Penn Manor’ basketball team couldn’t be stopped after the first quarter with multiple unanswered points.
The Ephrata Mountaineers came out strong in the first quarter looking for their first win of the season. Leading the Comets 17-12, several points were put up by Ephrata senior Jeremy Franck totaling 12 by the end of regulation.
The Comets would not stay quiet for long going on a streak of points with the help of senior Marc Summy who scored 26 points total for the night.
Marc Summy was a large offensive contribution to the Comets in the second half scoring a total of 26 points.
Penn Manor took the lead into half time with the score at 30-25.
“We tried some new things which caused us to have a slow start but offensively helped us spread the court out better so our offense didn’t have as much difficulty scoring as in past games,” said Summy.
It was all Comets from that point on. Ephrata kept the score close, but was not able to take back the lead in the second half. Points from junior Brady Charles, senior Jay Jackson, senior David Burch, senior Landon Alexich, junior Alex Quinn, and senior Reagen Forrey helped Penn Manor to get their second win of the season.
“I thought our bench did a good job coming off and giving us additional firepower,” said Summy
Ephrata senior Brian Neff was the only one to foul out in the game.
Summy has averaged 20 points a game for the Comets and continues to be a contributing factor.
Penn Manor junior Brady Charles said “[the game was] as ugly as a W can be,” via Facebook referring to their win over Ephrata.
Whether the win was ugly or not, the Comets got a much needed win to save a poor start to the season.
The Penn Manor ice hockey team had an historical comeback to tie Manheim Township Wednesday at Lancaster Ice Rink, 6-6.
“We got off to a slow start,” said Jason Green, a junior ice hockey player referring to the two early goals they allowed in the first period.
After a quiet first period for the Comets, they were able to get a goal late in the first to lower the deficit to one.
The score was 2-1 to begin the second period. Township quickly scored three unanswered goals early in the second period to take a large 5-1 lead. Penn Manor continued its average of one goal a period with a quick tally in the last six minutes. After the second period, the Comets still faced a large task to overcome with the score set at 6-2.
The Comets came out in the third period looking like a brand new team, scoring four unanswered goals throughout the third.
Township kept with the pressure, firing shots on goal, but senior goalie, Braden Kruger was able to make s
ome important saves keeping the score tied until the horn sounded to end the third period.
“Even though we had some ejections and some penalties, we were still able to come back,” said junior hockey player, Kevin Reinhart after getting ejected.
The Comets efforts paid off even without fellow teammates Kevin Reinhart, Nick Young, and Austin Dittenhafer due to ejections and equipment problems.
“Even though we had some ejections and some penalties, we were still able to come back,” said junior hockey player, Kevin Reinhart.
The intensely close game at Lancaster Ice Rink had fans on the edge of their seats until the end. The stands continue to be packed every home game for the Comets. The efforts of both teams made for an entertaining showing.
The Comets who scored were Ryan Pryzbylkowski(2), Matt Gue(1), Nick Cirko(1), Jason Green(1), and Austin Dittenhafer(1).
Their next game is against Anville-Cleona at 7p.m. at Klick Lewis Arena on Friday.
“In the end, we fought back,” said Reinhart. “It was a great game.”
The Comets rallied to beat the Lampeter-Strasburg Pioneers on the ice Wednesday at the Lancaster Ice Rink.
“We really played well together, and our goalie Brad Kruger had some key saves that helped us win,” said junior Kevin Reinhart, 19 for Penn Manor.
Penn Manor got off to a really good start with three goals by number 21 Austin Dittenhaufer. Dittenhaufer first scored with 4:35 in the first period and after getting warmed up there was no stopping him. He scored three minutes later after breaking two L-S defenders’ ankles.
Penn Manor ice hockey team gears up for their game vs. L-S. Photo by Travis Wells
And he wasn’t done there, rushing out onto the ice he scored again within the first 20 seconds of the second period.
“I was just feeling really good,” said Dittenhaufer. “I was really in the zone,” he said later on.
After a loss to West York 7-8 the Comets needed to win to get their record back to 500.
L-S tried to score but couldn’t handle the Comets goalie, Kruger who had an amazing nine saves. The Pioneers scored with eight minutes left in the second period.
Penn Manor wasn’t too happy with the score so two minutes later Jesse Capanelli 33 showed her skills on the ice and scored to keep the lead of 3.
The game just kept getting worse for the Pioneers. Matt Gue, and Kevin Reinhart score three more times in the third period.
Things got a little heated toward the end with Nick Young, and Zach Plank from Penn Manor getting ejected from the game with five minutes left. They will not return and play in the next game. But the loss of the two players still wasn’t enough for L-S to come back and win.
