Lititz Record Express

09/11/2026

‘Taylor adds a lot to us’
WHS star midfielder returns to health for senior season

By Bruce Morgan

Concern gripped Warwick as it faced Wilson in a non-league battle late in the regular season last year.

Even as then-junior Taylor Hess dominated from her midfield position, she was limping. Badly.

The Warrior field hockey team hoped for the best. Obviously for Hess and her overall health, but also that she would be OK for the postseason.

Maybe she could rest for a game or two and then return feeling better.

But the diagnosis was a worst-case scenario. The Ohio State University recruit had a stress fracture in her leg. Her season was done.

“I’d say it was devastating,” Hess said. “I was in the room with my mom and ... it was just pretty hard.”

As Warwick advanced to the L-L League, District Three and State Class 2A championship games, she was on the sideline as an assistant coach.

But Hess took on her new role head-first. She still wanted to be around her friends, so she was at every practice and every game the rest of the year.

“(Taylor)’s a quiet kid,” Stief said, “but we talked about it and I just wanted her to know that, almost every game, I said, ‘Sorry, but if you see anything on the field, you’re smart, help us out.’”

To the Warriors’ credit, they pulled themselves up by the bootstraps. Warwick played in every postseason game it possibly could have before falling to Palmyra 5-0 in the District finals and again 3-2 for the State title.

It took a tremendous last-minute save from Cougar goalkeeper Abby Bennett to prevent the game from going to OT.

But how could Warwick not have been altered without Hess in the lineup?

“There are no excuses,” Stief said. “Palmyra beat us and that’s just the way it goes. (But) yeah, we’re a different team without her. She’s one of the best players in the country. Taylor adds a lot to us. Her skill, her (ability) on corners, her leadership and all that.”

Hess would have loved to provide her skills and abilities in any way possible to the Warriors’ run. Sadly, however, it was all out of her hands.

But while dealing with the adversity, Hess’s teammates were a support system for her.

“These girls are just such great people to be around,” she said, “that I could lean on them and they would help me.”

Thankfully, the injury didn’t end her scholastic career. And thankfully, for the Warriors’ sake, they now have Hess back for what they hope is another big year.

Doctors gave her clearance in early to mid-January, which allowed Hess to do some technical training. She also got down to business with physical therapy.

Playing with contact, however, was still prohibited.

“I didn’t jump right back into game play,” she recalled, “but I definitely started to get touches and playing as soon as I could.”

Eventually, Hess had the full green light to start the season with her X-Calibur club team in March.

And much to the delight of her Warwick teammates and coaches, she was 100 percent ready for her senior year when the team began pre-season practices on Aug. 17.

“Taylor’s impact on the team is such a big thing,” senior Mara Moyer said, “and I think having her back will really help us grow and move on.”

Added senior Kayla Gockley: “She’s always been a very clear presence for us on the field and losing her was definitely hard, so we’re excited to have her back.”

Being another year older, Hess naturally is more mature on the field and more developed in the game.

Wearing her familiar No. 7 uniform jersey, she moved from right mid to attacking center mid for the Warriors’ season-opener against Mechanicsburg. It’s where once and future teammate Karys Craver played before graduating and going to OSU.

“We lost (Taylor’s) skills on the field (last year), she was great on offense, always scoring,” senior Kenzie Ellis said. “We managed, but I think having her back will definitely help us a lot this year.”

“Taylor has always been really solid in her decision making, her skill and all that,” Stief said. “Playing that much more hockey (since last year), being a year older, you just understand what’s going on around you a little bit more. She’s always shared the ball really well and I’m looking forward to seeing that again, honestly ... I’m anxious to see that development.”

No doubt, Hess enhanced her development while being forced into a spectator role at the end of 2025.

She gained the outlook of the importance of off-ball movement. Of getting open for teammates, being unpredictable in your moves and passes, and working together.

“Obviously, there were more technical things that I learned by watching it rather than being a player,” Hess said.

In her time away, she also got stronger, so Hess has lost absolutely nothing from her fear-inspiring shots. If a player gets in front of one of those blasts, they do so at their own risk.

