From staff reports
HARRISBURG - Mifflin County's football team may want to plan an afternoon outing in State College in two weeks - it would be a nice way to return the favor to the field hockey team, which headed to New Cumberland to cheer for the gridiron squad Friday after wrapping up the best season of any fall sports team with a 4-1 victory over Central Dauphin East.
It was icing on the cake for the field hockey team, which already had clinched a winning season overall and in the Commonwealth Division, and split with its only District 6 opponent - one it will see again, when the Huskies and Little Lions square off for the second straight year for the Class AAA title.
In the regular-season finale, the senior class that was honored on Wednesday was key to the victory. Sam Peters had two goals for Mifflin County, while Macie Lucas and Whitney Strohecker had one goal and an assist each.
"We will be graduating seven seniors that have a lot of experience and certainly a lot of talent," Huskies coach Tish Maclay said. "We will miss them next year."
Lucas had the first goal, the only one of the first half, on a feed from Grace Wagner, with 6:30 before the break. It may have been somewhat of a relief for Maclay, who admitted the first half was not her team's best.
"The first half I did not think we played well at all. We were really flat," she said. "We had a little chat at halftime and they came out a little more fired up."
It took less than four minutes for Peters to put her first one in the cage, and Strohecker added the third goal four minutes later. Peters tallied again before the Panthers finally got on the board in the 53rd minute.
Maclay said the team earned its standing among both its peers at home and those in the Mid-Penn.
"They work hard, they really do," she said. "They challenged themselves in the offseason and it's paying off now."
The JV teams tied, although Maclay said the Huskies played well in the scoreless contest.
Mifflin County's varsity (11-7, 9-5) will play for the District 6 crown at State College at 4 p.m. Oct. 25.
Field hockey
Newport 6, Juniata 0
MIFFLINTOWN - Newport's Hannah Clegg managed a hat trick and teammate Kim Vilk added two more as the Buffaloes scored six first-half goals in a Tri-Valley League shutout of Juniata.
The Indians responded in the second half by at least holding the game scoreless after the break, something Juniata coach Becky Loy attributed to changes in position.
"I just sort of had fun with it in the second half," she said. "They seemed to play better that way. I thought they played well for the situation."
Juniata will play the back half of a field hockey doubleheader at Greenwood on Monday.
Tennis
District 6 Class AAA
ALTOONA - The inaugural season for Mifflin County's girls tennis program came to an end Friday when two duos were eliminated from the District 6 Class AAA doubles tournament.
Sam Hendricks and Michaela DeBenedetto, who played singles a week earlier, fell in straight sets to Gitanjali Bhushan and Juliette Greer of State College, 6-0, 6-4. Alana Felton and Olivia Runk dropped their match 6-2, 6-1 to Altoona's Emilee Hollingsworth and Marina Dixon.
All of those were quarterfinal matches; the locals both got byes in the round of 16.
Hollidaysburg's two entries will square off today in the finals.