The game ended 7-2 Penn Manor.
“We had a really good game,” said Ryan DiCamillo. “It was a really well played game on our part,” he went on to say.
It seems like these stories are popping up out of nowhere nowadays.
Assistant coaches and little boys seem to cause bigger problems than Global Warming or the US declaring bankruptcy.
Everybody knows about how Linebacker U got blown up by Sandusky and his shenanigans. Now the Orange is under attack because Bernie Fine, Syracuse’s assistant mens’ basketball coach, is being accused of fooling around with three ball boys for over a decade.
39 year old Bobby Davis, who was a Syracuse ball boy for six years and an alleged victim, claims that the sexual contact started when he was 12 years old and lasted 15 years until the age of 27. Mike Lang, Davis’ older stepbrother by six years, claims that Fine molested him while he was in fifth or sixth grade. The other alleged victim, Zach Tomaselli, claimed that Fine molested him in a Pittsburgh hotel room in 2002. Tomaselli is facing sexual assault charges himself involving a 14 year old boy in Maine.
Bernie Fine assistant coach at Syracuse University. Photo courtesy of Hollywoodreporter.com
Apparently Fine didn’t keep it a secret from his wife, Laurie. Davis had recorded a telephone conversation between Mrs. Fine and himself where she admits she knew “everything that went on.”
Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim is also under fire for allegedly knowing about it and not speaking up, the same thing ex-head football coach at Penn State, Joe Paterno, was fired for.
Boeheim is standing by his assistant coach.
“I’ve been with him for 36 years, known him for 48 years, went to school with him,” Boeheim said. “I think you owe a debt of allegiance and gratitude for what he did for the program.”
“It’s pretty terrible.” said Penn Manor senior, and avid Syracuse fan, David Mohimani. “Hopefully it’s not true.”
The scandal is still under investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s Office and U.S. Secret Service.
This incident couldn’t come at a worse time considering the fact that 3rd ranked Syracuse has started off the season guns blazing with a 7-0 undefeated record so far.
If this situation is as true as the media is portraying, Syracuse might fall into the same ditch that Penn State is in right now with recruiting. Stand out offensive lineman, Joey O’Connor, is one of the prospects that have recently uncommitted to PSU after the scandal in Happy Valley. Syracuse basketball might fall victim to the same issues with recruiting.
“I know I wouldn’t want to go there,” said Mohimani
Not only would the future athletes of Syracuse be timid about attending the university, but fans might turn a cold shoulder on the Orange.
Although Boeheim received a standing ovation when he walked into the Carrier Dome when his team played Eastern Michigan on November 29th, Syracuse support might slide down a slippery slope if these allegations are found to be true.
The scandal is still under investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s Office and U.S. Secret Service.
Hopefully these allegations are false and Syracuse University will be able to get past this incident without many repercussions. If these claims are in fact true, Syracuse athletics will be in some hot water.
The field hockey team has always been known for their talent, but with a loss in the quarter finals of states that elusive state title will not be theirs this year.
Eryn McCoy, stepping into a shot. Photo Credit- Sam Valentin
The Comets finished second in the District Championship game to Lower Dauphin 1-0 a few weeks ago and now they were eliminated Saturday in another close game against Emmaus. They lost 2-1 in overtime to have their chance of another State Championship taken from them.Penn Manor played them earlier in the season and lost and now they were beaten again.
“We got to do better then that,” said Penn Manor coach Matt Soto.” Can’t get that many chances and not put them in.”
Emmaus won the state championship last year but this year Hempfield played Warwick in the state championship, both of whom have lost to Penn Manor this season. Hempfield lost to Penn Manor twice.
Hempfield beat the Warriors in the state championship.
Coach Matt Soto leads the team with assistant coach Lisa McCoy and they always are one of the more dominate teams in the district.
Penn Manor led their conference in front of the state champions, Hempfield.
The team finished off the regular season with a record of 11-2 and got second place in districts. The teams overall record was 20-7.
Penn Manor won their first game in states before getting sent home in the next round to Emmaus.
Many of the Comets are coming back next season including Eryn McCoy, Emily McCoy, and Shannon Sloss. But they will be losing some of the seniors graduating this year include Kayla Bixler, Vicky Nase, Mckayla Herbert, and Karla Mylin.
Now with four seniors gone, the Lady Comets will still be a heavy favorite in districts and be fighting for states.
The field hockey team headed to Arizona recently for a field hockey festival over Thanksgiving break adjusting for a new team next season.They won in their pool and this is great preview of how the upcoming season could be like.
