It is natural for teams in the same section to become familiar with each other. In Lancaster-Lebanon League field hockey, teams in the same section meet at least twice a year.
But in Section One, the top teams are getting very used to seeing each other. The Warwick Warriors will likely be seeing Penn Manor and Manheim Township in their dreams this week.
Warwick defeated Penn Manor 3-1 in the PIAA Class 3A field hockey quarterfinals on Saturday afternoon. It was the fourth contest this year between the Warriors and the Comets. In the regular season, the teams tied 1-1 and Warwick posted a 5-3 victory. Penn Manor won the District Three third-place game 2-1 in overtime.
“You don’t want to change what you do, because that’s why you’re here,” Warwick head coach Ron Stief said of the regular rematches. “You maybe put in a new wrinkle here or there.”
Even if Warwick does not change much for its next game, the Warriors will at least want to execute their usual game plan even better for the semifinals on Tuesday. Not that Warwick has done anything wrong, but its next opponent is Manheim Township. Like with the Penn Manor rivalry, this will be the fourth meeting between the teams. The difference here is that the Blue Streaks swept the first three meetings with the Warriors. Manheim Township won the regular-season games 3-1 and 5-2, then took the L-L final 3-2.
“If we want to do anything in leagues, in the district, or in the state, we have to go through them,” Stief said.
Manheim Township, which beat Parkland 6-0 on Saturday to get its spot in the semifinals, would have been playing someone for the fourth time regardless. Had Penn Manor won, it would have been the fourth contest between the Blue Streaks and Comets for the second consecutive year. They split the four games in 2022. This fall, Penn Manor won the first meeting 4-3 in overtime, while Manheim Township clinched the Section 1 title with a 2-0 win in the regular-season finale. The Blue Streaks then won the District Three semifinal 2-1 in overtime.
The site and time of the Warwick-Manheim Township semifinal is to be announced. The other semifinal will be between Lower Dauphin and Emmaus.
Barons closing the gap
Though Manheim Central’s season came to an end on Saturday in a 2-0 loss to Palmyra in the PIAA Class 2A quarterfinals, the Barons could see improvement on both the micro and macro levels.
First, on the smaller scale, though it was the second straight 2-0 loss the Barons had against the Cougars in this year’s postseason, they had almost no offense at all in the loss in the District Three semifinals. On Saturday, Manheim Central generated 13 corners to keep the Cougars on their defensive heels much of the game.
But in a larger sense, the Barons could see that they’ve started to gain ground on the perennial contenders from Palmyra. Though there is still a gap, Manheim Central did hold the Cougars to less than half their average goal scoring in both games.
“We had a lot of improvement from our seniors,” Barons head coach Morgan Briggs said. “We have eight seniors on our team, and they’ve developed their skills all year. They played club, and you’re not going to improve just playing August through November.”
Briggs is hopeful that the underclassmen can help bring Manheim Central up to the consistent championship level that Palmyra has attained. The Cougars have won three state titles since 2005, most recently in 2020, and were in the final last fall.
“They are used to being in the state playoffs year after year,” Briggs said. “We’ve been in states before but not with the deep runs like Palmyra has had. Then you can be used to these games, not star struck. I’m not saying we had that attitude today, but when you’re playing in them as often as Palmyra, it’s a little different.”
