The Spartans won their second straight game on Friday, October 29, defeating Ephrata 49-16 at home in a Section Three battle. It was also the second straight game in which Garden Spot scored over 40 points and the fourth time in the last five where they scored 35 or more.

A running game that helped compile 301 yards helped the Spartans pull away in the second half as they improved to 3-1 in the Lancaster-Lebanon League (4-5 overall). Up by only one point following the first quarter and leading 21-16 at the half, the Spartans put up 28 unanswered points in the second half.

Kye Harting and Tristin Sadowski each threw for a touchdown pass with Harting completing seven passes for 74 yards and Sadowski completing both of his pass attempts for 17 yards.

Harting also ran for 64 yards on 14 carries - two of which were for touchdowns.

Following the victory, the Spartans found themselves as the 13th seed in the District Three 4A power rankings.

Joel Martin churned up 168 yards of real estate on the Garden Spot home turf. He had 21 carries, averaging eight yards per carry, and finishing with two touchdowns.

Five different Spartans scored touchdowns in the game, including two each by Harting and Martin. Sadowski was also on the receiving end of a Harting touchdown pass while Hartin caught a three-yard touchdown pass from Sadowski.

The Mountaineers opened the scoring in this game on Andrew Weidman's 48-yard dash to the endzone.

Sadowski caught a 10-yard TD toss from Harting with place-kicker Walker Martin's PAT putting Spot ahead 7-6.

The reciprocal touchdown passing and catching between Sadowski and Harting gave Garden Spot the 14-13 lead late in the first period. After an Ephrata field goal, Harting found an opening from six yards out to make it 21-16 in the home team's favor at intermission.

Two touchdowns by Martin, one more rushing TD from Harting and senior Tyler Gillenwater's two-yard rushing TD capped the scoring.

Walker Martin went 7-for-7 with extra point attempts.

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FIELD HOCKEY

Garden Spot and Fleetwood had both made it past the opening round of the District Three Class AA field hockey playoffs with 1-0 victories against their respective opponents. The seventh-seeded Spartans edged No. 10 seed Donegal on Lauren Horning's overtime goal back on October 27 while the Tigers - the No. six seed - had shaded New Oxford.

The quarterfinals delivered the same result for both teams - Fleetwood lost 5-0 to three seed Northern, who improved to 18-2, while Garden Spot (14-6) fell to second-seeded Twin Valley by the same margin.

The Spartans charged back with two fourth-quarter goals on Wednesday night to tie the consolation match 3-3 after regulation. Given that the top seven seeds in District Three would qualify for the PIAA state playoffs, the Spartans looked to secure a victory.

The Tigers, however, scored the golden goal with 3:56 left in the first overtime period, resulting in Garden Spot having to play Susquehannock in the seventh-place game.

Fleetwood pulled ahead 3-1 after three quarters with the lone Garden Spot goal coming off the stick of Elisabeth Kauffman (Erin Gonzalez assist). It came in the third quarter as the Spartans went into intermission trailing 2-0.

Melanie Esh and Emma Swatski helped the Spartan even the score in the fourth quarter.