"It's just fantastic. It's a fantastic, fantastic day."

Fantasy became reality for the Hempfield field hockey team, which nipped Warwick 2-1 in overtime to claim gold in the PIAA Class AAA championship game Saturday at Whitehall High School.

It was the first state title in field hockey for the Black Knights (19-6-1), who beat the Warriors (23-5) in the first-ever meeting between two Lancaster-Lebanon League schools in a state championship game.

"I don't know what else to say, it really was fantastic," Hempfield coach Julianne Bojanic said, adding a fourth fantastic to the three she uttered above.

It was a fantastic, frenetic finish for Hempfield, which saw Megan Bupp tip in a Rachel Cox lift with just 23 seconds left in the 7-on-7, 15-minute sudden-death overtime period.

"I was so worried [the officials] were going to call it a high ball," Bupp said of her winning effort. "Then, there was no whistle but the one to show the goal was good."

Right after that, Bupp and Cox were swarmed under a pile of black uniforms as the Knights stormed the field to celebrate their first field hockey crown. Hempfield lost in its only previous trip to the state finals in 1998, when Bojanic suited up for the Knights in a 3-0 loss to Lower Dauphin.

"It's unbelievable," the Knights' Morgan Hilliard said. "This has been our dream. To win the final game of your high school field hockey career is amazing."

"I freaked out, in a very good way," Hempfield goalie Kayla Denlinger said of her reaction when she saw the winning shot go in.

Denlinger and the entire Hempfield defense was freakishly good, yielding only one goal to a Warriors squad that recorded an astounding 32 penalty corners and 22 shots on goal.

"We just didn't capitalize," Warwick coach Bob Derr said. "You've got to put the ball in the cage. We just didn't do that."

Hempfield actually struck first, with Sarah Brooks finishing off a Bupp feed 8:45 into the game off a penalty corner. Kelsey Nolan's initial shot on the corner was stopped by goalie Alexis Charles, but the Warriors' defense could not clear the ball out of the circle.

Warwick, which won state gold in its three previous trips to the finals in 1987, 1999 and 2000, dominated play the entire opening 30 minutes, putting seven shots on goal off 13 corners but came away empty.

Twice, the Warriors had breakaway chances, but didn't make the key pass and couldn't get the ball past Denlinger, who finished with 18 saves.

Warwick finally evened the score 6:25 after halftime, with Emily Harting blasting Kiersten Cepeda's feed off a corner into the back of the cage.

Harting had a goal off another corner disallowed eight minutes later, when her reverse sweep that soared into the top of the cage was ruled too high. The first shot off a corner has to be 18 inches or lower if a backswing of any kind is used.

The Warriors continued to control the play on the field, and rattled off 16 more corners in the second half — including six in succession from 12:10 left to 9:33 remaining — but couldn't sneak one past Denlinger.

"That was a lot of pressure," Denlinger said. "I try not to psyche myself out, and try and forget about [a shot] as soon as it's over. Then, I have to get ready for the next one. I try and treat each one as a separate play, or I'd go crazy."

She went crazy — crazy good, but she had an awful lot of help.

Brooks had a defensive save in each half, and Heather Gailor had another pivotal one in the second for Hempfield.

"I just reacted, and the ball hit my stick," Gailor said of her stop.

"Their defense did a heck of a job," Derr said of the Knights' backfield.

"My defenders were rock stars," Bojanic said. "They did not quit, did not back down. They continued to fight through everything.

"I couldn't ask for more."

What she did ask for was another goal from her offense.

It may have taken awhile, but the Knights eventually delivered.

"My first lift was no good, and it bounced off the goalie," Cox said. "Then, I put another lift up ... "

"And I just tipped it and redirected it into the goal," Bupp added.

Then, the bedlam ensued.

"It was awesome, and definitely a good way to even out the score against them," Gailor said. The teams split their four meetings this year.

"It's just a phenomenal feeling," Denlinger said. "I'm so proud of my team."

"We really wanted this game. We had this dream," Hilliard said. "We did what we had to do."

pkauffman@lnpnews.com