“Taylor hits the ball harder than anybody I’ve ever seen in high school,” Stief said. “There was a time or two this summer, I thought, ‘I might have to pull our defense out while she’s hitting. We don’t need a broken leg right now.’”

Indeed, Hess’s injury last year, along with other fractures, were enough. But going hand-in-hand with hardship comes a sense of perspective.

For Hess, that certainly applies. She is trying not to think as much about the stresses which often go with competing.

“I think the biggest thing for me was going back to having fun,” Hess said. “(The injury) reminded me that the most important thing about the game is to enjoy it and have fun. Not thinking so much about the pressures and expectations that I have to fulfill, but having fun with it and letting the game kind of flow.”

Hess was letting the game flow in Warwick’s season-opening 2-1 win over Mechanicsburg last Tuesday. She was enjoying the game after scoring the game-winning goal on a penalty corner with 6:33 left in the fourth quarter.

It was her first tally since finding the back of the cage in that regular-season game against Wilson last October.

To be sure, Hess is back, and Warwick is thrilled about it.

“I’m excited to play with these girls and see how we do this season,” she said. “I’m using that as motivation, making up for maybe what I lost last year, or didn’t get to achieve.”

Thankfully, Hess still has her senior year remaining.

“I’m excited for her to get back in the mix,” Stief said. “We have another opportunity. It’s up to her now and her friends.”

08/13/2026

Griest helping the Reds perform at their best

By Bruce Morgan

For a long time, Tim Griest’s post-high school plans were unclear.

The 2016 Warwick grad knew he wanted to go to McDaniel College to continue his baseball career.

Beyond that, however, Griest’s course of study was a question mark.

“Throughout high school, I can’t say I was the most academically motivated person,” he said. “I didn’t really have any idea what I wanted to do for a career or anything.”

As part of his athletic career with the Warriors, Griest enjoyed lifting weights and working out. Already, he was thinking about ways to improve his ex*****on as a pitcher on the diamond, and in the freestyle in swimming.

So his mother, Terri, suggested an avenue for him to explore.

“As I was getting close to college,” Griest recalled, “my mom said, ‘You like working out. Why don’t you try exercise science?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, it sounds good to me.’”

Well, as things unfolded, that teenager who wasn’t academically motivated did a 180-degree turn. He found his calling.

Not only did Griest get his undergrad from the Green Terror, he pursued his passion for exercise physiology to earn a master’s degree at James Madison and his PhD at Florida State University.

Today, the 28-year-old is reaping the rewards of all his hard work. He was hired last summer by Major League Baseball’s Cincinnati Reds as an applied sports science coordinator.

“In addition to playing sports,” Griest remarked, “I’ve always been a huge fan of just watching sports. Growing up watching the Phillies, Sixers, and Eagles and now being within one of those leagues, especially early on, it was kind of surreal.”

His welcome to the Reds’ moment actually happened during his first day on the job. At the organization’s spring training complex in Arizona, where big leaguers on the long-term injured list work out with rehab staff, Griest reported for duty at the same time that Cincinnati pitcher Hunter Greene — a 2024 National League All-Star — was fine tuning his triple-digit four-seam fastball.

“I was walking in on day one and seeing one of the best pitchers in baseball there throwing a live BP,” he recalled, “so that was kind of cool.”

Thankfully, Griest had given his mother’s idea a shot. It was the beginning of what has indeed been a fulfilling journey.

The idea of a career in exercise science really started to take hold a couple of years into his education at McDaniel College when he got into the curriculum’s core classes.

“That was one of the first times I remember where I really dove into school and really started to enjoy going to class,” Griest said.

He continued to evolve, and it wasn’t until Griest got to FSU that he realized teams were hiring employees whose job title was sports science.

During his time in Tallahassee, he worked with the Seminoles’ football team, did his dissertation project with FSU’s softball squad, learned from mentors and made himself marketable.

Eventually, as fate would have it, Griest saw the Reds’ position become available, and he got a helping hand from one of his connections in the business.

“At the time, (my contact) was the director of sports science for the Houston Texans,” Griest said, “but he knew the director of sports science here with the Reds and helped facilitate at least the beginning stage of the interview process.”

The rest, as they say, is history.

Griest now resides in Goodyear, Ariz., which is located about half an hour from Phoenix, but he spends roughly half of his time on the road.

