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H.S EXTRA NOTEBOOK: Five local soccer teams to begin postseason play


The leaves are changing, the air is crisp, and it's time for playoff soccer.

Five local teams have made it to the Disrtict 3 playoff tournament, set to begin Friday, including two local boys teams and three girls squads.

Chambersburg boys soccer is ranked ninth and will travel to eighth-ranked Hempfield on Tuesday to compete in the first round of the Class AAA championship tournament. Greencastle boys, ranked 15th, will host a play-in game on Saturday, when they take on Red Lion who is ranked 18th.

James Buchanan, who is ranked 15th in the Class AA girls tournament, will host a play-in game against No. 18 Lancaster Mennonite on Saturday, while No. 16 Waynesboro will host a play-in match for Class AAA on Friday at 4 p.m. against No. 17 Dover.

Greencastle-Antrim is ranked 10th in the girls Class AA tournament, and will begin postseason play on Monday as it travels to Manheim Central High school to take on the No. 7 Barons.

Before Thursday, the final day of the girls volleyball regular season, Chambersburg was ranked 14th in Class AAA with a 13-4 record, while unbeaten Waynesboro was in seventh place.

In Class AA James Buchanan (9-7) is ranked 14th with its final match of the season against Greencastle (11-8), who is ranked 21st in Class AAA. Greencastle will be playing for a playoff spot after falling to 21st this week, as only the top-20 teams in Class AAA make it to the post season.

BREAKING RECORDS >> Fannett-Metal junior Mickell McGee broke the school's boys soccer career-goal record on Monday after earning his 55th-career goal.

The previous record was set in 1998 by Stuart Moats who had 54 goals at FM. Moats was a teammate of current Tigers coach Greg Best.

Since breaking the record, McGee scored a hat trick against Southern Fulton, adding to his already impressive goal total. He has 36 goals and 12 assists this season alone.

FORFEITED >> The previously undefeated Northern Lebanon football team was forced to forfeit its first two games of the season for the use of an ineligible player on Sept. 4 against Pine Grove and Sept. 11 versus Lebanon. Northern Lebanon defeated Pine Grove in its opener, 52-0, and beat Lebanon 51-27 on the road in Week 2. With those wins now registered as losses, the team has fallen to 19th in the District 3 Class AAA power rankings, currently three spots out of a playoff bid.

The school self-reported the ineligibility issue, which violated PIAA By-Laws Article XIII, Section 1, Sub-section A: Using an ineligible player. Northern Lebanon athletic director David Yavoich did not respond to requests for comment after the announcement was made by District 3.

In an email sent to PennLive, Yavoich revealed the team's coaches made their players aware of the violation last week.

"When the information was provided and subsequent discovery that a student-athlete was academically ineligible from the previous school year, the administration immediately self-reported the incident to the District 3 committee," Yavoich said in the email.

"The student-athletes on the football team were made aware of this situation last week by the coaches, and they all remain steadfast in their team goals and team objectives for the rest of the season."

Northern Lebanon remains atop Section Three with an undefeated 3-0 mark in section play. The Vikings will host rival Annville-Cleona (5-2, 1-2 Section Three) on Friday night.

Earlier this season, Dylan Weaver, a junior transfer from Central Dauphin, left the Northern Lebanon team. He recorded nearly 450 yards of total offense and 11 touchdowns over four games in his first season in Fredericksburg. It has not been confirmed that Weaver is the player who was ruled ineligible.