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A few feet away, Tate Frazer joined him on the track of the Penn State Multi-Sport Facility, laying on his stomach across three folding chars while icing his lower back.
It was a hard day's work for the Trojans and it was well worth it.
After quarterfinal pool play of the PIAA Class AAA tournament on Friday, Chambersburg came out of Pool B in first place while going 3-0 with a 7-2 record in sets - beating Pennridge 3-0, Lower Dauphin 2-1 and Emmaus 2-1.
The Trojans (23-3) will face Norwin today at 11 a.m. in the semifinals. Central Dauphin (23-1), the top seed from Pool A, and Pennridge will also compete for a spot in the championship match, which will be broadcast live on PCN (local Comcast Ch. 186) at 3 p.m.
"It was actually pretty neat, knowing that my team is out there playing hard and giving Emmaus a run in set three," Stahl said. "With me and Tate out - we're probably the top two offensive hitters - and they stuck right with them. That just shows that everyone is playing and making contributions. Our defense is playing well. Ray Frazer's setting out there is amazing. We're really coming together at the right part of the season."
The day took a scary turn during the Trojans' second match of
With the Trojans holding a 23-17 lead in Game 1, Chambersburg setter Ray Frazer sent a pass across the Trojan front line.
Stahl jumped as a decoy and Drew Patterson took the hit. When Stahl came down, he landed on a teammate's foot, causing an awkward impact, and he collapsed into Lower Dauphin's side of the court, punched the floor and writhed in pain.
"I was thinking, 'Not now,'" Stahl said. "This is not good. It hurt like crazy. A sharp pain went up my knee."
Tate Frazer said, "It was scary. I just kind of froze and stared."
A trainer came over to check on the injured middle blocker, but Stahl was able to walk away under his own power.
"We were worried for him more than us, with his future ahead of him," Chambersburg coach Kirk Crouse said. "That was a very scary, scary moment. Very scary."
Stahl soon had an ice bag taped on his knee and was forced to watch the Trojans close out a 25-20 win, hoping at some point he might return.
The pain went away quickly - Stahl said in about five minutes - and there was hope he could return.
Without their top player, the Trojans showed their resiliency and led most of the second game while getting contributions from everyone.
Trenton Montgomery, who didn't play in the first round against Pennridge (a 3-0 Trojan win), had the task of filling in for Stahl and he made it look like he'd been playing all day.
He recorded back-to-back blocks in Game 2 and placed consistent defensive pressure at the net.
"Trenton came out fired up," Crouse said. "I think he just seized the moment. He had an opportunity, went with it and had fun knowing where we are and knowing how big that match was. He stepped up in a big way. I can't say enough about how he played."
If it wasn't Montgomery in the middle, it was Keith Kegerreis.
Just a sophomore, Kegerreis showed he could perform at a high level on the big stage, starting rallies for the Trojans throughout the day with blocks and running quick plays with Ray Frazer at the net.
At the end of the second game against Lower Dauphin, with the score at 22-20 in the Trojans' favor, Stahl was given clearance to return to the game, and he did.
It didn't take long for him to show he could still play, though he was noticeably slowed while playing with a heavily taped knee. On his first swing, he recorded a kill. He later hit the winning kill, a spike to Russell Kreider's chest that knocked him on his backside, to give the Trojans a 25-20 win.
"He has heart, I'll tell you that," Tate Frazer said. "A lot of heart."
Stahl's absence seemed to give Chambersburg more motivation to win.
With Stahl watching from the sidelines during Game 3 against Lower Dauphin, Chambersburg's play didn't drop off.
After falling behind 8-2, the Trojans ground out point after point before tying the game at 10 on two consecutive Tate Frazer kills.
The Trojans lost the set, 26-24, but the strong play carried over to the match against Emmaus.
"When he went out, it gave us more motivation to win it even more, to win it for him," said Tate Frazer, who sat out most of the season with a fracture in his lower back, an injury he is still nursing.
With Stahl back in the lineup, Chambersburg fell behind 7-1 to start the match versus Emmaus before fighting back for a 25-23 win. The Trojans followed that with a 26-24 win, clinching the No. 1 seed from Pool B for the semifinals.
"Guys played really smart," Crouse said. "We wanted to win our pool and make our path a little easier tomorrow, hopefully. It's always better to play the two seed."
If Chambersburg reaches the final, the Trojans could see a familiar foe in Central Dauphin, which also went 3-0 Friday. Chambersburg lost to the Rams twice in Mid Penn Commonwealth play and the District 3-AAA championship.
"I'm hoping to see CD in the final," Stahl said. "We're not going to let them beat us for the state title. That is ours."
Notes: Chambersburg handled Pennridge 3-0 in the first match of the day, taking sets of 25-14, 25-18 and 25-23 In set records, the Trojans were 7-2, Pennridge was 5-4, Emmaus 4-5 and Lower Dauphin 2-7 This is the Trojans' second-ever appearance in the PIAA semifinals - in 2002 they lost to North Allegheny, 2-0.
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Colin Stevens can be reached at cstevens@publicopinionnews.com and 262-4819, or on Twitter @ColinStevens06.