All Comet field hockey fans can do is wait until the upcoming season for another shot at the District Title and State Championship.
With allegations for child molestation against former Penn State football coach Jerry Sandusky the Nittany Lions recruiting for 2011-2012 may take a toll.
Joey O’Connor an ESPNU 150 offensive tackle from Windsor, Colorado was the first official decommit for Penn State.
“It was definitely a decision I had to make,” O’Connor said in an i
nterview with ESPN. “I just didn’t know what would happen. The best interest for me now is to explore my options. The whole situation is tragic. My heart goes to the victims and families. They’ll be in my thoughts and prayers.”
Penn State fans here are not optimistic about how the situation will turn out.
With the recent problems at Penn State some people are turning against the school. Photo by openlibrary.org
“Why go to Penn State to play football if Joe Paterno isn’t there and if their whole coaching staff is going to wiped out? I think that’s why players are decommiting,” said Dylan Weber a Penn Manor senior.
An unofficial visit to Penn State in July captured O’Connors heart and his commitment.
He also had offers from Arizona State, Arizona, California, UCLA, Colorado, Utah, Washington State, South Carolina, and Tennessee.
Penn State had 16 commits and six four-star prospects prior to the Sandusky allegations.
Although O’Connor isn’t going to become a Nittany Lion, he believes everything happens “for a reason.”
After Paterno was fired is when he made his official decision to decommit.
With the firing of Joe Paterno Penn State is losing top recruits. Photo by pennlive.com
Just only meeting Joe once, O’Connor said, “It was still tough to see Paterno go.”
“It’s hard to see that happen to him because I got to meet him and talk to him even if for a couple short hours,” he said in an interview with ESPN. “I felt he was a genuine person and the coaches are genuine people. It breaks my heart to see that that’s the way it had to happen.”
O’Conner isn’t the only big recruit Penn State is losing though.
J.J. Denman, a four star, 6’6″ 310 pound offensive tackle has also decided to decommit as well.
Denman, a four-year Pennsbury High School starter, is ranked No. 117 overall and 18th among offensive tackles in the Class of 2012 by Scout.com.
In a comment on pennlive.com a blogger agreed that, “This one hurts when you consider the O-line (Offensive Line) is an area that needs size and improvement. They still have a nice class in verbals but I hope the on-going offensive issues don’t chase any more away.”
Denman also had offers from Connecticut, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Louisville, Boston College, Maryland, Michigan State, and a few others.
“I had been there in the spring and watched their offensive linemen,” said the senior in an interview with Philly Sports. “When I went back, I could see how much those guys had improved. That told me that I would get the most out of playing at Wisconsin.”
Not only is Penn State losing high profile recruits, but also respect and fan loyalty.
Only 24 hours after the firing of head coach Joe Paterno, ticket resale value went down by almost 20 percent.
“It was tough to let the people at Penn State know about it,” Denman said in the same interview. “They’re good people. I just had to do what’s best for me.”
Imagine sitting in a chilly, sixty-degree arena on cold metal bleachers watching people skate around on a frozen swimming pool. Sound like fun?
Penn Manor fans walk the stairs at the Lancaster Ice Rink. Photo by Lauren Pironis
Penn Manor fans seem to think so.
Some go just to watch their friends, others go for the excitement. Which ever the case, Penn Manor fans have found a new favorite high school sport to watch.
“They’re action packed and suspenseful. There is never a dull moment,” said Emily Eddowes, a Penn Manor senior who attends the ice hockey competitions. “They’re really fast paced so you can really get into the games.”
Lately, the Comet crowd has filled the stands at the Lancaster Ice Rink. About 20 students attended the first home game of the season on November 16. Some had been to hockey games before and already knew how exciting they could be. Others had the pleasure of experiencing the thrilling attributes of the game, such as breakaway saves, speeding slap shots and brutal knockout hits, for the first time. They all left the rink after the game sure that they got their money’s worth.
Word spread fast around the school between students and teachers about how enjoyable the hockey game was.
The next home game was Friday night. Within two days, the student attendance was more than double the previous number at almost fifty kids.
“I think the support from the fans this year is awesome,” said goalie Braden Kruger, a senior on the team. “A lot more people are coming out and making noise and that only helps the players on the team play better and want to do well at the games.”
Comet fans rink-side. (From left to right) Senior Lauren Pironis, Phys. Ed teacher Billie Jo Atkins, senior Janelle Musser. Photo by Lauren Pironis
The ice hockey team never had quite as large a fan base before. Previously, they had trouble getting people to come watch them play.
