May 2009 Archives

My 9-year-old daughter Sarah has been devouring a library book about Bigfoot and other Sasquatch Lore, so I figured it was a good time to see what the latest news is from the Yeti News Service:

1. United Press International reported earlier this week that a group of Bigfoot hunters in Oklahoma has found footprints and "heard calls" of the elusive beast.

Apparently, the sasquatch investigators went on a Memorial Day weekend Bigfoot hunt in the Kiamichi Mountains of southeastern Oklahoma. And, apparently, they have a cast of a footprint five inches wide and 15 inches long.

The hunters described the "Bigfoot sounds" as imitation bird calls, including whippoorwills and owls. It's unclear why a tall, hairy, apelike creature would need to sound like an owl, but, hey, that's what they said they heard. (Also, the bigfoot hunters did not indicate to what extent the Memorial Day bigfoot outing also involved swigging bourbon.)

2. Also, a new book, Bigfoot: The Life and Times of a Legend, written by Joshua Blu Buhs, has been published this month and is now available for purchase on Amazon.com and from other booksellers. Buhs is described in the press notes as an "independent scholar" who surveys the history of bigfoot sightings and lore. Publishers Weekly indicates: "Buhs's rote application of race-class-gender theory -- By imagining themselves into the body of Sasquatch, white working-class men could imagine themselves as black, as women, could come in contact with... repressed and forbidden desires -- yields more academic cant than insight; his oft-invoked white proles feel almost as legendary and stereotyped as the creature itself."

I think Sarah and I will be skipping that one.

The comeback kids did not have one last rally as Northeastern fell to Maplewood in the PIAA Class AA semifinals, three games to one.

The Bobcats trailed early in the final game before rallying to knot the score at 10.

However a six-point Tiger run gave Maplewood a 16-11 lead, making the mountain a little too hard to climb.

Maplewood will face District 7 champ and No. 1 ranked Ambridge in the state title game.

Still it was a great season for Northeastern. Finishing third in the state with a team that starts four sophomores is pretty good - and bodes well for the future.

The scores: 14-25, 25-22, 14-25, 19-25.

Northeastern, plagued by some uncharacteristic errors dropped Game 3, 25-14.

Maplewood now leads the match two games to one to determine who will play top-ranked Ambridge in the state championship game.

Ambridge eliminated Deer Lakes in straight games, 25-17, 25-16, ,25-21

In a game of runs, Northeastern prevailed in Game 2, 25-22.

The Bobcats had a six-point run to open a 14-10 lead, only to see Maplewood come back with a 7-1 run of its own that gave the Tigers the lead.

Still down, 21-19, Northeastern rallied and Cory Bair had two kills and a block in the game ending 4-1 run

Once again, the comeback kids are in that mode after the first game of the PIAA Class AA semifinals at Penn State's Multi-sport Indoor Complex.

Northeastern dropped Game 1, 14-25. Maplewood's Jacob Snyder was dominating in the first game, recording three kills and a block during a 6-2 run that made the score 20-9.

The Northeastern boys' volleyball team is warming up for its PIAA Class AA semifinal match against Maplewood, the District 10 champion.

Both teams survived a crazy day of pool play on Friday. The Bobcats were on the brink of elimination after their second match, but rallied to knock off Deer Lakes and win Pool A.

The Tigers had to survive two tiebreakers to advance to Saturday's action.

Game time is 9 a.m. The winner will play in the state championship game scheduled to start at 1 p.m.

Check back for updates.

While trying to sum up his team's comeback from the brink of elimination in PIAA Class AA volleyball pool play to winning Pool A, thus earning a spot in Saturday's state semifinals, Northeastern coach Matt Wilson said he tried everything.

But, he added that coaching had nothing to do with the turnaround.

"It was theirs," Wilson said of his players. "They pulled it out. Coaching didn't do anything today.

"I pulled every trick and nothing worked. I tried good cop, bad cop. I tried different lineups, different players, nothing was working today and to get out of this is a relief."

Wilson smiled when he recalled taking a long stroll of the Penn State campus after the Bobcats lost a match to Holy Redeemer before rallying to knock off Deer Lakes.