Since the Reds having sports science personnel assigned to each affiliate, Griest travels to the different outposts to collaborate with those people.

That could take him anywhere from Cincinnati to the Dominican Republic to Triple-A Louisville, Ky. to Single-A Daytona, Fla. and elsewhere.

“I like pretty much all aspects (of the job),” Griest said. “Honestly, the people here have been great. I really enjoy not only the players, they’re great to interact with every day, but we have a really good staff that I enjoy working with.”

Sports science is considered to be part of the baseball operations department, and the goal is to help players enhance their health and performance.

By collecting data in the weight room, Griest and his colleagues can gain insight into fatigue management and load monitoring.

Position players are tested in various running exercises — distance, change of direction, acceleration, deceleration — while pitchers are examined through throwing volume, or how much they’re slinging and at what intensity.

Evaluations over time might indicate that players are showing progress, or they could signify that an athlete is suffering from some fatigue.

The strategies at that point which Griest and his colleagues might explore for the players could then potentially delve into nutrition or recovery suggestions, or sleep tactics.

“At the end of the day, our goal is to keep guys on the field and performing at their best,” Griest said. “For the minor league guys, they want to get to the show. For the guys in the show, they want to stay in the show and maximize everything they can out of it.”

Speaking of that, maximizing was just what Griest was trying to do at Warwick. He likely wasn’t thinking about the show, but his desire to improve athletically steered him toward working out.

Little did he know at the time what it would lead to when Griest and his father, Dan, trained at the Lititz Rec after swim practices. He worked out periodically and had conversations with former Warwick High School athlete Cody Kimmel, who wound up as a personal trainer and became an inspiration.

Other mentors — professors, FSU football staff and Olympians — also had an impact on Griest along the way.

“That’s really helped to shape who I am and really helped me get to where I am today,” he said.

To be sure, the Reds’ front office is a long way from ten years ago.

07/22/2026

Sizzling start at the hot corner
As a freshman, Reber earns First-Team All-State honors

By Bruce Morgan

There was a time when playing the hot corner only held lukewarm interest, at best, for Peyton Reber.

That was in 10U softball at Spooky Nook Sports.

But as the years passed, things changed for Reber.

Prior to her freshman softball season at Warwick this spring, she returned to third base. She had a change of heart.

And it proved to be a great match, as Reber won a spot in the starting lineup and ran with it.

“Obviously, it was never something that was just going to be handed to me,” she recalled. “I knew the biggest thing was going to be hitting. As long as I could hit, I think I could find a spot somewhere on the field.”

Turns out, Reber never left any doubt that she could hit. She went 3-for-4 with two triples in an early-season win over Manheim Central and never looked back, finishing with a team-best .459 batting average for a Warrior team which captured the Section One crown and advanced to the District Three Class 5A playoff quarterfinals in May.

Her efforts didn’t go unnoticed.

Earlier this month, Reber learned that she received All-State Class 5A First-Team honors. Remarkably, Reber was one of only three freshmen among the 18 Lancaster-Lebanon League athletes who were recognized by the Pennsylvania High School Softball Coaches Association. The other two first-year players were Ephrata outfielder Emma Showalter and Lancaster Catholic’s Emmalyn Maumus.

Reber’s mother, Kelly, broke the news to her after finding out from Warwick coach Kerry Long.

“I was super excited,” Reber said. “It was really good to see that my hard work paid off. It’s really an honor, especially for a freshman to get.”

Kelly, as a third baseman in her own right, invested a lot of hard work too while helping Warwick win its first-ever District Three softball title in 1997.

In fact, it was her base base hit in the top of the 10th inning which ignited the Warriors’ go-ahead rally in their 2-1 win over six-time defending champ Chambersburg in the finals.

Now, almost three decades later, Kelly picked up an assist for the Warriors. She encouraged Peyton to give third base another try. Undeniably, Long and the Warriors were very grateful she did.

“My mom kind of pushed me to go back just because of my arm,” Reber remarked. “Honestly, I’m really glad I moved back to it. I think it’s my position. I really love it.”

