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Pioneers Dominate Susquehanna Township

BY MONA STEINHAUER

After opening the post-season with a first-round bye in the District Three 4A tournament, the Pioneers got back to work Friday, November 11 with a home game against Susquehanna Township. The sixth seed fell behind early and often in the 52-6 quarterfinal victory by L-S.

“They have some playmakers,” said head coach Victor Ridnour. “They have a number of kids who can ball the distance. Our defense did a really solid job of bottling them up and getting our offense the ball with great field position. I thought we had a chance to win the game, but I thought it would have been closer.

“It was good to get the offense back on track,” he continued. “I thought we played good complimentary football. We were pretty good in all three phases of the game.”

Carson Coleman, with a hat trick of touchdowns, jumpstarted the first quarter with a pair of scores and an early 15-0 lead as L-S capitalized on great field position after botched punts by the visitors. He tallied his 15th rushing touchdown of the year with an eight-yard run down the right side with 8:32 left. Peter Fiorello booted the PAT for the first points of the night.

About 5:30 later, Coleman scooted six yards to paydirt. Trent Wagner’s two-point conversion pushed the lead to 15-0 with 2:53 left in the quarter.

Wagner (10-16, 160 yards) opened the second quarter with a 29-yard touchdown toss to Hunter Hildenbrand, who shrugged off the coverage to haul in the pass. Fiorello kicked a second PAT to push the lead to 22-0 and then nailed a 44-yard field goal, extending the advantage to 25-0 with 6:11 left in the half.

Susquehanna finally responded when Dorian Smith raced 80-yards down the right side to the house and prevented the shutout.

That momentum, however, was short-lived as L-S scored its fourth TD of the night when Wagner found Hildenbrand (4 receptions, 94 yards) with a 24-yard strike. Fiorello’s PAT made it 31-6 with 54 seconds left in the half.

The second half was more of the same. Wagner scored on a 32-yard run and Coleman (113 yards on 20 carries, 2 receptions for 30 yards) followed up with a 2yarder, this time with Eric Doutrich booting the PAT to cap the third quarter. Louie Malatesta racked up 40 yards on seven carries in Lampeter’s final scoring drive which ended with Dominic Brown’s four-yard run in the fourth quarter that sealed Susquehanna Township’s fate.

“Louie ran the ball well in the second half,” said Ridnour. “He made some outstanding cuts. We had kids make plays on both sides of the ball and on special teams. It was a good solid team win.”

Luke Hines, Jackson Heeter, and Julian Lopez combined for 17 tackles to anchor the defense.

FIELD HOCKEY AWARDS

The field hockey team officially capped its season with their end-of-the-year banquet and the announcement of the following award winners by head coach Katrina Swarr.

Mackenzie Westerlund Rookie of the Year; Avery Brown - Pioneer Award; Olivia Heiser - Impact Award; Kara Scranton and Maggie Swarr - Outstanding Defensive Players, who combined for 18 defensive saves; Tori Heiserman - Outstanding Offensive Player (10 goals, 5 assists); Marissa Rice - Most Valuable Player.

The field hockey team was also well represented in the recent Lancaster-Lebanon League all-star balloting. Tori Heiserman, Marissa Rice, and Maggie Swarr were Section Two First Team allstars. Lyndi Wall, Ally Raub and Kara Scranton were Second Team selections while Breigh Bauer, Avery Brown, Ally Raub, Kara Scranton, Maggie Swarr and Brooke Zuber all received Academic all-star recognition.

Finally, Swarr was also voted to the L-L All-League team.

VOLLEYBALL

As voted on by coaches, the 2022 Pennsylvania Volleyball Coaches Association recently announced the All-District Three AAA team. Seniors Jenna Hover (middle hitter) and Emily Mullin (setter/outside hitter) were both voted as Second Team all-stars.

Photo by Connor Hollinger

Jeremy Reed blocks Susquehanna Township’s Michael Dawson on a Pioneer pass play in their 52-6, District Three 4A quarterfinal win over the visiting Indians on November 11.