match. Though LeFevre won by forfeit at 145 and Fickes lost by only a 4-2 margin at 160, the only other points the Knights earned were on forfeits at 106 and 113.

Mussmon was on the losing end of a close 3-0 decision at 285, losing to Trevor Gallagher.

The consolation semifinal match was even closer with Dallastown winning 31-27

A pair of technical falls gave the Wildcats 10 early points, but the Knights countered with pins by LeFevre (145) and Dillon Goerner (138) to go up 12-10

The Knights and Wildcats exchanged decisions - Bard's 12-7 win at 172 and Ashton Deller getting past Hoover 8-6 at 160. Mussmon was on the short end of another close decision - a 5-4 setback to Hunter Bisking.

The Knights did cut the deficit to 25-21 on a pin by Williams and a Wildcat forfeit at 113. Mack wrestled at 126 with his team down 28-27. He was unable to get past Zach Luckenbaugh in a close 6-4 final, which gave D-town the winning margin.

GIRLS' BASKETBALL

In their chase to keep pace with Penn Manor, the Black Knights earned a solid victory over McCaskey on Tuesday, February 8. Using the 22-9 run in the second stanza as the springboard, Hempfield maintained momentum all the way into the fourth quarter of a 73-65 Section One victory.

The win raised the Knights' record to 14-5 on the year (11-2 league) and seventh place in the power rankings for District Three Class 6A. That seeding is actually one higher than Penn Manor - the first-place team in Section One.

While Anisha Sepulveda scored 33 points for McCaskey and led all scorers on the night, the same luxury held true for Hempfield that has helped this team throughout the year - multiple scoring leaders stepping up on different nights.

Lauren Moffatt led Hempfield with 19 points, drilling a pair of three-point jumpers in the process. Meanwhile, Sophia Ott and Orianna Edmond each collected 13 points and Ava Baer came through with 11.

BOWLING

Hempfield rolled to another victory on Monday, February 7, defeating Cedar Crest 7-0 at Leisure Lanes. The Knights improved to 72-19 on the year, holding the top spot in Section One.

Mitchell Barnes had another steady day, bowling 224 in his middle game and finishing with a 634 total. Caleb Mertz had a 242 in his first game and tallied 614 on the day.

Darren Zombro and Toby Zombro led the Falcons with scores of 668 and 653, respectively.