Today in high school sports: Sept. 23, 2017

Rounding up Saturday’s action in Centre County scholastic sports:

Penns Valley wins PIAA Foundation race team title

The Penns Valley boys’ cross country team established itself as a state title contender Saturday afternoon, winning the White Race at the PIAA Foundation Invitational at the Hershey Entertainment Complex.

The Rams had three runners in the top 10 and all five scoring runners in the top 20 to win the race on the same 5-kilometer course used for the state championship meet in November.

“Now we have a big bull’s eye on our backs,” Penns Valley coach Terry Glunt said. “But the guys gained a lot of confidence today.”

Also, the St. Joseph’s Catholic Academy boys finished fourth behind the Rams, Mitchell Etter captured fourth to help State College take eighth as a team in the boys’ Gold Race, the Lady Little Lions finished fifth in the girls’ Gold Race and the Penns Valley girls were 16th in the Blue Race.

The white Penns Valley jerseys were hard to miss in the lead pack with all five scoring runners breaking the 18-minute mark for the first team title on the difficult course. Senior Chris Colwell led the way with a sixth-place finish in 17 minutes, 19 seconds, which was 12 seconds better than his brother Brendan, a freshman finishing ninth, and two seconds better than Colton Sands, another freshman who was seventh. Sam Gray was 16th and Mark Bierly placed 19th in 17:46 and 17:51, respectively, to complete the scoring runners.

“I was impressed by the 32-second split between our (first and fifth) runners and their grit and determination on a brutally hot day,” Glunt said. “I'm sure they gained some confidence after their performance today.”

Defending PIAA Class A champion Winchester Thurston had the overall winner in the boys’ White Race with Tristan Forsyth’s time of 16:38, but had 87 team points, well behind the Rams’ 50 in the 27-team race.

Etter covered the course in 16:32 to pace the Little Lions, who also saw Erik Boethius clock in 17:25 for 33rd and Owen Isham take 49th in 17:42. State College had 299 points while winner Seneca Valley had 103.

The Lady Little Lions were led by Kileigh Kane’s run of 20:15 for 18th place, and also had top-50 finishes from Jordan Reed (36th, 20:38) and Emma Simon (37th, 20:39). Manheim Township won with 93 points and State College had 212.

“It was a very, very true simulation of the state meet,” State College coach Rebecca Donaghue said. “There were hardly any top teams missing. We are really super excited by this.”

The Lady Rams were paced by top-50 runners Karly Smith in 22:01 for 38th and Kelsey Hull in 22:12 for 44th and finished with 395 team points, while winner Villa Maria Academy had 92.

State College uses early goals for win

CHAMBERSBURG State College used three first-half goals to put away Chambersburg 4-1 Saturday afternoon in a Mid Penn Conference contest.

Erica Feese and Emma Houtz netted goals in the first 13 minutes and Payton Porter added a goal later in the first half. Kara Bates added a second-half score for the Lady Little Lions (5-4).

Kristen Lenze and Jenny Mejia combined in goal for the win, with the only score an Ashlynn Swangetz penalty kick midway through the first half.

BEA falls in championship of own tournament

WINGATE Bald Eagle Area split a pair of shutouts Saturday morning in BEA’s tournament at Alumni Stadium, beating Jersey Shore 2-0 and falling 3-0 to Central Mountain in the championship game.

Addison Proctor netted both goals for the Lady Eagles (4-3-1) against the Indians, and Charlee Harris made six saves for the shutout. Emily Shiels picked up an assist.

“We controlled the ball much better in the second half and our defense was lights out,” BEA coach Jared Moore said. “Our forwards were really pressuring their back line and it created a lot of good scoring chances for us.”

Harris made four saves in the loss to the Lady Wildcats in the final match.

Late goals lift Bison past Mounties

HYDE D.J. Graham and Luke Winters scored goals in the final 12 minutes to lift Clearfield to a 4-2 win over Philipsburg-Osceola at the Bison Sports Complex on Saturday.

Graham also scored in the first half and Matt Ryan opened the scoring just over a minute in, converting an indirect kick.

Noah Adams netted his first varsity goal with a 40-yard strike to just under the crossbar for P-O (0-7), and Kyle Godin also scored in the first half. The tallies broke a string of five straight shutout losses.

This story was originally published September 23, 2017 at 10:58 PM with the headline "Today in high school sports: Sept. 23, 2017."