It wasn’t going to be easy for the Hempfield and Penn Manor boys lacrosse teams to top their first meeting this season.
Sure enough, the Black Knights and Comets found a way.
Jason Hilton scored with 15 seconds left in double overtime to lift Hempfield over Penn Manor 11-10 in a Lancaster-Lebanon League Section One game Wednesday night at Millersville.
Hempfield (7-3 Section One, 8-4) clinched the final spot in the L-L playoffs, which begin May 10. Penn Manor (6-4, 6-5) will look ahead to the District Three playoffs.
Incidentally, Hempfield also needed overtime to defeat the Comets on April 5.
In that game, senior Toby Marco scored the winning goal off a Hilton assist. This time, their roles were reversed.
“Toby dodged from X, drew two or three guys and passed it up,” Hilton said of the winning goal. “I did a hitch and the (defender) bit on it. I was just hoping it was going in.”
Hempfield had little trouble putting shots toward the goal throughout. Getting the ball past Penn Manor goalie Nick Hollinger was a different story.
“He makes saves that nobody should make,” Penn Manor coach Connor Rowe said. “The most important thing about Nicky is he’s a great lacrosse player — he made 20-plus saves — but he’s an even better person and teammate.”
Hollinger and Hempfield goalie Gabe Colon-Munoz traded saves in both sudden-victory overtime periods to keep their teams in it and give their offenses a chance.
“Goalie in overtime is a tough spot in lacrosse,” Hempfield coach Brett Moore said. “Your emotions are through the roof and we’re asking you to do something that, frankly, is not even fair. Gabe stepped up and made the save when we needed him to.”
Penn Manor led 9-6 early in the fourth quarter before Hempfield rallied. Marco drove in for a score, defender Stephen Pitts added a goal, and Marco deposited a rebound to tie it with 3:29 to play.
Marco (five goals, three assists) later bounced a shot up and under the goalmouth for a 10-9 lead.
Penn Manor’s Ayden Hoin (three goals) sent the game to overtime, ripping a shot high and tight for a 10-10 tie.
For Hempfield, Drew Bennett had two goals and Phil Krauser had one.
For Penn Manor, Aidan Gerlach scored three goals, Grant Bradburn had two, and Peyton Englert and Chris Hull each had one.
Penn Manor is set to host Governor Mifflin in a nonleague game on Friday. Hempfield will host Lampeter-Strasburg in a nonsection contest on Saturday.
