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District 2 Field Hockey Preview: Redeemer, Lehman rolling into D2 playoffs

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Both the Crestwood and Meyers boys soccer teams are in the midst of their best seasons in more than a decade.The two teams enter districts fresh off of wins in their respective Wyoming Valley Conference division championship matches &#8212; Meyers&#8217; victory came in a pseudo-championship game in the regular-season finale against Wyoming Seminary &#8212; and sport their best postseason seeding over that same time period.&#8220;Last year we had an all-state player and he graduated,&#8221; Crestwood head coach David McFarland said. &#8220;So I think it was a matter of having the group gel together and realize its not a matter of one guy or two guys, but it&#8217;s going to be about the whole team. I think we worked a lot of passing drills and our passing game in general. I think that&#8217;s the key to success this year anyways &#8212; to realize we&#8217;ll be more successful as a team than individually.&#8221;While each team played at home in its first-round match last season, both were on the road in the quarterfinals. That won&#8217;t be the case this year.As the top seed, the Comets have home-field advantage throughout the District 2 3A tournament. Meyers sits second in 2A and won&#8217;t face a road game until the final, and that&#8217;s only if top seed Scranton Prep is still alive.&#8220;The seeding is everything in the districts,&#8221; Meyers coach Jack Nolan said. &#8220;This gives us a two, keeps us out of Prep&#8217;s bracket &#8212; they&#8217;re going to be the one &#8212; and that&#8217;s the big thing. This is a huge win (over Wyoming Seminary). You can&#8217;t emphasize it enough. This gives us a chance to get our feet wet in districts and see what happens.&#8221;Nolan also commented after the win over Wyoming Seminary that&#8217;d he&#8217;d love to face the Blue Knights again in the postseason &#8212; in the final.That&#8217;s a likely scenario, and not just in the Class 2A tournament.The WVC sports talented teams in both Class 3A and 2A this season. In fact, two of the top four seeds in each class come from the Wyoming Valley Conference. Dallas joins Crestwood as the No. 3 seed in Class 3A and Wyoming Seminary joins the Mohawks as the No. 4 seed in Class 2A.&#8220;We think we have a strong, strong conference. We&#8217;re cheering for each other, maybe until the final,&#8221; Wyoming Seminary head coach Rev. Charles Carrick said. &#8220;For the most part, we&#8217;re healthy. We get Reggie Grayek back, who&#8217;s been out for a number of games. Time to get to work.&#8221;But the talent doesn&#8217;t stop there.Last season saw a seventh-seeded Crestwood team make its second straight run to the finals, only to lose to the Mountaineers. Dallas was seeded fourth and won the district.Crestwood won the district crown in 2015.Ninth-seeded Nanticoke knocked off the top seed in Blue Ridge in Class 2A last year. Like Dallas, the Blue Knights also made a run to the finals as the No. 4 seed. Wyoming Seminary fell short, but still joined the Mountaineers in states.Aside from Crestwood and Dallas, No. 7 Coughlin and No. 8 Wyoming Valley West are two teams to watch in the Class 3A tournament. Both open up with home games.Class 2A has a trio of WVC teams seeded fifth or higher that could make a run at the district title.No. 6 Lake-Lehman was undefeated until Sept. 22 and had just one loss before losing its final three games. Freshman sensation Max Paczewski finished fourth in points in Division 2 while Kyle Sincavage had a 30-point season. No. 8 Berwick has one-man wrecking ball Ken Marshman, who led Division 2 with 68 points this season. No. 9 Holy Redeemer beat Berwick and tied Lake-Lehman this season. Devin Dougherty and Lucas Barnak also finished in the top 10 in points in Division 2.CLASS A(1 team to states)MMI Prep is the lone WVC representative in the Class A tournament. Drawing the No. 6 seed, the Preppers will travel to No. 3 Old Forge on Monday.Class A likely comes down to No.1 Forest City and No. 2 Mt. View. Both teams are 10-2 on the year.While MMI Prep is winless on the season, Old Forge has just three wins. A quarterfinals upset could be on tap.CLASS 2A(2 teams to states)Undefeated and the defending district champs, No. 1 Scranton Prep is the team to beat.However, No. 2 Meyers, No. 4 Wyoming Seminary, No. 6 Lake-Lehman, No. 8 Berwick and No. 9 Holy Redeemer all have legitimate shots to take down Scranton Prep.Meyers has the offense to continue their impressive run, while Sem has the defense to win its third district championship in four years. Lake-Lehman brings intrigue. It&#8217;s a young team led by senior goalkeeper Chris Ash. Can young guns Max Paczewski and Kyle Sincavage raise to the occasion?CLASS 3A(1 team to states)Class 3A is the most likely tournament to feature an all-WVC final.No. 1 Crestwood and No. 3 Dallas are the teams to beat, mixed in with No. 2 Abington Heights.Don&#8217;t count out the Mountaineers, who feature one of Division 1&#8217;s best scorer in Ricky Wooditch and one of the best goalies in Kyle Greenwood. Dallas will also get a big boost in Nate Maransky, who&#8217;s been out most of the season with an injury.