The Pequea Valley boys' soccer team came into the District Three Class 2A playoffs on a hot streak.

Boiling Springs entered the playoffs as the number three seed and the Bubblers set out to extend their season while ending Pequea's in a Saturday evening match at Bud Ecker Field.

Colin Harris and Brady Olsen each scored two goals as the Bubblers (17-1) topped Pequea Valley 7-0. The Braves ended their 2021 campaign with a 13-6-1 mark.

Boiling Springs went on to the semifinals where they came up short in an overtime contest against Bishop McDevitt, 2-1.

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CROSS COUNTRY

The Pequea Valley runners who competed in the District Three Class-AA Cross Country Championship race at Big Spring on Saturday, October 30, had all reached that stage by working hard in the off-season and throughout the fall.

Sophomore Caleigh Vincent ran the course in a time of 22:02 and finished an impressive 30th overall in the girls' race. Teammate and fellow sophomore Victoria Beiler posted a time of 23:34.5.

"Tori Beiler's path to becoming a District Three qualifier started back over the summer," Keith Andrew, the Braves' coach, explained. "She was at as many summer conditioning runs combined with the in-season speed workouts to prepare her to run her fastest in mid- to late-October.

"She had struggled in races with large number of competitors," continued the coach. "At the Lancaster-Lebanon League meet, however, she qualified for her first District race.

"Caleigh made the commitment to focus on her running," Andrew said. "With her summer conditioning and in-season speed workouts, she was on her way to qualifying for districts for the second time in as many years."

Vincent dropped her time from last year's district meet by two seconds. Despite the strong effort, she came up just short in terms of qualifying for states.

"She finished 12 seconds or five places behind the last girl who qualified for PIAA state meet," Andrew added.

In the team standings at the Class AA girls' race, Wyomissing finished first with 87 team points followed by Conrad-Weiser's 93 points. Boiling Springs was third with 110.

In the boys' race, Lampeter-Strasburg won the team title with a stingy 53 points followed by Greencastle-Antrim (67) which featured the winning runner in the race - Weber Long (15:45).

Cam Beiler registered a time of 19:07.5, which was good for 83rd place.

"Tori and her brother Cam both ran their fastest race of their careers at the District Three meet," Andrew pointed out.

"Cam worked extremely hard from August until October, including two-a-day workouts," Andrew added. "That's running in the mornings and also in the afternoons. His focus and determination on completing the season to the highest level of competitors was what allowed him to become a district qualifier."

FOOTBALL

The Braves ran into one of the top Lancaster-Lebanon League quarterbacks as they visited Columbia on Friday night, October 29, in a Section Four football game. Crimson Tide quarterback Robert Footman surpassed the 2,500-yard mark in passing on the season, completing four passes for 50 yards, leading the Tide to a 52-6 victory. The Tide improved to 5-0 in the L-L League (8-1 overall) while Pequea fell to 0-5, 1-8.

Footman's two touchdown passes on the night gave him 29 on the season, which is the highest total in the league - four ahead of Manheim Township's Hayden Johnson. The star signal caller did not need to throw as often. He mainly handed off to Steven Rivas, who ran for 156 yards on nine carries, scoring three rushing touchdowns.

After the first touchdown by Rivas - a big 45-yard dash to the Braves' endzone - Pequea's Dominic Wallace took the ensuing kickoff 85 yards to cut the deficit to 8-6 in the first quarter.

Rivas, who scored on the two-point PAT attempt on Columbia's first touchdown, also scored on a 38-yard run and a five-yard run to make it 22-6.

The big play continued for Columbia as Footman scored on a 26-yard run and Rivas added a 49-yarder.