In a high-scoring Lancaster-Lebanon League football game at New Holland on Friday night, October 6, the Garden Spot Spartans lost to Twin Valley 37-29. It was Garden Spot's first league loss of the year (3-1) as they fell to 5-2 overall.

The Raiders (4-3, 2-2 league) used a balanced attack, engineered nicely by quarterback Evan Myers, who completed seven passes for 122 yards and ran the ball nine times for 61 yards. Myers scored a rushing touchdown and also connected with the Raiders' offensive leader Evan Johnson on a 54-yard TD pass.

"Twin Valley presented some mismatches and challenges for us," Matt Zamperini, the Spartans head coach, said. "We adapted well at times."

Johnson was part of the challenge the Spartans' defense faced. He ran for 159 yards on 16 carries, including a touchdown.

It was a 17-14 game in the Raiders' favor at halftime. The visitors added 13 points in the third quarter on rushing TD's by Myers and Jayden Goebel.

Leading the Garden Spot offense was quarterback Kye Harting, who threw for 180 yards on 19 completions, including two touchdowns. Harting also ran for 93 yards on 12 carries, scoring a rushing TD as well. Blake Weaver also scored a rushing TD as he gained 60 yards on nine carries.

"The offense put up 416 yards and scored 29 points," said Zamperini. "Defensively we needed one or two more stops.

"It was a loss where a great deal of wisdom can be gained," added the coach. "We kept fighting and gave ourselves an opportunity to try an onsides kick on the final possession to potentially tie the game."

Weaver's seven-yard rushing TD tied the game at 7-7 in the first quarter. Harting's one-yard sneak again resulted in the Spartans drawing even - 14-14 in the second stanza.

The back-and-forth theme changed to the Raiders gaining momentum in the third quarter and carrying a 30-14 lead into the final period. Harting's one-yard scoring toss to Weaver and his two-yard TD pass to Trenton Hoober gave Garden Spot a chance. The final Spartan touchdown was followed by a successful two-point conversion of Harting to Weaver.

GIRLS' VOLLEYBALL

Following a 3-0 win at Solanco on October 6, the girls' volleyball team split its next two matches to go to 7-8 (5-8 league).

The loss at Elizabethtown came on Monday, October 10 with Elizabeth Kerin pouring in 14 kills for the Bears.

Avery Smith led Spot with seven kills while Kayla Kaufman had a team-high 15 assists. Mya Paparo added nine digs and Ida Fisher served up two aces.

With Smith registering seven kills and Valeria Martin getting the hot hand at services with eight aces,

the Spartans topped Lebanon 25-16, 25-17 and 25-19 on Tuesday.

Kauffman's 24 assists and 11 blocks by Papas led the team in those categories while Fisher finished with two blocks.

CROSS COUNTRY

The Garden Spot boys' cross country team edged Donegal 29-30 but came up short against Lampeter-Strasburg in a Section Two race at New Holland on Tuesday, October 11.

In a race that featured four L-S runners taking the top four spots, Alan Krock earned fifth for Spot with a time of 17:57. Gavin Reimers (7th, 17:58) and Josiah Smucker (8th, 18:25) also finished strong.

In the girls' race, Donegal defeated Spot 16-47 and the Pioneers defeated the Spartans 17-44 as Garden Spot fell to 1-6 on the year.

Julia Hoover's eighth-place finish at 22:45 was the only top-15 finish for Garden Spot.

BOYS' SOCCER

In losing a non-league game at home to Daniel Boone on Thursday, October 6, the soccer team fell to 7-7-2 overall. Garden Spot gave up the only goal of the game in the 67th minute of the match.

In league play, the Spartans fell to 4-5-1 with a 4-0 loss at Elizabethtown on Tuesday, October 11. Hayden Flory had three assists for the Bears with four different goal scorers. The Spartans wrapped up the regular season at 7-8-2.

GIRLS' SOCCER

The girls' soccer season also came to an end with Garden Spot losing two games by shutouts. On Monday, October 10 and the following evening, the Spartans fell to Governor Mifflin by a 2-0 score and lost to E-town 5-0, respectively.

Garden Spot (3-13-0) fell to 2-8-0 in league play with the loss to E-town. Kylie Hein scored twice for the Bears while Jena Witters scored one goal and registered two assists.

FIELD HOCKEY

The Spartans finished the regular season at 14-3-0 (9-1-0 league) as they topped Elco 4-1 in the regular season finale. Melanie Esh and Lauren Horning, each of whom also had an assist on the day, as well as Emma Swatski all scored fourth-quarter goals to break a 1-1 tie with the visiting Raiders. Kailen Hibshman scored the only Elco goal.

Morgan Watt scored a first-period goal for Spot. Kylee Barshinger and Mary Culbert each notched an assist.

The Spartans ended the season 11th in the District Three Class 2A power rankings. The top 16 teams qualify for district playoffs.

The previous Friday the Spartans defeated Lebanon 6-0 on the road, outshooting the Cedars 15-1.

Swatski, Barshinger, Horning and sophomore Karis Minninger each scored one goal while Esh finished with two goals. Swatski also dished out two assists while Morgan Watt and Lacey McCalicher were each credited with one assist.

In this win and the Elco game, goalie Kasey Miller had one save.

Sandwiched between the wins was a 3-1 loss to Octorara on Monday. The Braves tied the highest total of goals scored by a team against Garden Spot this season - Elizabethtown's season-opening 3-2 win.

Esh scored the lone Garden goal while Miller made three saves.