Coming off a regular season which included a Lancaster-Lebanon League Section Four title, the Pequea Valley golf team headed into the league championships at Fairview Golf Course in Lebanon on Monday, September 26.

There was a handful of sophomores contributing to the team's success including Cole Stoltzfus.

"He led the team with a 79.7 scoring average over the six regular-season matches," Pequea coach Clair Beiler pointed out. "Senior Matt Lapp had a tidy 81.3 average while sophomores Dylan Stoltzfus, Trenton Stoltzfus along with Bo Smucker and Isaiah Slabaugh all contributed.

"Our record was 28-2 and we edged Annville-Cleona for our second straight Section Four title," Beiler added. The Dutchmen finished with a second-best record of 22-8 in the regular season.

In the league championships, competing in the Class-AA level, Lapp qualified for District Three AA championships. He shot a 13-over-par 84 and made the cut for districts.

Cole Stoltzfus barely missed the cut with his score of 87. Smucker shot a 95 on the day with Trenton Stoltzfus (99) and Josh Stoltzfus (101) rounding out PV's top five.

Winston Thai of Lancaster Country Day won the individual championship with a score of 75.

The Braves fell short of the team competition, Beiler explained.

"We fell short with Annville-Cleona posting a team score of 335 to our team score of 352," he said. "The Pequea Valley golf program has a bright future. We say good-bye to Matt Lapp but have five sophomores and five freshmen returning next year."

FOOTBALL

Orlando Stoltzfus and Cameron Bergman both rushed for 47 yards with Stoltzfus scoring a second-quarter touchdown in Pequea Valley's Friday night L-L League gridiron clash with Schuylkill Valley in Kinzers.

The one man the Pequea defense could not contain, however, was Dom Giuffre, who scored four rushing touchdowns for the Panthers while compiling 136 rushing yards on 14 carries. The Panthers improved to 3-2 overall with a 55-7 victory while the Braves fell to 0-5.

Asked about Giuffre's ability to get out into the open, Pequea Valley head coach Mike Choi explained, "It was more power and strength than speed.

"They pulled with a couple of linemen and got out in front of us," he said. "They would pull the guard and tackle and take out our defensive ends. They did a good job of that."

Though Giuffre busted out for a 45-yard touchdown run followed by a 40-yarder and helped extend the lead with a 13-yard rushing TD, the Braves managed to cut the deficit to 21-7.

"I looked up at the scoreboard and it was 21-0 in the first quarter," Choi said. "I was looking for our guys to respond and they did."

The Braves had their second impressive drive of the half, this one culminating in a five-yard rushing TD by Stoltzfus. In the first quarter, they drove to the Panthers' red zone only to cough up the football.

"We got to their 15-yard line and fumbled," said Choi. "We drove up with a few nice runs. I thought we had the momentum. If we go in and score there, it's 7-7 and maybe things settle down.

"It doesn't matter who your opponent is," added the coach, "you can't turn the ball over five times."

The Panthers would go on to score on two touchdown passes as well.

"In losses, you learn a lot about yourself," Choi said. "You have a game like this once or twice a year - games where you struggle."

Choi also pointed out the imbalance in team rosters.

"Their team had 58 guys," he pointed out. "In their pregame warmups I saw they had 24 linemen; we dressed a total of 23 players. Three of our four starting linebackers were out."

GIRLS' SOCCER

In a match against Section Four foe Northern Lebanon, the PV girls' soccer team posted a 3-0 shutout on Monday, September 26 at Pequea.

"It was a well-played game for us from start to finish," Braves head coach Steve Morris said.

Morgan Graham and Elena Esh scored first-half goals. Interestingly enough, Esh provided the assist for Graham's goal and vice versa. Ellie Rishel added one six minutes into the second half.

The Braves were coming off a win by forfeit against Lancaster Country Day.

"They have canceled their season for the rest of the year," Morris explained.

Wednesday night the Braves, 3-2-1 in league play, suffered a 2-0 loss to Lancaster Mennonite.

BOYS' SOCCER

The boys' soccer team posted a 2-1 victory over Lancaster Country Day on Thursday, September 22 as Pequea improved to 3-5-0 (2-3-0 league).

Bryce Goodroad made seven saves while Wade Stoltzfus and Corey Baldwin gave the Braves a 2-0 lead in the first half. Peyton Leitch provided the assist on the Stoltzfus goal.

The Cougars trimmed the lead in half in the 38th minute on a Frederick Bloom goal.

Pequea's next two contests ended in heartbreaking fashion. In a non-league Saturday game at Kinzers, Kennard-Dale managed to sneak in a goal right in the closing seconds of the first half. The 1-0 lead held up for the final 40 minutes with K-D goalie Logan Sumner making four saves.

On the Braves' side of the pitch, Goodroad was solid with nine saves.

The Braves visited Northern Lebanon on Monday, September 26 where another tough loss would come in overtime. Carter Cheslock scored the golden goal eight minutes into extra time to give the Vikings a 3-2 win.

It was a see-saw battle between the two teams as the Vikings took a first-half lead only to see Leitch score the equalizer seven minutes into the second half.

Garrett Bohn scored off a Cheslock assist six minutes later only to have Baldwin even it up near the midway mark of the second half, scoring off a Stoltzfus assist.

CROSS COUNTRY

With four of the top five spots going to Annville-Cleona's runners, the host Dutchmen defeated Pequea and Northern Lebanon in a boys' cross country race on Tuesday, September 27. Annville defeated the Braves by a 15-47 margin.

Pequea's Hugh Johnson had an 18:43 pace on the day, claiming eighth place overall. Cameron Beiler posted a time of 19:00 to take 11th place while Nathan Sensenig (19:58) finished 16th.

The Braves fell to 1-3 on the year.

In the girls' Section Three race, the Braves topped the Vikings 23-34 but fell to Cleona in a close 27-32 finish.

The winning pace belonged to Pequea's Aubrey Ressler at 19:51 while teammate Caleigh Vincent (20:20) took third. Abby Beiler (5th, 21:16) and Izzy Hershey (12th, 23:43) also finished in the top 15.

Pequea improved to 2-2 on the year.