“Before she came in,” Long said, “I was expecting to try to have (Peyton) at second because that was the last place we used her in travel ball. But then she worked out with (former Warwick All-State player) Bella (Smithson), and I think since Bella played third, she talked it through. Hey, I was ecstatic. That was an open position that we needed to fill and it looks like I can fill it for the next three years.”

Long also happened to be Reber’s coach in 10U travel ball at the Nook. It was then that Reber got her first taste of playing third base. Previously, she had pitched while growing up playing in Warwick Little League.

“(Pitching) was nice because at that age, you just want to touch the ball as much as you possibly can,” she said. “But I figured that that wasn’t for me.”

Third was another place for her check out. What she found was that it’s called the “hot corner” for a good reason. Line drives out of the right-hand batter’s box didn’t give her a lot of time to react.

“I think before, I was a little bit scared because it just comes at you faster,” Reber said. “I didn’t like it at all.”

She ended up playing middle infield for the next couple of years in 12U and 14U with the Long-coached Keystone Bombers. Growing in her game, Reber continued to take a lot of ground balls, fine-tuned her reflexes and built her self-belief.

With Sophie Smutz gone after playing third base for the Warriors in 2025, Reber was ready to give the position a second chance.

“I just like that I can unleash my arm and throw it hard as I can,” Reber said. “I think you have to throw it harder there than you really do other spots. It doesn’t give you a lot of time to think. You just react and throw the ball, and I like that.”

If Peyton’s mom deserves credit for urging her to play at third base again, Smithson rates kudos for her impact on Reber’s hitting.
Smithson, now playing at Division-One University of Buffalo, worked with Reber on her mechanics and confidence, and the results spoke for themselves.

In addition to going 32-of-71 at the dish, Reber connected for five doubles, four triples and 10 RBI and led the team with 27 runs scored.

“Just being able to learn from (Bella) and my hitting coach, they’ve really helped me get confidence in myself,” she said. “I wasn’t always a good hitter. I really struggled with confidence, but once I got that figured out, I think that really helped me a lot.”

Besides Reber taking a page from Smithson’s hitting, Long also believes that the two share similar mannerisms, in that they never get too high or low.

Being even-keeled perhaps benefited Reber this spring as well.

“Epic,” Long said of her season. “For a freshman to come in there and hold down third base, she batted third in our lineup ... her RBI’s weren’t high, but that’s because Emerson (Overly) was driving them in right in front of her. But everything else, I was really impressed. I coached her in travel ball for four years, and she’s grown. Height and in skills.”

Admittedly, Reber didn’t have her best game in a scrimmage against Donegal, but two days later, she turned the page and was a different player against MC.

That gave her an early-season boost which she carried forward.

“I really had jitters and everything (against Donegal),” Reber recalled, “but the next game against Central, I really bounced back and had a few big hits and I was like, ‘OK, I’ve got this, this is a good spot for me.’ I wasn’t going to let up because I knew that there were people who wanted that spot and who would outwork me if I didn’t keep working for it.”

Her diligent work contributed to a solid .897 fielding percentage, making only four errors in 39 total chances with 21 putouts.

And while she might not have necessarily expected to bat a lofty .459, Reber did have confidence that she belonged on the varsity level.

“Obviously, I knew it was something I could do,” she said. “I believe in myself, I knew I could do it and people around me instilled that belief into me. Obviously, my cousin Emerson really helped me because she’s been in that position before, being a freshman on varsity. And I always felt supported by coach Long. He’s been my coach for awhile, so we had a good relationship. Once I kind of got grooving and got into my zone, I just kept rolling.”

The Reber-Overly 1-2 punch delivered in a game against Section One rival Penn Manor in Millersville on May 4. Reber doubled with two outs in the fifth inning and scored the go-ahead run on Overly’s RBI single to left field in what became a key 5-4 win for the Warriors in their drive to a perfect 10-0 league record and the Section One title.

“That was a big (moment) for me,” Reber said, “because that was a Section game, so that’s obviously a big game — you want to win those.”

There will be more big games for Reber in the coming years. Fortunately for Warwick, they have their third base position locked up.

