CONCORD >> With the sand rapidly falling through the hourglass off his team’s season last Saturday, Mark Clark searched his bench for an answer. Down two sets to Baldwin, Clark’s Garnet Valley was staring into the abyss in the PIAA Class 4A quarterfinals at Chambersburg High School. The fifth seed from District 1 needed a spark, and quickly. So Clark, as has become a distinguishing luxury of his Jaguars, summoned another of his seniors, Cassidy Gallagher, to plug into an outside hitter spot in an attempt to swing the momentum. Gallagher rose to the occasion, helping orchestrate an epic turnaround for a five-set victory, a microcosm of the Jaguars’ unlikely run to this Saturday’s PIAA final. That Gallagher — with a senior’s savvy, poise and a touch of desperation — loomed so large isn’t a coincidence of age.

“At that point, I just have to become a selfless player,” Gallagher said Thursday. “I wasn’t playing so that I could do well, but I really wanted the team to win. For me, it’s about winning for them, not for myself.

“I just knew how hard they worked during that game and throughout this whole season, and I’m just so honored to play with these ladies. And I really knew that they needed me in that moment so I brought it for them.”

Veteran leadership and team cohesion can seem like tired motifs this late in the fall. But there’s no getting around the reality for Garnet Valley: They wouldn’t be tangling with defending champ Parkland in Saturday’s final (5 p.m., Richland H.S.) without the inspirational corps of nine seniors. It’s an extraordinary number for Clark, who only has 12 full varsity roster spots and has never before carried more than seven seniors. But the depth of skill and the additive benefit they present, the way the players lift their teammates and extract the best from one another, is invaluable.

“We’re all really dedicated to the sport and we all really want to play well for each other and obviously go as far as we can,” senior libero Lizzie Herestofa said. “We all have so much fun playing together, and just the sport in general, so I think that the way we all have bonded has really helped that, too. We’re all really great friends, and we all want to push each other to do better.”

“I know that they believe in me so I can really believe in myself,” Gallagher said. “That’s where the chemistry comes in. I would not be the player I am today if it was not for these girls by my side.”

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