"It was us. We knew that," he said. "I was frustrated and so were they. I took a nice walk around campus, touched the Rec Hall door. I talked to myself the whole way there and back."

After losing the second match of the day to Holy Redeemer, it looked as if Northeastern's season would end during pool play of the PIAA Class AA boys' volleyball championships.

But, not to be denied, the Bobcats knocked off Deer Lakes, 25-20, 13-25, 25-20 and went from the brink of elimination to winning Pool B at Penn State's Multi-sport Indoor Complex Friday afternoon.

Northeastern advanced to Saturday's semifinals beginning at 9 a.m.

Northeastern captured its first match during Friday's PIAA Class AA volleyball pool play, defeating District 12 champ Masterman, 25-20, 25-16, 21-25.

Right out of the gate, Northeastern was ready.

Ian Tyger big block of Masterman big hitter Germel Ford set the tone early in a 25-20 win in the first game of the day, much to the delight of the impressive showing of Bobcat fans at Penn State University's Multi-sport Indoor Complex.
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Game 2 featured a six-point Bobcat run that opened a 16-8 lead and coach Matt Wilson's squad never looked back.
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The Blue Dragons contributed to the cause with six service errors in that contest, However, Masterman righted its ship on Game 3 with three aces leading to a 25-20 win.

Nic Shoemaker recorded 26 assists, six digs, two blocks, a kill and an ace for the Bobcats. Ian Tyger added nine kills, seven blocks, two aces and two digs.

Up next for Northeastern in pool play is a 12:20 p.m. matchup with Holy Reedemer, the District 2 runner-up, which lost all three of its opening match games to Deer Lakes.

Forgive Susquehannock grad Erin Clary if she finds championships to be habit forming.

Clary (above) was the shortstop on the Warriors back-to-back state Class AAA softball title-winning teams and followed that up this spring as a member of the Lock Haven University squad that won the NCAA Division II national championship.

Although she wasn't a regular participant this season, Clary did get in 26 of the Eagles' 57 games and hit a solid .357 in 14 at bats and had an on-base percentage of .471.
Also used as a pinch runner, she scored seven runs.

Clary made an appearance in Lock Haven's 8-0 championship win over Alabama-Huntsville when she pinch ran for designated player Brittany Muthard, but did score.

She is the only YAIAA alum on the Eagles' squad which finished 51-6 on the campaign, however there are several women who came from District 3 schools.

Of course, none had more of an impact than senior pitcher Kristen Erb, who posted a 50-5 record with a miniscule 0.47 earned run average.

The Exeter Township grad struck out 399 batters in 356 innings of work while walking just 26. She is a candidate for national player of the year honors.

Central York grad and Shippensburg freshman Katie Craven traveled to the NCAA Division II track and field championship last week and came home with an eighth-place trophy, shown below.

The former Panther star combined with Laura Henzy, Shannon Hare and Erica Hess on the Raiders' 1,600-meter relay squad that finished with a time of 3:48.57.

The foursome, shown below, earned All-American status, the second consecutive certificate earn by Ship's 4 X 400 relay.

Did you figure out there was a new No. 1? Did you? If not, that's OK, because I'm telling you right not. There's a new No. 1.

The young Northeastern boys' volleyball team has always had the talent, and lately they have been showing a great amount of poise under pressure against the district's best. It has helped them follow-up an undefeated league season and YAIAA tournament title with a District 3 Class AA crown, and established themselves as one of the favorites heading into the state tournament.

There are plenty of other changes from last week's rankings as well. See them all after the jump and add your take in the comments section.

During Northeastern's District 3 Class AA semifinal and championship games on Friday, I couldn't help but notice some familiar faces in the front row of the bleachers at Dallastown.

Seated courtside was several former Bobcats players, including former standouts Drew Tyger, Eric Shoemaker, Aaron Merges, Travis Clemens and Richie White.

Most were even wearing their old Northeastern jerseys while cheering on their alma mater during wins over York Suburban and Manheim Central, which gave coach Matt Wilson his first district title.

Of course a few of the alumni have even more reason to watch - their younger brothers.

Tyger and Shoemaker have brothers who are sophomores on the Northeastern squad.