06/30/2026

🚨 WTMA ASKS WARWICK RESIDENTS FOR VOLUNTARY WATER CUTS FOLLOWING COUNTY DROUGHT WARNING 🚨The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has moved Lancaster County from a drought watch to a drought warning. The Warwick Township Municipal Authority (WTMA) is asking all residents to voluntarily reduce their water usage by 10% to 15%.Here are simple steps you can take today to help conserve our water supply:💧 Only run dishwashers and washing machines with full loads.💧 Turn off the faucet while brushing your teeth or shaving.💧 Take shorter showers.💧 Water lawns and gardens only when necessary, and do it during cooler morning or evening hours.💧 Set mower blades 2 to 3 inches high to help soil retain moisture.💧 Use a commercial car wash that recycles water instead of washing your car at home.💧 Sweep sidewalks, decks, and driveways instead of hosing them down.💧 Check for leaks. A single leaky toilet can waste up to 200 gallons of water a day!Let’s work together to protect our community's water resource. For more information and updates, visit the DEP website at dep.pa.gov.

06/30/2026

05/27/2026

Fanelli named new Warwick AD

By Bruce Morgan

As a one-time junior varsity basketball coach, Ryan Landis lived a double-edged sword reality.

He wanted his team to do well and for his players to succeed. At the same time, Landis would be nervous about what might happen if one of his star athletes did really tremendous.

“You know what could happen,” he said, “and that is, the varsity coach snags him.”

Landis couldn’t help using that analogy to explain the similarities about something else.

As the current athletic director at Hempfield — a role he previously held at Warwick — Landis saw the writing on the wall with his assistant Matt Fanelli a few years ago.

“I knew I wasn’t going to have him long,” he said. “He was just that good.”

Turns out, Landis was right on the money.

Fanelli left Landisville to become the AD at Eastern York, where he spent the last two school years.

Now he’s on the move again.

At the Warwick school board’s May 5 meeting, Fanelli was approved to be the Warriors’ next athletic director effective July 1, replacing Earl Hazel, who is retiring.

Remarkably, at the young age of 25, he already has an impressive, diversified resume.

In fact, there’s even more to his story than being at Eastern York for two years and working as an assistant AD under Landis from September, 2022 to May, 2024. Prior to that, Fanelli was working as an unpaid intern at Red Lion High School — starting as a 19-year-old — while concurrently earning his degree at York College.
So make no mistake, he has already traveled a lot of miles and done a lot of things.

”I’m young, but young and inexperienced don’t always go together,” said Fanelli a graduate of Exeter Township, where he played football and baseball, in addition to wrestling. “... I’ve been blessed to have the opportunities I’
ve had.”

Still, Fanelli has heard the questions. He’s gotten the inquiries wondering if he’s still too wet behind the ears to be an athletic director.

But he takes it all in stride and is ready with an answer. He points out that he has seen the ins and outs of being at 4A, 5A and 6A schools, has coached varsity football at West York and has been involved at every level of sport — from youth all the way up to and including working Super Bowl 54 in Miami and MLB spring training with the Cardinals and Marlins in Jupiter, Fla. as a college freshman.
The latter two were part of his sports management studies at York and being able to take advantage of grants and internships.

“The York College of Pennsylvania sports management program is absolutely tremendous,” Fanelli said. “I can’t stress how great that program is.”

Secondly, Fanelli has prepared himself to be an athletic director. He has been immersing himself in educational materials, National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (NIAAA) courses, handbooks and the like which will support his decisions.
Coaches’ input is also important to him.

“This is what I really push to coaches is, number one, I understand that I’m young,” Fanelli said. “Just hear me out, I’m going to trust you, I need you to trust me and here’s why. I hate going to coaches and saying, ‘This is what we’re going to do,’ or, ‘We need to do things a little bit differently in this way,’ and then it just kind of ends there.

“I try to back it up with here’s my reasons why,” he added, “because whether you’re 25 years old or 75 years old, there’s going to best practices out there that we want to follow. There’s going to be a best way to do things.”

The AD’s approach is an important job requirement, and Landis, a 1993 Warwick grad, believes that Fanelli will be just fine.

“If he’s 25 and he comes (saying), ‘My way, highway,’ and telling head coaches, ‘This is the way you’re going to do this, this is the way you’re going to do that,’ that might be a problem. But there’s no evidence to suggest that’s going to be his approach. You can just see that with the success he’s had on his own at Eastern York ... I think it’s an exciting hire for Warwick.”

