Fall Sports Preview

I always wanted to be either a sports announcer or a sports writer. So, today I will pretend that I am the latter and give you my personal analysis (as painful as it might be for some to read) on the fall varsity sports program of Lititz Christian School which is a ministry of Grace Church. Please realize that I am the #1 fan of the LCS sports teams!

Let’s go with ladies first. This ought to be quite an interesting year for the Lady Eagles varsity volleyball team made up primarily of underclassmen and with four of the six starters for first year varsity coach Denise Kennedy being freshmen. Most would definitely see this year as a rebuilding year with a promising future in mind. But don’t count these girls quite out of it yet. These freshmen are talented and are use to the coaching style and philosophy of Kennedy who coached them on the Middle School level the last two years.

My first glimpse of the Lady Eagles this season occurred a little over a week ago as I traveled down to Lancaster Mennonite High School to watch them play in the LMH tournament. LCS had to start their day against LMH whom some consider to be a contender for this year’s state title (LMH’s coach also attends Grace Church). To put it bluntly, I was very impressed with the Lady Eagles. They don’t have a lot of power offensively but they are a scrappy defensive team who played very well against a far superior LMH team losing one of the games by a score of 25-14 and the other 25-18. Though the rest of the day was a struggle for the Lady Eagles, there were many aspects of that opening match that gave great hope, not just for the future but even for a title run in our conference (the CCAC) yet this season. The girls then went on to win their first two conference match-ups against Dayspring Christian Academy and Bible Baptist along with shutting our York Country Day to start their season 3-0. One of the biggest needs I see for this team is for one or two of the girls, be they upperclassmen or a couple of the freshmen, to step up as the team leaders who will be the players to take control on the floor and to keep their teammates attitudes in check and to ensure that they maintain a positive outlook on what may just be more than simply a rebuilding year.

My hopes for a banner year of LCS soccer was greatly heightened when I attended the final scrimmage of the season where we played one half against Harrisburg Christian and one half against Harrisburg Academy. We battled Harrisburg Christian to a scoreless tie and then, with little rest and very few subs, went right back out on the field to play a fresh Harrisburg Academy team. Shortly into the half, Harrisburg scored a goal when the LCS goalkeeper got shielded by his own defense. I fully expected the gift goal and the fact that we were tired to result in a let down but the Eagles mounted strength and played their best soccer of the day the rest of the way and ended up outscoring Harrisburg Academy 2-1.

I can honestly say that in the time I have been here at Lititz I have not seen our team ever look that good going into the start of a season. However, the official start of the season saw 3 key upperclassmen out of the line-up and LCS losing a conference game in a driving rain storm by a score of 5-1 to Lancaster Christian. However, our team is now back at full strength with a great shot still to win the CCAC conference and go deeper into district play than ever before in the history of our school. GO EAGLES!

Added footnote: The girls volleyball team lost a heart-breaker Tuesday night to Conestoga Christian in 5 games, losing the final game 16-14 after leading 14-11. The soccer team however, was dominating against Conestoga on the road with a 6-0 shutout. Coach Lewis said it was the best he has ever seen an LCS team play. Both teams are in action Friday night here at home against Berks Christian (soccer begins at 4pn; volleyball at 5pm)!