Salisbury Press

With the coronavirus COVID-19 delaying closing schools, its unclear when, or if, the upcoming spring sports season will be played. With hopes that it’s only a matter of time until teams can take the field again, the Salisbury track and field team will return plenty of experienced athletes from 2019.

But the graduates that have since moved on will be missed.

Erica Holben and Delano McKenzie lead that list of those who won’t be returning.

Justin Aungst knows what it looks like to play in big games. He played in league and district playoff games, as well as Salisbury’s deep state playoff run in 2011 as a freshman. Not to mention, the former 2014 Salisbury graduate excelled at the collegiate level for Saint Joseph’s University.

He’s hoping this year’s group of Falcons can one day experience that level of competition, too.

Salisbury softball head coach Jeff Appleman leads a team this spring that will be without four of its top hitters from a year ago. And the Falcons will suit up just one senior on the diamond in 2020.

But one main thing remains consistent from last year’s successful team that finished as District 11 Class 3A runner-up.

The Silberman sisters, pitcher Emily and catcher Marcie, return after posting stellar campaigns a year ago. And a third Silberman, freshman Haylee, is joining her sisters on this year’s team.

When Rob Benson first started playing tennis at the age of 14, it was across the country using wooden rackets in southern California as a high school student. He recalls playing in 70-degree weather in the heart of December.

Since relocating to the east coast many years ago that warm December weather has been nonexistent. But for the first time in many years, Benson and the Salisbury boys tennis team are on the courts for the first day of practice with no snow in sight.

The Salisbury wrestling team hosted the Salisbury Duals on Feb. 8. Seven teams competed at the event, with the Falcons picking up their first dual win of the season, a 30-18 victory over Executive Education Academy.

Results from all four of Salisbury’s matches are below.

Warwick finished with a perfect 5-0 record as it picked up wins over Williams Valley (72-11), Twin Valley (60-18), Church Farm School (62-12), Berwick (66-12) and Executive Education Academy (83-0).

Berwick 36, Salisbury 30

138: Devon Alder (S) pinned Nick Yule (B) in 3:33.

Salisbury spent the days of practice heading up to Friday’s District 11 Class 4A boys basketball quarterfinal game against Wilson working on an unfamiliar defensive scheme.

The decision by head coach Jason Weaver seemed to have paid off, as the Warriors hit just three 3-pointers in the game.

With only five wrestlers, sometimes less, taking the mat on a nightly basis, the Salisbury wrestling team was all but counted out on the team scoreboard this season. It resulted in a winless Colonial League record.

But head coach Eric Snyder always insisted that those Falcon grapplers are talented and capable on an individual basis. Now it’s the time for those individuals to showcase their talent.

The District 11 Class 2A tournament starts at Freedom High School on Friday and finishes with championship finals Saturday evening at Liberty High School.

Salisbury head coach Jason Weaver was pretty confident for the past two weeks that he knew who the Falcons’ district opponent would be. And recently it became official when the District 11 Class 4A field was set.

The No. 5 seeded Falcons will travel to Northern Lehigh on Friday night to take on No. 4 seed Wilson, a team Salisbury is certainly familiar with. Game time is set for 7:45 p.m. as the second game of a doubleheader.

The Colonial League boys’ basketball championship is set for Friday night at Freedom High School, culminating the six-team tournament that began last Saturday.

Unfortunately for Salisbury (9-8), the Falcons were the top team left out of the league playoffs. A win against Southern Lehigh in its regular season finale would have given Salisbury the sixth and final seed, but a tough four-point loss left the Falcons on the outside looking in.

From the basketball court to the sidelines and then to the swimming pool, Olivia Hoeing’s last three winter seasons have been anything but ordinary.

As a sophomore back in the winter of 2018, Hoeing was one of the Salisbury’s better basketball players for former head coach Joe Mladosich. The following winter, however, threw a curveball at the then-junior Falcon after a successful soccer season in the fall.

A low heart rate caused Hoeing to miss her entire junior basketball season and resort to a spot on the bench, a position she was never accustomed to.