With September rolling along, the Blue Knights faced a mixture of highs and lows in Week 3’s slate of action. Football secured the first win of the George Pachucy era while both soccer teams and field hockey underwent rough stretches.
Golf kept its season alive by playing to a rare tie in their final match, securing their spot in districts. Girls tennis shined once again with three victories in four matches, and cross country took a breather during the bye week.
Missed the action? Don’t worry.
Here’s everything you need to know from Week 3 of Sem sports.
Football (1-1): Won against the Peddie School
Early alarm bells sounded once Peddie returned the opening kickoff to Sem’s 13 yard line. Fortunately, the Blue Knights bended but didn’t break.
Sem forced a turnover on downs to start a long drive that spanned over 12 minutes — eventually culminating in a 2 yd touchdown run by Zach Sebestyen.
Blue Knights quarterback Nelson Martinez executed a beautiful 2 minute drill at the end of the first half. With 1:23 to go in the half, Martinez connected with WR Martin Kasungu for a 40 yard gain, setting the Sem offense at Peddie’s 25 yard line. The very next play, Martinez again delivered a ball to Kasungu — this time a 25 yd TD completion.
The Blue Knights took a 14-7 lead into the halftime break.
With under 30 seconds left in the 3rd quarter, the Blue Knights recovered the ball in the endzone after a high snap on a Peddie punt attempt. 21-7 lead after 3 quarters for Sem.
Following the 2 minute mark of the 4th quarter, Mikey Allard iced the game for Sem, slipping a few tackles and finding the endzone for a 33 yard TD reception.
Martinez completed 11 of his 14 passes for 198 yards and added 3 passing touchdowns in Sem’s 29-13 win.
With the win, head coach George Pachucy secured his first win as a high school head football coach.
Pachucy’s Blue Knights look to continue their momentum into next week’s road contest against William Penn Charter. Kickoff is scheduled for 1 PM.
Girls Soccer (3-5): Losses to Wyoming Area, Holy Redeemer
After a convincing 5-1 win over Elk Lake last Saturday, the Blue Knights put a stop to their losing ways for the moment. Unfortunately, this past week’s slate of games only worsened the wounds for Sem.
Sem girls soccer started their week by hosting the Wyoming Area Warriors — ranked 10th in Pennsylvania by MaxPreps at the time. The Warriors demonstrated why they deserve that ranking, dominating the Blue Knights 10-2.
Ella Stambaugh continued her offensive excellence, scoring twice for the Blue Knights — one from the penalty spot.
Last friday saw the girls traveling to the Forty Fort Sports Complex to take on the Holy Redeemer Lady Royals. There wasn’t much to recap for this game — nothing positive for the Blue Knights, that is. The Royals shutout Sem 7-0.
The Blue Knights are on the road this Tuesday, September 16th, for a conference matchup against Nanticoke Area. Hanover Area travels to Nesbitt Stadium to take on Sem on Thursday, September 18th.
Boys Soccer (6-2): Losses to Holy Redeemer, Tunkahnnock Area
Two games. Two heartbreaking losses.
Life couldn’t get much better for the Blue Knights after they earned the #1 rank in Pennsylvania by MaxPreps last weekend. Perhaps the boys got a little too comfortable heading into last week’s action.
The Sem boys soccer team played on the road last Monday in a rematch of last year’s district championship against Holy Redeemer. A goal from Owen Stretanski wasn’t enough to fend off the Royals as Holy Redeemer inched past Sem 2-1. Within the final minute, Sem commited a foul in the penalty box, allowing Ayden Hannigan to score his second of the night — sealing the upset for Redeemer.
While the loss itself is inexcusable, it is worth noting that multiple Sem starters were inactive — including juniors Lucas Lattore and LD Jolin.
The Blue Knights concluded their week with a highly anticipated home showdown against the undefeated Tunkhannock Area Tigers. Following a first half free kick goal from the Tigers, Sem equalized off a score from Stretanski. A scoreless second half led to an overtime period — a defensive battle until the final minute. The Tigers scored a goal with under 45 seconds in overtime, handing Sem their second consecutive loss.
