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H.S. PLAYOFFS: Saturday is busy day for area teams in the postseason


Saturday is shaping up to be a jam-packed day for area teams in the postseason.

Four soccer teams, three girls volleyball teams and all of the area's top District 3 cross country runners will compete with the hope of moving on to the next round.

Chambersburg's boys are the last area team left in the District 3 soccer playoffs. The Trojans need a win over Hershey to collar the program's first berth in the PIAA Tournament.

In District 5, No. 1 seed McConnellsburg and No. 2 seed Fannett-Metal host boys quarterfinal games, while No. 7 seed McConnellsburg hits the road in the girls soccer tournament.

Chambersburg and Waynesboro play in a District 3 Class AAA volleyball doubleheader at Dallastown, while McConnellsburg hosts West Branch in the Inter-County Conference championship match.

The Chambersburg girls cross country team was undefeated in the Mid Penn Commonwealth Division this season and the Trojans have their eyes on winning their second district title in three years.

They will compete in the District 3 Class AAA girls cross country championships, to be held at Big Spring. The Class AAA girls race is 2:30 p.m. and the boys follow at 3:30.

The top four teams earn a bid to the state championship, and the lowest-scoring team of 43 competing schools takes home the district title.

"We're going to need a great day to challenge for the district title," Chambersburg girls coach Chris Monheim said. "An average day is not even going to get us into the top four. But if we run with confidence we have a chance at winning the title."

It's hard to not have confidence when you have a runner like Abby Yourkavitch leading the pack.

The sophomore had the best finish for the Trojans last season at the district meet, finishing third out of 255 runners. Yourkavitch has been the team's golden ticket this season, breaking course records and placing no worse than fourth in 10 meets this season, winning half of them.

Yourkavitch has a chance to win it all Saturday, but will be challenged by top runners Alison Willingmyer from Wilson and Cumberland Valley's Mady Clahane, who has won the district title three years in a row.

Close behind for Chambersburg is sophomore Kaylee Mowery, who has steadily run in the No. 2 position. Mowery placed 18th at districts last year, but Monheim has high hopes for a top-10 finish.

In the No. 3 slot is Cadie Kiser, who finished 32nd in last year's districts; and senior Cassie Essis rounds out the top four. Essis was a member of Chambersburg's team in 2013 that won by a single point.

The final three runners for Chambersburg have varied throughout the season, with new runners emerging from a deep lineup. Sophomore Sydney Parson, junior Livvy Sommers and senior Racheal Sollars round out the final three, all of whom have never competed at the district level.

"The nice thing is we do have some depth there," Monheim said. "I feel like we definitely go seven deep with our runners, so if we are ever having an off day, we should have someone else in there that can pick them up."

Monheim said there are six teams in the district that will challenge the Trojans, two from each league – Wilson and Governor Mifflin from Berks, Carlisle and Cumberland Valley from the Mid Penn and Manheim Township and Hempfield from Lancaster-Lebanon.

"The teams we are competing against, most of them we have already beaten this year," he said. "At least on paper, those teams likely will be our competition for state qualifying, but competitive meets are not a new thing for us."

Luckily for Chambersburg, the team has experience on the challenging Big Spring course, and have faced the hills of Newville twice this year.

"It's the kind of course we do well on," Monheim said.

BOYS SOCCER >> No. 9 seed Chambersburg (12-4-2) blanked Hempfield 2-0 on Tuesday, and now faces Hershey (14-5-1), who beat No. 1 seed Central Dauphin in penalty kicks. The two set of Trojans met last year in the Mid Penn championship and Hershey won 2-1 in overtime.

Chambersburg has reached the District 3 quarterfinals multiple times, but have never ben able to push into the semifinals, and the top four teams qualify for states.

In District 5 Class A, McConnellsburg and Fannett-Metal have high hopes of meeting in the final. But they'll have to each win two games before that can occur.

The Spartans (17-1) meet No. 8 seed Windber (8-8-1) at 7 p.m., and the Tigers (15-3) take on No. 7 Hyndman (10-6-2) at 1. The Hornets administered one of F-M's three losses, a 2-1 verdict in mid-September.

GIRLS SOCCER >> McConnellsburg is the defending District 5-A champion, but the Spartans will have a tougher road this time. As the No. 8 seed, McConnellsburg (9-9) will have to travel to play at No. 2 seed Conemaugh Township (12-4-2).

GIRLS VOLLEYBALL >> Chambersburg made it into the main draw of the District 3 Class AAA tournament by easing by rival Carlisle 3-1 in Thursday's play-in round. Now it gets more difficult. In the first round, the Trojans (14-5) will take on York County's top team, Central York (15-1), at 4:30 p.m. at Dallastown.

In the game before that at 3 p.m., Waynesboro takes its 20-0 record against Red Lion (13-4). The same teams met in the first round last year and the Lions took a 3-1 victory.

McConnellsburg (15-3) earned the title in the ICC South Division, and will host ICC North champion West Branch for the overall championship at 2 p.m.

Sports editor Ed Gotwals contributed to this article.