“I never had friends playing on the team before, but now I have players like (Kevin) Reinhart and Braden to watch,” said senior Simon Zimmerman. “It never really appealed to me before I guess.”
The lack of attendance could also be linked to the fact that their home rink is somewhat of a far drive to get to, and their games are typically scheduled late at night and there is a $3 admission fee.
None of these reasons, however, seem to be stopping the eager fans now.
“I will definitely be going to all the upcoming home games,” exclaimed Sara Bennis, another senior hockey fan at Penn Manor.
The ice hockey team has a current record of two wins and two losses. They are constantly growing as their relatively young team continues to strengthen.
Senior skater Jessie Capanelli (center) receives congratulations from friends after game. Photo by Lauren Pironis
This year’s team is, in fact, a young group. Their roster is made up of 15 players, 11 of which will be returning next season. They are:
Returning seniors – Jessie Capanelli and James White.
Returning juniors – Derek Good, Jason Green, Kevin Reinhart, Nick Young and Matt Gue.
Returning sophomores – Nick Cirko, Ryan Pryzbylkowski and Danny Duvall.
New additions to the 2011 squad – seniors James Frese and Brad Kruger, juniors Zack Plank and Deryk Morales and freshman Austin Dittenhafer
The Comets are coached by Chuck Green, Greg Plank, Ralph Reinhart and recent Penn Manor graduate and former player Garth Bolin.
The next home game is at the Lancaster Ice Rink Wednesday Dec. 7 at 8:30pm against rival Lampeter-Strasburg.
College expenses are never cheap and mostly everyone will graduate with debt, but sometimes you get to bypass all of that for being dexterous at sports or academics.
Alex Cummins, a Penn Manor senior, has been playing lacrosse since he was in fifth grade and now plans on going to Florida Tech for lacrosse.
Alex Cummins plays a little bit of offense as well due to his potential to move up field and his body size. Photo Credit: Hutch Graphics.
Cummins plays defense and wields a 6-foot long pole when he is on the field. You might see him towering over his offensive opponent due to his staggering height of 6’2″ and 195 lbs.
Florida Tech is known for its marine biology program according to Cummins.
“I am majoring in marine biology which is fourth in the country,” said Cummins. “It is a really interesting topic to major in.”
Even though Florida Tech wanted Cummins to play on their lacrosse team, he still had to apply. The applying process was made a lot easier because of their interest in Cummins’ lacrosse skill.
“I got the acceptance letter before I even finished the application,” said Cummins. “I was only half way done with my essay.”
Other scholarships were offered to Cummins during his decision process, but FIT had its perks.
“With the scholarship that I am getting, I have a full ride to almost any state school,” noted Cummins. “It is also really close to the beach which is cool. Florida Tech has a 98 percent job placement which also drove me to go there.”
FIT would be the most expensive school out of all the colleges Cummins considered. Between transportation and out of state tuition, it would be almost double the cost of any state school.
Alex Cummins throws a check during one of the Varisty lacrosse games. He is known for his stick checks. Photo Credit: Hutch Graphics
“Florida Tech offered me the highest scholarship and they have better sponsorships than half the D-1 schools (Warrior, Brine, Nike),” added Cummins.
FIT first saw Cummins play at one of the many tournaments that he participated in through his later years of high school.
“I went to a lot of tournaments to get recruited,” said Cummins. “I play on club teams such as Blue Mountain and Brine National.”
Florida Tech is a D-2 school, but he considered schools in Division 1 and 3 as well.
“I was also considering colleges like Jacksonville, Rutgers and Virginia Military Institute.”
This time next year, Cummins will be participating in his first season of lacrosse for FIT. D-2 lacrosse is a much faster pace than high school’s, but he is confident he has prepared enough throughout the eight years of lacrosse.
“To be recruited, it takes a lot of practice, countless emails to coaches, plenty of effort, a will to be good, the want to workout, and a lot of tournaments and traveling,” advised Cummins. “I continuously perfected every aspect of my game to get where I am at today.”
Penn Manor’s ice hockey team started off the season strong.
The first two games of the season, the team overpowers Palmyra at the Klick Lewis Arena in Annville on Monday and at the Lancaster Ice Rink on Wednesday.
“We played a strong aggressive game tonight,” said Penn Manor goalie Braden Kruger on Wednesday night. “A lot of good hits and scoring opportunities.”
The team finished the game on Monday with a score of 6-2 and a score of 9-2 on Wednesday night.
Penn Manor discusses their game plan for the final period. Photo by David Burch
“We’re excited with the strong start to the season, this is a very talented group of young men and the potential is limitless,” said Penn Manor’s assistant coach Garth Bolin.