All 10 teams are the same from last week, but almost none of them are in the same spot, as the postseason has begun to separate the contenders from the pretenders.

That doesn't mean that some other baseball, softball or even volleyball squads out there don't have a shot at cracking the top 10 before the season is through. This coming week will be their chance to shine as district play heats up in those sports.

Full rankings and analysis after the jump. As always, your input in the comments section is encouraged.

Eric Moul called it "one of the best moments of my life so far."

I am sure, there will be a lot more great moments for the South Western pitcher. He is, after all, only a freshman.

But when Moul took the mound in the fifth inning of the Mustangs' District 3 Class AAAA play-in game against Governor Mifflin it was something he never expected to happen .
I mean, there was no one out and runners on the corners during a tie game that the team that lost would see its season end.

Did Moul ever dream he would be out there in such a crucial spot so early in his high school baseball career?

"No," he said honestly. "I thought maybe I would throw a little next year in districts."

At little known Division II Holy Family University, a Susquehannock grad has made her mark last fall on the women's volleyball team.

Freshman Jordan Beland led the Tigers in digs with 479, an average of 4.17 per game.

The all-state player in high school also tied for third on the team with 36 services aces.

Delone Catholic alum Matt Barto recently concluded a stand out baseball season for Delaware Valley College recently.

The former Squire, who is now a sophomore at DVC appeared in 29 games, hitting .318 with a team-high five home runs. He also drove in 33 runs, nearly one per game.

The Susquehannock softball gained more than just a league tournament championship this week, according to coach Dave Pollick.

"When you have the end of your regular season and districts don't start until the 19th, there's 10 days or so of dead air space," Pollick said following his team's 2-0 win over West York on Wednesday to earn the title. "You're scrambling around trying to find someone to scrimmage with. I don't care how you scrimmage, it's not a game. You do not get the reps. You do not get the game experience.

"We just had a great week of prep. In fact, I'm so happy with our prep work now that we're going to have dinner at my house tomorrow and take Friday off. I feel we're ready and I'm not going to try and jam something down their throats. So this tournament is wonderful."

It seems strange there hadn't been a league tournament in more than two decades for baseball and softball, but the important thing is league officials finally figured out that such a competition is best for fans and teams alike.

The Kennard-Dale girls' lacrosse team has gone out of its way to play top-level opponents this season.

Penn Manor, Manheim Township, Hempfield -- the Rams said: Bring it on. And it was brought. Kennard-Dale lost all three of those games. It's the main reason why the Rams are the No. 6 seed in the district tournament while a Susquehannock team that lost to Kennard-Dale twice is No. 4.

Both the Warriors and the Rams won home games and moved on to the quarterfinals, but Kennard-Dale will have to hit the road for Saturday's matchup against Lewisburg. Of course, if playing three of the top teams in the region helps the Rams get that much better, maybe it won't matter where they are playing.

"Before our season, our coach (Kelly Wetzel) sat down with the athletic director and scheduled some really tough teams for us to play, just so we know where we stand," said Hana Krechel (above), who scored six goals in Kennard-Dale's first-round win over Central York on Tuesday. "Taking some losses like that, at first it was frustrating and it was difficult, but I think we're good at picking ourselves up.

"After a big loss, we would talk as a team and the captains would get together and talk and we would say what we did wrong. Even though we have those three losses, they really made a big difference in our wins and they helped us to get better as a team. Playing good teams is really making us a lot better."

While there may not be any YAIAA graduates on the team, the Messiah College softball squad is heading to the NCAA Division III championships thanks in great part to a player from Dillsburg.

Northern High School grad Jessica Rhoads has been nothing short of sensational for the Falcons. The freshman has pitched in 32 games - 24 starts - posting a stellar 24-1 record with a miniscule 0.54 earned run average.

In 170 innings pitched she has struck out 311 batters and opponents are hitting just .079 against her.

Rhoads also plays the outfield and holds her own at the plate with a .349 batting average (22-of-63), plus has hammered five doubles and five home runs.

Messiah (39-4) will be at Montclair State starting Friday against fourth-ranked Ohio Northern University.

