Standing in for Warwick head coach Gary Baylor, who missed the game because of illness, assistant Adam Wood stressed to his team before puck drop that a successful opening to the first period was important.

The Warriors listened.

Casey Witmyer scored 52 seconds into the game and Warwick added two more first-period goals en route to a 5-2 victory over Penn Manor in their first-round CPIHL Tier 2 matchup Wednesday night at Lancaster Ice Rink.

No. 2 Warwick (12-4-3) will advance to the semifinals against Annville-Cleona (12-6-1), a 2-1 winner Wednesday over Cedar Crest, and the No. 7 Comets (7-10-2) will take on Cedar Crest (9-6-4) in the consolation bracket.

"I was very happy with how we started," said Wood. "A goal in the first minute, that's one thing I emphasized beforehand is jump on them early."

Witmyer opened the scoring after Nathan Weaver found him for his team-leading 23rd goal. After Jason Green tied the game at 1-1, the Warriors' Aaron Wright scored his seventh of the season off a Witmyer feed. Later, Stephen Crawford benefited from the passing of Witmyer and Nathan Weaver as he scored to give Warwick a 3-1 lead at the first intermission.

"We started off strong, went to the net, got a lot of shots and and got the puck in the net early," Witmyer said.

Warwick maintained offensive pressure throughout as Witmyer finished the night with a goal and two assists, and Crawford finished with two goals. Goaltender Steven Jostes turned away 18 of 20 shots for the Warriors.

"High intensity and puck control is always really important for us," said Wood. "We're not the largest team but we have skill and I think it's been a strong point for us all year.

"(We kept it) simple. Get puck possession, get shots to the net, get rebounds (was the mindset coming in) and I think we did that today, and we played well enough to come out on top."

Kevin Reinhart added the Comets' second goal and Jessie Capanelli added an assist to make it 3-2 in the second period, but Warwick outshot Penn Manor 11-6 in the third period as Drew White and Crawford iced it for the Warriors.

Warwick outshot PM, which was missing two of its top three scorers, 29-20.

"We gave our best effort," Penn Manor coach Chuck Green said. "We had a couple opportunities that didn't go our way.

"It was upsetting because (the start) was something we talked about before the game. We seemed to get it together after that, but it was tough to take right at the beginning of the game."

Also in Tier 2:

Manheim Township 4, Red Land 3: Chad Neiss scored two goals, including the game-winner in the second overtime to lead the Blue Streaks over the Patriots.

Alex Mahajan also added a goal and an assist for the Streaks, who will face West York on Friday at a site and time to be determined.

West York 7, Lampeter-Strasburg 6: Klayton Garman broke a 6-6 tie with less than two minutes left to advance top-seeded West York. Dylan Garrett led the Pioneers' offense with a hat trick.

L-S will play Red Land in the consolation round on Friday.

In Tier 1:

Hempfield 4, Dallastown 1: Wes Bagrowski had a career night, stopping 44-of-45 shots to lift the Black Knights. Kyle Long had two goals and two assists and Devyn Tankesley had a goal and two assists.

dleed@lnpnews.com