Landis, in fact, argues that Fanelli’s age, combined with all of his experiences, actually works to his advantage.

“He brings with him the ability to relate really well with student-athletes and coaches,” Landis said. “... I think he has the right demeanor and work ethic. I think he balances personality with professionalism.”

No doubt, Fanelli absorbed a lot of that professionalism from his dad early in life.

The elder Fanelli did play-by-play in local sports radio at 1390 WPAZ in Pottstown. So father and son would often be together soaking up the atmosphere surrounding high school football and hoops games.

“I’d be down on the field pre-game talking to the coaches and wandering around,” Fanelli recalled. “I thought it was the coolest thing in the world. When I’m 4 years old, to me, that is the Super Bowl.”

It left an indelible impression and molded his opinion of what high school sports can be. Then at some point, he realized that those games don’t happen by chance. There are people behind the scenes who make the magic happen.

So Fanelli was connecting the dots, and slowly but surely, his career goals were coming into focus.

He wanted to be an athletic director.

“I knew when I was 10 that I wanted to be an AD,” Fanelli said, “just based on some of my childhood and stuff that my dad did.”

As convinced as he was then about his future vocation, Fanelli is equally certain now about what goes into being a successful AD.
Fanelli knows the best things he can do are to be visible and authentic. Connecting with the student-athletes, coaches and families is at the top of his priority list.

“There’s going to be a ton of stuff that you’re going to have to get done logistically behind the scenes,” he said. “But it’s important that even beyond all of that, you have to find a way to get on those sidelines, talk to the kids and get through the hallways.

“There’s going to be a lot of days, a lot of nights, a lot of hours that you spend around the program,” he added, “so you can’t fake it. You have to be your genuine self and you have to have a genuine care for where you are.”

Surely, Fanelli has seen that side in those whom he considers mentors. Red Lion’s Arnie Fritzius and Kyle Masser definitely fall into that grouping.

“They guided me a tremendous amount,” Fanelli said, “because basically when I was there, they told me, ‘We’ll let you be as hands on as you want to be.’ I think that was the most beneficial thing I could’ve possibly had in this job.”

Landis, meanwhile, is a friend that Fanelli describes as a “tremendous” influence. During their time together at Hempfield, Landis handled more of the administrative side with the parents and hiring, while allowing Fanelli to cover events and do scheduling.

“I can’t really thank him enough for the stuff that he’s done for me and the doors that he’s opened,” Fanelli said of Landis, who will attend his wedding this summer. “He taught me pretty much anything I wanted to know, and from day one, he told me, ‘If you want to be an AD, my goal is to get you there.’”

No doubt, Landis, along with Hazel, were among the people who said good things about Lititz to Fanelli when the AD’s position became open. In fact, Fanelli knows a good number of people who have a connection to the town, and he heard nothing but positive comments.

“Everybody has such great things to say about Lititz,” he said. “Everything that I’ve heard about the Lititz community is that they genuinely enjoy the success and being part of Warwick. It’s a close-knit feel is what I’ll say of the community.”

Fanelli has always been fairly local, and of course, he was close by while working in Landisville. Knowing a little bit of Lititz’s background, on top of the fact that he’s getting married to his fiance Sloan in the coming weeks, Fanelli said that Lititz was on a short list of places he wanted to be for the long haul.

“I wasn’t exactly going to any school that may pop up,” he remarked. “There’s a lot of things that drew me to Warwick, but to be very blunt and open, it was the idea that this is where I want to set my family up and be for the next chapter of my life well beyond.”

05/22/2026

05/22/2026

🚨 VENUE CHANGE ALERT 🚨The Lancaster Symphony Orchestra's free Memorial Day Weekend concert has been moved indoors! Due to weather or logistics, the performance will no longer take place at Lititz Springs Park.🗓️ Date: Saturday, May 23, 2026⏰ Time: 7:00 PM📍 New Location: Warwick High School Auditorium🎟️ Admission: Still completely FREE!Spread the word so no one misses out on this incredible night of music. Tag your friends below to let them know about the change! 👇