No. 1 Lower Dauphin advanced to the District 3-AAAA football semifinals with a 28-0 blanking of Exeter Twp. on Nov. 15 at Milton Hershey, while elsewhere that night, Bishop McDevitt blitzed Muhlenberg, 55-21, on its way to the AAA semifinals and Steel-High reached the A final by running away from Fairfield, 53-6.
No. 2 QB Troy Spencer again led the Falcons with 121 yards rushing on 15 carries with TD runs of 20 and 7 yards, but the Falcons' defense again answered the bell, with just three points scored against in two playoff games. LD drew No. 1 seed and defending district champ Wilson in the semis at West Lawn.
No. 3 Conspicuously absent from the Falcon Nation at Henry Hershey Field was a large block of field hockey players, parents and fans, who attended the LD hockey banquet that night. The Falcons responded the next day by beating Emmaus, 2-1, in the PIAA-AAA final at Whitehall for LD's second straight state title for the first time in school history. It was LD's sixth state title to 10 for Emmaus.
No. 4 Senior Taylor Lister (Delaware) opened the scoring for LD midway through the first half on an unassisted goal. Just before halftime, LD went up 2-0 on junior Aliza Mizak's goal, following a patented dribble and assist by junior Gini Bramley off a penalty corner. Center back Bramley, along with fellow juniors Morgan Bitting and Taylor Bracale, kept the Green Hornets off the board until 36 seconds remained in the game.
No. 5 LD grad Hunter Bracale also had a great weekend at Duke. The freshman mid scored her first collegiate goal in Duke's 6-1 NCAA playoff win over New Hampshire and Central Dauphin grad Aggie Sutherland on Nov. 16. The next day, Duke beat the University of Massachusetts and Palmyra grad Lindsey Bowman 4-1 to reach the NCAA Final Four.
No. 6 With 22 juniors and sophomore goalie Maddie Lilliock returning next year, chances are good LD will be gunning for its third straight PIAA field hockey title. Coach Linda Kreiser, with 695 career wins in 36 years, should reach 700 by the second week of the season.
No. 7 Two other East Shore QBs had great games on Nov. 15. Steel-High's James Warren returned a punt 51 yards for a score, rushed four times for 105 yards and two scores and added two TDs through the air on 8 of 11 passing for 102 yards. McDevitt junior Nick Marsilio was on target, completing all nine passes he attempted for three scores and 130 yards.
No. 8 Winter sports opened practice Nov. 18. Central Dauphin senior Garrett Peppelman (Virginia) missed the first day of drills after suffering a compressed elbow fracture while winning the Super 32 Challenge. At Palmyra, Carly Richardson was keen on opening her senior season after signing recently to attend Bucknell next year. The Cougars were 28-1 a year ago before losing to Scranton Prep in the PIAA-AAA quarterfinals.
No. 9 Among those signing letters of intent recently was Harrisburg's Lexus Allen. The three-year starting pitcher for the Cougars' softball team committed to the University of Maryland-Eastern Shore. Allen has over 400 strikeouts entering her senior season and carries a 4.2 GPA in the class room, which ranks No. 14 in her class.
No. 10 CAPA 2K United of the Capital Area Soccer Association captured the Delco League U-13 title recently with a 2-1 win over Penn Legacy of Lancaster. 2K United scored with 40 seconds left to win the game, giving it a record of 10-0-1 this year. Members of the team are: front row left to right, Garrett Keister, Blake Cassel, Peyton Blain, John Axtman, Phoenix Stebbins and Preston Hartford. Back row: Andrew Puleo, Connor Oburn, Richard Fuentes, Nate Beittel, Ben Stubljar, Virak Nhek,T yler Duncan, Jaraud Smith and Joey Gurzenda. 2K United is coached by Richard Chinapoo and assistant Greg Axtman.