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Faith Baptist Church in Plymouth holds Hometown Heroes event

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Something special was going on with Valley West’s field hockey title team

On the side of the school bus that brought Wyoming Valley West to its second state field hockey champion was a simple but powerful slogan.&#8220;Hustle, hit, never quit,&#8221; the sign read.It should be on the cover of the playbook for both gold medal teams from the Wyoming Valley Conference.Because when you take those words to heart, as Wyoming Valley West and Wyoming Seminary did Saturday, it becomes more than just a saying.Those words become a path to promise.Potential turned into the fulfillment of dreams for both Wyoming Seminary, which won a second straight PIAA field hockey gold medal for just the second time in school history. And for Valley West, which won just the second state crown in the school&#8217;s field hockey history.But neither would have happened if their players didn&#8217;t hustle, didn&#8217;t hit and decided to quit.It would have been easy to back off a bit for players on both teams in the freezing temperatures that hovered around 30 degrees &#8212; not factoring in the chill from a wind that kept whipping &#8212; when the Class A title game began Saturday morning and didn&#8217;t get much warmer by the time the Class 2A game ended.Valley West fell down on the scoreboard and Sem went down emotionally.Yet, both found reason to reach back and find some resolve.Sem forward Alex Wesneski went all the way back to the preseason, when she started describing those early practice sessions that incorporate a ton of running into a conditioning program.&#8220;That program,&#8221; Wesneski said, &#8221; was for this game, when you&#8217;re not tired and not thinking of the cold, but just staying focused.&#8221;Keep in mind Wesneski hates running sprints.Yet, there she was at the end of the PIAA Class A championship game, sprinting up and down the Zephyr Sports Complex at Whitehall High School for over an hour as one of the Sem players who never came off the field in both seven-on-seven overtimes.&#8220;We were running all over the field,&#8221; Wesneski said.And suddenly, after eight penalty corners that produced nothing, Wesneski sent a running shot off a penalty corner that teammate Grace Parsons was able to swat into the cage on a rebound to lift the Blue Knights to a 1-0 victory and their second straight state title.&#8220;The second overtime, we&#8217;re all tired,&#8221; said Sem scoring star Hannah Maxwell, who started the winning play with a charge into the circle that created a foul and triggered the penalty corner. &#8220;It just comes down to who wants it.&#8220;We wanted it.&#8221;She hustled to split two defenders, took a hard hit when she got close, and made sure Sem never quit.Neither did Valley West.The Spartans found themselves trailing a Palmyra team that knocked them out in the state semifinals last year when coach Linda Fithian called a key timeout with Valley West needing a goal within 22 minutes to even have a chance at going home with gold.They got two.&#8220;I took the timeout,&#8221; Fithian said. &#8220;I said to them, &#8216;We haven&#8217;t been down much all year, but all of our games were 2-1.&#8217; I said, &#8216;All you need to do is play good defense and score two goals.&#8221;Sometimes, that&#8217;s easier done than said.Especially when you have hustle, hit and never quit.Ari Rupnik had the biggest hit of the season when she shot a ball from deep in the circle and it crossed into the cage for a score that tied the game at 1-1.Rina Tsioles hustled to make a steal and dribbled the ball down the right side with little more than nine minutes left in the state title game.&#8220;The whole season, our motto has been, &#8216;Never give up,&#8217; &#8221; Spartans forward Cameryn Forgash said.That was exemplified when Forgash never quit on the play Tsioles started, coming from nowhere to track down Tsioles&#8217; somewhat-blind pass and pump home the winning goal.&#8220;I knew she would be there,&#8221; Tsioles said.How could anyone know any different?In the most critical moments of their seasons, Wyoming Valley West and Wyoming Seminary lived the words heart, hustle and never quit.Together, they became the beat in the heart of a champion.<div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta>Paul Sokoloski covers area sports for the Times Leader. You may reach him at 570-991-6392, at psokoloski@www.timesleader.com or on Twitter @SokoloskiSports</shirttailMeta></div>

Perseverance pays off in state gold for WVC field hockey teams