Garden Spot came up short in its quest to claim the Section Three title as the Spartans lost to Lancaster-Lebanon League rival Solanco on the road Friday night, October 28. The Spartans, who finished the regular season at 7-3, could have earned at least a share of the section title with a win at Solanco. They came into the game with a 4-1 league record, facing an unbeaten (5-0) Solanco squad.

What the Spartans did accomplish, however, in this successful 2022 campaign, was to gain 10th place in the District Three Class 5A power rankings, thus qualifying for the district playoffs.

"This is our program's first district playoff appearance since 2014," Spartans head coach Matt Zamperini noted.

The Mules (10-0) actually needed to come from behind to take the lead and eventually gain the winning margin of 35-20. The always reliable Nick Gleason kicked a 23-yard chip shot through the uprights for a 3-0 early lead. After Solanco gained the lead on Brody Mellinger's 24-yard touchdown pass to Elijah Cunningham, Spartans quarterback Kye Harting raced through an opening by his blockers and outran the Solanco secondary for an 80-yard dash, making it 10-7.

In the back-and-forth first quarter, Mellinger scored a rushing TD to make it 14-10. Cunningham's four-yard run made it 20-10 before the half.

Josiah Forren's 87-yard kickoff return plus Mellinger's two-point conversion gave the Mules a 28-10 lead. A lead that was reduced by 10 points thanks to another Gleason field goal and another Harting touchdown run.

"Solanco is ranked sixth in the state for 5A schools," Zamperini pointed out. "They are a senior laden team, and they execute very well.

"We played them tough," Zamperini, whose team received Honorable Mention for 5A state rankings, said. "Our guys fought until the end. We had our chances but fell short on a few plays."

In the District Three 5A playoffs format, the top four seeds - Solanco, Exeter, New Oxford and Gettysburg - have first-round byes. That opening round schedule includes the Spartans traveling to seventh-seeded Dover with the winner slated to play at Exeter.

CROSS COUNTRY

Garden Spot's Gavin Reimers, Alan Krock and Josiah Smucker competed in the District Three 3A boys' cross country championship race at Big Spring High School on October 29. Reimers led the Spartans with an 85th-place finish, registering 17:20 as his time. Krock ran the course in 17:49.90 while Smucker came in at 17:48.20 - only three places behind Krock's 124th-place finish.

Julia Hoover had a solid 21:32.3 as her time, representing the Garden Spot girls. She narrowly missed the top-100 by placing 102 in the race.