Sem boys soccer looks to win both games of their homestand this week — Hanover Area (September 15) and Lake-Lehman (September 19). Kickoff for both matches is scheduled for 6:45 PM.
Girls Tennis (7-1): Won against Wyoming Area, Hanover Area, Lake-Lehman; Lost to Allentown Central Catholic
Although the Blue Knights did drop one match last week, they continued their winning ways — securing 3 out of their 4 matches.
Sem girls tennis opened their week with two road contests — the first one against Wyoming Area on Monday. The Blue Knights didn’t drop any points, defeating the Lady Warriors 5-0.
Hanover Area couldn’t keep up with the at-the-time undefeated Blue Knight team. Sem claimed all the matches. Yet another 5-0 victory for the Blue Knights.
Thursday’s match against Allentown Central Catholic was the first real test for the girls. It is a shame that first singles player Addie Priebe was sidelined due to injury. The Lady Vikings hit cruise control at the Lull Tennis Center, winning 4-1 against Sem.
Before she went out with the injury, Priebe won both her first singles matches against Wyoming Area and Hanover Area — earning her mattsportsmedia.com’s athlete of the week honors. Priebe is yet to lose a match this season.
Sem put their resilience on display in Friday’s home contest against Lake-Lehman, winning 5-0.
With 4 of their final 6 regular season matches this week, the Blue Knights aim to capitalize during this pivotal stretch before the postseason.
The girls take on Pittston Area at home tomorrow, September 15th. After a day of rest, the Blue Knights play on the road on three consecutive days — starting with a matchup against Dallas on Wednesday.
Sem girls tennis ends the week with a back-to-back against Tunkhannock Area. All matches start at 4:00 PM.
Golf (6-7-1) : Won against Wyoming Valley West; Lost to Holy Redeemer; Tied against Crestwood
While the Blue Knights clinched a team postseason berth well before their final regular season match last year (15-0), they had to sweat it out to the final stroke this season.
The Sem golf team competed against Holy Redeemer this past Monday at the Lehman Golf Club. The Royals fended off the Blue Knights, putting Sem in a must-win situation on Wednesday against Wyoming Valley West.
In a close match at the Huntsville Golf Club, Sem sneaked past the Spartans, winning by 1 stroke. This win kept the Blue Knights in the hunt for a team spot in the district tournament.
With a districts berth on the line, junior Ayden Wilkinson (38) led the Blue Knights to a bizarre 164-164 tie against Crestwood at the Blue Ridge Trail Golf Course. Caleb Aponick and Michelle Wu shot 41 and 42, respectively, for Sem in the draw.
Although most of our athletic teams are not even at the midway point of their seasons, Sem golf shifts their focus to postseason play.
With the draw against Crestwood, the golf team concluded regular season play — barely missing the 0.500 mark — going 6-7-1.
The Blue Knights return to Fox Hill tomorrow to take on Lake-Lehman in the first round of team districts.
Nine of the golfers on the team qualified for pre districts which starts the following Monday, September 22.
Field Hockey (2-4): Losses to Lackawanna Trail, Wyoming Area
Unfortunately, Sem field hockey joins both the soccer teams in the losers club of last week.
Last Monday, the Blue Knights matched up against Lackawanna Trail on the road. Sem got off to a fast start, leading the Lady Lions 1-0 at the end of the 1st quarter.
The tables turned in the three remaining quarters as the Blue Knights got outscored 6-0 after quarter number one — losing 6-1 to Lackawanna Trail. After scoring three goals in a win against Northwest Area two weeks ago, Ella Plummer added the lone goal for Sem in the loss.
The Blue Knights played their final game of the week on Wednesday, September 10th, versus the Wyoming Area Lady Warriors. The Lady Warriors completely neautralized the Sem offense, running away with a 5-0 home win.
Although Sem doesn’t play at Klassner Field this week, they have two road matchups — Monday against Hazleton Area (6:30 PM) and Saturday against Wyoming Area (11 AM).
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- Matt Mascarenhas ’26
MATT SPORTS MEDIA 
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