In other news from the diamond, Capital Athletic Conference champion Salisbury University also captured its regional and will be one of the eight teams at the championships. The Sea Gulls are led by catcher Lauren Brenneman, a Central York grad.

It would be tough to argue against the Central York boys' tennis team being No. 1 in these rankings, especially after the way the Panthers dominated the District 3 Class AAA tournament and easily won their second straight title.

Not only did they take down the top teams from the Mid-Penn and Lancaster-Lebanon leagues, they did it without losing a single match. Nobody came remotely close to beating them. So yeah, they're at the top again this week.

The Northeastern volleyball team (shown above celebrating victory over Central York) moves up, as does the Susquehannock softball team and the Northeastern baseball team to round out the top six. Fresh off its YAIAA championship victory, the Dallastown girls' soccer team makes its first appearance in the rankings.

Full rankings and rationale after the jump. The comments section awaits your input.

Last week's PSAC baseball tournament at Lancaster's Clipper Magazine Stadium was downgraded to a single-elimination competition thanks to the ongoing rains that plagued central Pennsylvania.

Several teams played on Tuesday and were slated to play again until the weather forced the loser's bracket to be scrapped.

Finally West Chester University knocked off Mercyhurst 16-2 on Thursday to win the title.
Susquehannock grad Josh Heyne and Brandon Wolfe of West York are on the victorious Ram squad. Both are shown below playing for their respective YAIAA schools.

For the fourth straight season Spring Grove grad Ryan Poff made the all-Capital Athletic Conference team after closing his career as one of Spartan coach Paul Saikia's best players.

Poff, was chosen for the all-CAC first team following a season in which he hit .423 with 53 runs batted in and six home runs. Plus, he struck out just 10 times in 163 at bats this season.

As a junior he was also a first team selection and was a second team selection his sophomore year. In 2006, he was selected as the CAC Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year.

Although not an official college team, the Shippensburg University women's rugby club (in action above in a photo provided by Dobson Images) traveled to Palo Alto, Calif. and returned to Central Pennsylvania as national champions.

The team's impressive 29-5 win over Stonehill College marked its second consecutive USA Rugby Division II title.

West York graduate Brittany Myers did her part by scoring a try in the second half of the championship contest.

Penn College in Williamsport once again had a terrific baseball season, which the Wildcats are hoping to continue at the United States Collegiate Athletic Association national championship tournament that gets underway May 12 in Hampton, Va.

Penn College won the PSUAC tournament last weekend and boasts a combined fall and spring season conference record of 28-3, 35-7 overall.

The Wildcats knocked off Penn State Abington and Penn State Brandywine during the run on Friday, then came back on Saturday and defeated Brandywine again in the title game.

Pitcher Mark Shaffer, a South Western grad see above while pitching American Legion baseball, picked up the win against Abington. The sophomore has an impressive 9-2 record on the mound this season. Other locals playing for Penn College include junior catcher and Central York alum James Craft, along with freshman outfielder-pitcher Alex Gingerich, a West York grad.

No more practices in parking lots or wearing uniforms on which the school name wasn't printed. Susquehannock girls' lacrosse coach Kristin Kowalczyk said just having her team play as an official varsity sport this year has been a huge thrill for her and her players.

The Warriors just happen to have had a great deal of success on the field as well.

Susquehannock closed the regular season with a win over York Suburban on Tuesday to improve to 13-2 overall. Its only two losses came against a talented Kennard-Dale team. For the first time ever, their season will continue with the 16-team District 3 tournament, which begins on Tuesday.

It's a much better situation than in years past when the Warriors and the rest of the YAIAA squads played as club teams (like in 2006, which was when the photo above was taken). Kowalczyk said the team's quote of the year is "living the dream." The Warriors can make the dream that much sweeter by making a run in the district tournament.

The toughest part of that task will be playing against teams across the river in Lancaster, many of which have had varsity programs in place for several years.

Nursing a season-long leg injury, Eastern York's Tierney Hiltz was given a choice by Golden Knights girls' track coach Joel Jacobs going into his teams showdown at York Suburban, which decided the YAIAA Division B title.

The conversation last week went something like this:

Jacobs: "You know if you run four events on Tuesday night counties (the YAIAA championships at Dallastown, May 8) is probably going to be in question for you

Hiltz: "It doesn't matter to me." (or something to that effect).