With Penn Manor keeping the puck away from their goal, Palmyra faced some challenges and was only able to take six shots.
“We moved the puck around, played like a team and had 42 shots on goal and that’s what you need to do to win hockey games,” said Penn Manor senior defenseman James Frese.
Even though there was a decent amount of penalties during the game, Penn Manor wasn’t going to let that stop them from playing their game and it certainly didn’t stop the fans from going crazy.
In only the second game of their season, Penn Manor is still improving and working out the minor scratches in game play in order to make them a more stronger, successful team.
“On Monday we had a lot of run and gun-style play, but we did manage to put up six goals. Tonight we improved and had much more team play game,” Said Bolin
Penn Manor plays West York this Friday at the Lancaster Ice Rink.
“It’s going to be a tough game but if we play like we know how then we have a good chance to win,” said Kruger.
The hockey team invites everyone to come out and support them as they battle for another win.
Penn Manor discusses there gameplan for the final period
Every time Penn Manor is on the verge of a sure thing in sports, it seems that there’s one school that can crush the morale of the Comets in a single night – their arch rivals Hempfield Black Knights.
It’s surely not every time, it just seems like it.
For example, a heavily favored Comets football team hosted the Black Knights this season. After maintaining a lead late into the fourth quarter, the Knights stormed back to an overtime victory.
The Penn Manor’s girls volleyball team took a 2-1 lead over Hempfield. Yet again, the Knights stormed back to a 3-2 victory.
This trend dates back for years. In 2005, Penn Manor boys volleyball team defeated Hempfield twice earlier in the season. Then in the state quarterfinals, the Black Knights came out on top.
Is it magic dust or something a little more tangible?
In the eyes of some Penn Manor athletes, Hempfield is an eternal enemy. But does that rivalry mess with Comet athletes’ heads?
“Hempfield is not very likable, we don’t get along,” said senior varsity golfer and volleyball player Dayonte Dixon.
When the two teams meet, a competitive game always seems to occur. But pure talent does not always dictate the out come of the game.
“Our skill level matches up, but people always say, ‘Oh my god it’s Hempfield,'” said Dixon. “We just lack confidence.”
Some coaches agree with Dixon.
“Hempfield has a lot of confidence, and some of our kids think that they can’t compete,” said lacrosse coach Erick Dutchess.
Others completely disagree.
“So many teams play Hempfield and they get intimidated,” said volleyball coach Jarrod Staub. “Penn Manor teams get more fired up.”
There may be another reason why Penn Manor struggles against Hempfield.
“They have about 2,300 students (in their high school),” said Penn Manor athletic director Jeff Roth. “We have 1,778 students. They have five-six hundred more students.”
The idea of how this affects athletic teams is simple, if you have more kids then you’ll have more athletes. More athletes will lead to more competitive sports teams.
There are other advantages as well.
The more spread out Penn Manor school district. Photo from lancasterdems.com
“In terms of amount of land, Penn Manor is actually the second largest school district. The district is more spread out, which is the problem. We have kids that live 45-50 minutes away from the high school,” said Roth. “Some of those kids choose not to play a sport because of the traveling time.”
On the other hand, Hempfield is the opposite.
“Hempfield is smaller in land size. It’s more of an industrial area,” said Roth. “As a result, everything is closer together. No one worries about a long travel time to and from practice.”
The Comets may even be destined to fail at birth.
The more compact Hempfield School District. Photo from lancasterdems.com
“A lot of it is just genetics,” said Jon Zajac, Penn Manor’s strength and conditioning coach. “Look at the size of our kids compared to their kids.”
All of these factors could affect the outcomes, but there is one key factor.
Dedication.
There are many hard working, and productive student athletes at both schools, but sometimes Penn Manor student athletes become lazy.
“We have practices where people are just joking around,” said Dixon.
“There are definitely some kids that are lazy,” said Zajac.
For Penn Manor, the weight room is what makes up for all these disadvantages.
“The best way to get better is to lift more and get more dedicated,” said coach Zajac.
Zajack conditions with many teams when they are in season. In the fall he works with Football, Girls volleyball, Boys Soccer, and Field Hockey. He works with Boys and Girls Basketball in the winter, then Baseball, Boys Volleyball, Boys lacrosse, Girls lacrosse, Girls soccer, and Track and Field in the spring.
Injury prevention is the reason for in-season workouts.
“Our in-season injury rate is really low,” said Zajac. “I take pride in keeping it low.”
Although the faces and names of players will change, one thing will always remain the same.
“They’re always the teams (Penn Manor) kids want to beat,” said Staub.
