Central Valley wins 1st WPIAL spirit title; Hempfield 3-peats

By: James Dotson
Saturday, January 7, 2023 | 5:34 PM

Previous Next

With 17 seniors on the Hempfield competitive spirit squad, expectations were high for the Spartans to secure another district championship on their home court.

Mission accomplished.

Hempfield secured its third consecutive Class 3A competitive spirit championship Saturday afternoon, edging out Thomas Jefferson for the gold medal.

In the Class 2A competition, Central Valley earned its first championship, with Neshannock finishing in second place.

“I don’t want to get into it, because I won’t get through it (emotionally)” Hempfield coach Suzy Mayer said when asked about her seniors as they lifted their championship trophy. “I’m so glad they got this in their last year.”

The veteran Hempfield squad used a high degree of difficulty to overcome multiple deductions in its routine.

“That was actually probably our worst (performance) this year,” Mayer said. “They can do so much in this routine, and it’s jam-packed. We just put so much into it that it sets us apart from everybody else so that we can have those few issues and mistakes.

“I think we’re a little bit more mellow about this win because we didn’t do our best, but it still feels great to be able to say that we just hit a three-peat.”

Central Valley did not compete in the previous two district championship events. However, the Warriors came out in full force to earn the top score for Class 2A and qualify for states for the first time in program history.

“It’s been five long years with this squad. We haven’t done well in the past here, so this was our time,” Central Valley assistant Stephanie Cruz said. “It’s the best that we’ve ever been. We’re elated.”

The young Warriors squad also competed without their leader. Fifth-year coach Heather Semovoski had to watch her young squad take home the gold from afar.

“We have a lot of young girls on the squad, and they’ve really matured over the past six months,” Cruz said. “They really came together. It’s an exciting year. We’re really thrilled.”

Awards also were presented for each size division in Class 2A and 3A. Hempfield secured a three-peat as Class 3A large squad (15-30 members) champion, with Thomas Jefferson as the Class 3A small squad (fewer than 15 members) champion. Butler, the only coed squad in the competition, secured the coed championship.

In Class 2A, Central Valley was awarded the small squad champion plaque, with Neshannock as the large squad champion.

For Thomas Jefferson, even though the top prize was out of reach, putting a zero-deduction routine on the floor was a nice consolation to go along with the silver medals. The TJ team members write their goals for each meet on their socks before performing and can only keep their socks if they meet that goal.

“That was the goal coming in here,” Thomas Jefferson coach Kim Stadelman said. “I know that was written on the bottom of girls’ socks today, so they get to keep their socks. That’s a good thing.”

The Jaguars’ squad was one of many that expressed the hardship of injuries forcing changes to routines over the course of the cheer season, which begins in June. With no substitutes during a routine, and few alternates who can be inserted between practice sessions, full choreography changes are common in the competitive cheer world.

“Early in the season, we started out with some serious injuries,” Stadelman said. “Luckily, we were able to overcome those injuries. Alternates stepped in when they needed to step in. Adjustments were made when we needed to make adjustments.”

Adversity even struck the Neshannock team in the middle of the routine. A music malfunction threw off the timing of some of the members of the squad. Once Neshannock’s 2-minute, 30-second performance was over, the judges presented Lancer coach Colleen Daughtry with a difficult decision.

Do they keep the score, or do they attempt the routine again?

“So at first, I was going to just make it my decision,” Neshannock coach Colleen Daughtry said on the livestream broadcast. “But they’re the girls on the floor. I’m not out there. I wanted to see how they felt, how their mindset was.

“The team said ‘absolutely, let’s do it again. We can do better.’ ”

Once the Class 2A competition ended, Neshannock’s team took the mat again and registered a silver-medal performance with just 0.5 points in deductions, the lowest of any Class 2A team.

“My heart broke for those girls when the music wasn’t there,” Daughtry said. “We were given a second chance. Mistakes happen. We said let’s go for it.”

With a laugh, Daughtry also said that as a coach, it was the most difficult decision she thinks she has made. If the team went back on the mat and had major stumbles or falls, the results could have kept the Lancers away from medal contention or potentially from qualifying for states.

“I’ve never been in that position, and I don’t ever want to be in that position again.”

Along with Central Valley and Neshannock, Elizabeth Forward, Hampton and Hopewell in Class AA qualified for the PIAA championships later in the month.

In Class 3A, Baldwin, Butler, Mars, Mt. Lebanon, North Allegheny, North Hills, Penn Trafford, Pine-Richland and South Fayette qualified for the state championships, joining Hempfield and Thomas Jefferson.

Those 16 qualifying schools will set their focus to Hershey for the PIAA championships Jan. 27-28, with Hempfield and Neshannock looking to defend state gold from a year ago.

“The pressure is on, but we know that they can do it,” Mayer said. “We have to work on the mental side of things, getting them to relax in big-pressure moments. So that’s what we’ll probably be focusing on the rest of the year.”