That was the key. Hiltz wanted to be there for her teammates.

And she came through big time winning the 100 and 200 dashes and running the anchor leg of a close, yet victorious 4 X 100 race, plus was second in the javelin throw.

There are plenty of serious contenders. Central York-South Western softball comes to mind, as does Dallastown-Spring Grove baseball and even York Suburban-Eastern York track. I'm sure there are others, and you should feel free to add any you can think of in the comments section.

But right now, the best and most heated of the spring sports rivalries in the YAIAA might very well be Dallastown-Central York girls' soccer, and the two teams will square off Wednesday with a spot in the YAIAA tournament title game on the line.

Following a 3-1 quarterfinal victory over Eastern York, I coyly mentioned to Central's Chelsea Clemens that she and her teammates are pretty familiar with their next opponent.

"Yes, rivals," Clemens responded with a smile. "They came to our games and they cheered for the other teams. But that's OK. It's all in fun."

On paper, Easter York girls' track coach Joel Jacobs knows his Golden Knights team is talented,.

Yet, he wouldn't put his squad above traditional rival York Suburban and upstart Dover.

But, when it comes to winning ....

Just like in Tuesday's final YAIAA contest at Suburban when the Knights 4 x 400 relay team of Daisy Forsyth, Rebecca Delp, Mandy Runkle and Jordan Riley ran a 4:18.2, which not only won the race, but clinched the entire meet.

Amazingly, there was even a baton drop in the event and yet the team still won on Riley's come from behind lap as the anchor.

"On paper, we could be 4-2," Jacobs said. "But these girls have so much heart."

The entire relay team returns next year. Forsyth and Riley are juniors, Delp and Runkle are freshmen.

It's a little strange to be talking about basketball in May, but this piece by Malcolm Gladwell in the New Yorker caught my eye and I thought it was worth sharing.

The article talks about how underdogs in sports have a much better chance of beating heavy favorites just by adopting an unorthodox or unexpected strategy. But the part I found the most intriguing involved the advantages of using a full-court press in basketball all the time. The YAIAA team that immediately came to mind was the West York girls, which won the league tournament title this year and was known for its relentless pressure.

Gladwell writes about a girls' team of 12-year-olds with limited experience that made it to the national championships by sticking to a strategy of non-stop full-court pressure on defense:

It was as if there were a kind of conspiracy in the basketball world about the way the game ought to be played, and Ranadivé thought that that conspiracy had the effect of widening the gap between good teams and weak teams. Good teams, after all, had players who were tall and could dribble and shoot well; they could crisply execute their carefully prepared plays in their opponent's end. Why, then, did weak teams play in a way that made it easy for good teams to do the very things that made them so good?

Rain postponed the District 3 team tennis tournament, but couldn't halt Central York's reign at the top of these rankings. Or something.

Not too much has changed from last week's rankings, as most of the top teams are getting into a groove leading up to the postseason.

There are a couple new developments, however. For the fourth consecutive week there is a different baseball team in the rankings. A Susuquehannock softball team that has rediscovered its winning ways moves up a spot (watch highlights from the Warriors' recent victory over New Oxford above). But that's about it.

Full rankings and rationale after the jump. Chime in with your take in the comments section.

The Red Lion boys' lacrosse team has played a total of 14 varsity games in the history of the program. The Lions have won all 14 of them during their debut campaign this season. I asked coach Bill Middleton if he was a little surprised his team had been absolutely perfect so far this season. Middleton paused and then started to chuckle before answering: "To say no would kind of be an understatement."

Middleton said the expectations for the Lions have been high from the beginning and the talent and hard work of the players and the coaching staff has helped Red Lion achieve nothing but success. They now have their eyes on a District 3 title.

"I don't want to sound too arrogant and cocky in saying it, but I'm not surprised because I believe in this team -- especially with the leadership and the kids that we have," Middleton said.

The coach said two key elements to Red Lion's perfect season have been depth and scouting and both should help the Lions in the 16-team district tournament, which starts May 12. In the latest LaxPower computer rankings, the Lions are No. 4 in Central Pennsylvania.