The Dragons, which tied for the Region 4 title with a regular-season-ending win over Franklin, came up just short to Harbor Creek, 2-1, on Thursday in the District 10 3A playoff semifinal.

The Huskies broke a 1-1 tie with five minutes remaining and held on to advance to the D10 championship match versus defending-champ Cathedral Prep.

“Both teams battled for 35 minutes of the second half with Parks Ordiway nearly putting in the go-ahead goal,” said Warren assistant coach Chris Darling.

Senior defender Ricky Madril’s slide block of a final Huskies’ shot at the buzzer epitomizes his career and the Dragons’ 12-4 record.

Times Observer Photo by Jon Sitler Warren head coach Denny Flatt gathers his troops prior to Thursday’s D10 playoff semifinal.

“It’s always hard to say goodbye to the seniors and to the season,” said Warren head coach Denny Flatt.

Harbor Creek started the scoring 24 minutes into the first half with Warren answering a few minutes later off a goal by senior Roman Sheets.

“Roman saved the best game of possibly his career for the night,” said Warren assistant coach Steffen Blair. Senior JT Blum recorded the assist and finished an impressive career with the Dragons.

“If I remember correctly, JT always showed up for the big games, recording goals in playoff games his sophomore and junior year and assisting on a goal his senior year,” said Darling. “Senior Ricky Madril will be missed next year, he led the Dragons back line all season and his presence solidified the back line and epitomized Warren soccer. The Dragons also say goodbye to senior Kohle Lyon, who was like a Swiss Army knife able to be plugged in just about anywhere on the field and always versatile. Warren’s midfield was strong with Finn Ordiway and Jack Darling directing the middle and offering an exciting duo and Mark Lynds serving some nice balls into the middle. Not to be left out, freshman Chase Sitler and juniors Corban Reinard and Ethan Best put together a quality season on the back line. Will Nebinski continued his impressive season in net with 13 saves and a quality performance.”

The seniors leave a program that has won 51 matches in four seasons.

“Losing is never easy, and it hurts every time,” said Madril. “It’s hard to believe that I’ll never wear that jersey again, but being a part of this team, this family, for the past four years has been life-changing.”

Madril added: “I am beyond proud of how far these players have come since the start of the season, and the courage of each and every one of them to step up to adversity in every game of this season is truly inspirational, especially the younger guys. I couldn’t have asked for a better team. It’s been an absolute honor to be a captain this year and I am extremely grateful for this opportunity. I may never see the field as a Dragon again, but I know that I’m leaving a group of very talented, hard-working young men that will ensure this team prospers in the future.”

GIRLS SOCCER

IKE FALLS

TITUSVILLE — Behind a pair of goals from Kendall Joint, top-seeded Seneca upended No. 5 Eisenhower, 2-0, in the PIAA District 10 Class 1A girls soccer semifinal at Carter Field at Titusville High School.

The win — the Bobcats’ third of the season against the Knights — vaults them into the district championship game Tuesday.

Seneca opened the scoring at 20:25 of the first half, courtesy of Joint’s goal off a corner kick. Although Eisenhower had possession for much of the time before the break, the Knights weren’t able to find the back of the net.

In the second half, Joint made it 2-0 at the 31:41 mark after intercepting a goal kick. That was all the offense the Bobcats would need. Their next best scoring opportunity after intermission came on a penalty kick four minutes later, but Abby Wisniewski’s shot sailed high over the crossbar.

VOLLEYBALL

DRAGONS ADVANCE

COCHRANTON –Warren’s volleyball team continued its hot streak with a 3-1 win over Meadville in the first round on Thursday at Cochranton Junior-Senior High School.

The Dragons, who earned a share of the Region 4 title last week, had three players in double digits in kills in a 25-12, 11-25, 25-20, 29-27 win.

Katie Madigan finished with 18 kills, 12 digs and an ace; Kylie Fehlman 11 kills and 3 blocks, and; Carly Beers 10 kills. Halee Mineweaser had 36 assists and 2 kills, and Summer Lucks 10 digs and an ace.

It wasn’t necessarily easy to beat Meadville for the third time in a month.

“Sometimes you have to gut it out when you’re not playing your best,” said Warren coach Mike Dolan. “Maybe it was nerves, but we definitely were not playing clean at all after that first set. We really struggled with some ball control and that sort of gave Meadville the opening to get some confidence they needed. But, like I said, we did what we had to do to pull out the win and that’s something that maybe we learned with the tough schedule this year. We were fighting for and trading points in the end of that 4th set and I feel like we were trusting that we would make the plays we needed to do. We will have to play cleaner in the next round as we face the top seed in Villa in the semifinals, but I’m confident we’ll be ready. We took them to 5 sets at their place early in the season so if we show up with confidence and relax and play like we can I like our chances. Katie (Madigan) and Halee (Mineweaser) led the way again with their all-around play and Kylie (Fehlman) had a nice presence at the net with 11 kills and 4 blocks. Carly (Beers) had some key kills as well.”

Warren will play Villa Maria, which received a first-round bye, at a site and time to be determined. The Dragons dropped a five-set decision to Villa on Sept. 7.