&#8220;With Nate coming back (this) week, it&#8217;s going to be a lot better,&#8221; Greenwood said. &#8220;We&#8217;re going to have even more attacking than we usually do, especially with him and Zach Holthaus up there &#8212; and Ricky Wooditch. They always get us going up there. And our center midfield, David Chopyak and all of them, Dawson (Sensenig) and Beaudyn (Lewis), they get us going. They&#8217;re the playmakers and then the forwards just have to finish and do their jobs.&#8221;Both No. 7 Coughlin and No. 8 Wyoming Valley West are a couple of dark horses that could make a run the next two weeks. The Spartans won five of their last six games and Coughlin sports two of the better scores in Division 1. Both George Oko and David Cortez rank in the top 8 in points.CLASS 4A SUBREGIONAL(1 team to states)Hazleton Area is the lone WVC team in the District 2/6 Class 4A Subregional and drew the No. 4 seed, getting No. 1 Williamsport in the semifinals on Wednesday.The Millionaires are going to be a tough task for Hazleton Area, who has just two wins compared to Williamsport&#8217;s nine.<style>
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<div class="neCaption">Meyers and Dodly Magliore (26) enter districts fresh off a Wyoming Valley Conference Divison 2 title. They&#8217;re the No. 2 seed in Class 2A. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/web1_CMYKSemMeyers1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Meyers and Dodly Magliore (26) enter districts fresh off a Wyoming Valley Conference Divison 2 title. They&#8217;re the No. 2 seed in Class 2A. </caption0><photoCredit0>Aimee Dilger file photo | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/web1_TTL102017Soccer3-CMYK.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Crestwood and Sean Murphy are coming into districts red-hot after beating Dallas in the Wyoming Valley Conference Division 1 title game this past week. They have the top seed in districts. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/web1_TTL102017Soccer3-CMYK.jpg</photo1><caption1>Crestwood and Sean Murphy are coming into districts red-hot after beating Dallas in the Wyoming Valley Conference Division 1 title game this past week. They have the top seed in districts. </caption1><photoCredit1>Aimee Dilger file photo | Times Leader </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/web1_Meyers-Crestwood-BSOC.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Crestwood and junior Sean Murphy, left, sport the top seed in the District 2 3A tournament while Meyers and Dodly Magliore (26) are seeded second in the Class 2A tournament. Both teams lead the Wyoming Valley Conference into districts. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/web1_Meyers-Crestwood-BSOC.jpg</photo2><caption2>Crestwood and junior Sean Murphy, left, sport the top seed in the District 2 3A tournament while Meyers and Dodly Magliore (26) are seeded second in the Class 2A tournament. Both teams lead the Wyoming Valley Conference into districts. </caption2><photoCredit2>Times Leader </photoCredit2></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By DJ Eberledjeberle@www.timesleader.com</bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta>DISTRICT 2 PLAYOFF SCHEDULECLASS AQuarterfinalsMondayNo. 6 MMI Prep at No. 3 Old Forge, 4:15 p.m.No. 5 Elk Lake vs. No. 4 Holy Cross, at Polonia Park, 4 p.m.No. 7 Gregory the Great at No. 2 Mt. View, 4 p.m.SemifinalsWednesdayElk Lake/Holy Cross at No. 1 Forest City, 3:30 p.m.MMI Prep/Old Forge vs. Gregory the Great/Mt. ViewChampionshipOct. 31CLASS 2APlay-In GameOct. 20No. 16 Hanover Area 5, No. 16 Riverside 1First RoundMondayNo. 16 Hanover Area at No. 1 Scranton Prep, 4 p.m.No. 9 Holy Redeemer at No. 8 Berwick, 6:30 p.m.No. 13 Mid Valley at Wyoming Seminary, 6 p.m.No. 14 Western Wayne at No. 3 Blue Ridge, 4 p.m.No. 11 Montrose at No. 6 Lake-Lehman, 6 p.m.No. 10 Carbonedale at No. 7 Lakeland, 5 p.m.No. 15 GAR vs. No. 2 Meyers, at Barney Farms, 4 p.m.TuesdayNo. 12 Nanticoke at No. 5 Dunmore, 6 p.m.QuarterfinalsWednesdayScranton Prep/Hanover Area vs. Berwick/Holy RedeemerBlue Ridge/Western Wayne vs. Lake-Lehman/MontroseLakeland/Carbondale vs. Meyers/GARThursdayDunmore/Nanticoke vs. Wyoming Seminary/Mid ValleySemifinalsOct. 30ChampionshipNov. 1CLASS 3AFirst RoundMondayNo. 9 Honesdale at No. 8 Wyoming Valley West, 7 p.m.No. 12 Wyoming Area at No. 5 Valley View, 6 p.m.No. 11 North Pocono at No. 6 Tunkhannock, 4 p.m.No. 10 Pittston Area vs. No. 7 Coughlin, at Solomon-Plains, 3:45 p.m.QuarterfinalsWednesdayWyoming Valley West/Honesdale at No.1 CrestwoodValley View/Wyoming Area at No. 4 Wallenpaupack, 6 p.m.Tunkhannock/North Pocono at No. 3 DallasCoughlin/Pittston Area at No. 3 Abington Heights, 3:30 p.m.SemifinalsOct. 3FinalNov. 1DISTRICT II/IV 4A REGIONALSemifinalsWednesdayNo. 4 Hazleton Area at No. 1 Williamsport, 4:30 p.m.No. 3 Scranton at No. 2 Delaware Valley, 6:30 p.m.ChampionshipNov. 2Williamsport/Hazleton Area vs. Delaware Valley/Scranton</factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta>Reach DJ Eberle at 570-991-6398 or on Twitter @ByDJEberle</shirttailMeta></div>

District 2 Boys Soccer Preview: Crestwood, Meyers enter playoffs in unfamiliar territory