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Taking Back the Streets: Ride-along with Hazleton officers ends with wild chase

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WBS Penguins lose to Bears, 3-2

<p>The torch was passed immediately after last season.</p><p>And McKenna Dolan was only too anxious to grab it.</p><p>What she did with it will show up at 1 p.m. today, when the East plays the West in the second annual rebirth of the Wyoming Valley Conference/District 2 Field Hockey Senior Classic at Wyoming Valley West&#8217;s Spartan Stadium in an effort to assist the charity Valley with a Heart.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;m just really excited to play our final high school field hockey game,&#8221; said Dolan, a Holy Redeemer standout who helped the Royals make the school&#8217;s first-ever District 2 Class A championship appearance in 2016 and complete two unbeaten Division 2 championship seasons before the program moved up to the WVC Division 1 this year.</p><p>The game was rebooted last year after a decades-long absence by former Redeemer standout Leah Mullery, who is now playing at Lehigh University. Before she left high school, Mullery encouraged Dolan to keep the game going.</p><p>&#8220;She asked me, she was a really good friend of mine,&#8221; Dolan said. &#8220;I was obviously honored and thrilled to take it.&#8221;</p><p>It took a lot of work.</p><p>Dolan enlisted the help of Wyoming Valley West standout Karaline Stelma &#8212; &#8220;One of my best friends, we&#8217;ve been friends since kindergarten,&#8221; said Dolan, who came up through the Valley West grade school system before spending her high school years at Redeemer &#8212; to help organize the Senior Classic. The pair played together on Valley West&#8217;s Middle School team, in the Keystone State Games and on the Electric Surge club team before teaming up one final time to put on the All-Star game.</p><p>Electric Surge and the Keystone State Games helped fund the T-shirts for the event, while The Next Level donated the MVP plaques that will be presented to representatives from both teams.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s a great thing to do,&#8221; Stelma said. &#8220;Me and McKenna were working really hard and our moms helped. We kind of emailed coaches, tracked down seniors, tracked down sponsors, got the T-shirts made.&#8221;</p><p>Stelma made sure to help conjure up interest in the Classic, even as she was scoring goals and helping Valley West win a third straight District 2 Class 2A championship and leading the Spartans to a second consecutive state semifinal berth.</p><p>&#8220;It was kind of in the middle of all that,&#8221; Stelma said. &#8220;But we worked on it throughout the season.&#8221;</p><p>The fast friends were working for a cause that had little to do with gameday success.</p><p>Today&#8217;s event will include basket raffles, donations and proceeds from food sales that will benefit Valley with a Heart &#8212; an organization that helps critically ill children throughout the Wyoming Valley.</p><p>&#8220;We wanted to choose Valley with a Heart because it&#8217;s local, it helps children,&#8221; Dolan said. &#8220;Their mission is to improve the quality of life of children who are suffering from a serious illness. I&#8217;m just so thankful all these girls have come out to support this great cause. I am excited to play for a good cause with my high school peers. It feels great to help children. All the players are proud to participate in this special event.&#8221;</p><p>The rosters will include two seniors from Wyoming Seminary&#8217;s Class A state championship team, Dolan and four of her Holy Redeemer teammates and four seniors from Valley West&#8217;s state semifinalist team playing their last game on their home field &#8212; where Stelma has always been a star point producer.</p><p>Could she have one more high school goal left for the finale? </p><p>&#8220;If I do score a goal, great,&#8221; Stelma said. &#8220;If I don&#8217;t score a goal, it&#8217;s great. It&#8217;s all the seniors coming together for one last game and having fun.</p><p>&#8220;Just a fun thing to do.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Electric surge teammates McKenna Dolan of Holy Redeemer (left) and Karaline Stelma of Wyoming Valley West (right) teamed up again to organize the WVC Field Hockey Senior Classic, to be held at 1 p.m. Sunday at Spartan Stadium. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/web1_FullSizeR.jpg</photo0><caption0>Electric surge teammates McKenna Dolan of Holy Redeemer (left) and Karaline Stelma of Wyoming Valley West (right) teamed up again to organize the WVC Field Hockey Senior Classic, to be held at 1 p.m. Sunday at Spartan Stadium. </caption0><photoCredit0>Submitted photo </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/web1_IMG_5146-1-.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Holy Redeemer&#8217;s McKenna Dolan, left, and Wyoming Valley West&#8217;s Karaline Stelma worked together off the field all season to organize the second annual Wyoming Valley Conference Field Hockey Senior Classic, which will be played at 1 p.m. today at Spartan Stadium. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/web1_IMG_5146-1-.jpg</photo1><caption1>Holy Redeemer&#8217;s McKenna Dolan, left, and Wyoming Valley West&#8217;s Karaline Stelma worked together off the field all season to organize the second annual Wyoming Valley Conference Field Hockey Senior Classic, which will be played at 1 p.m. today at Spartan Stadium. </caption1><photoCredit1>Submitted photo </photoCredit1></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Paul Sokoloski</p><p>psokoloski@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Paul Sokoloski at 570-991-6392 or on Twitter @TLPaulSokoloski</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Fast friends Dolan, Stelma set up for one final goal