The Dover Eagles pulled away late in the second half of their District Three Class 5A opening-round playoff game with Garden Spot, winning 40-21 on their home turf Friday night, November 4.

Aric Campbell, who completed nine passes for 213 yards and two touchdowns, scored on a one-yard quarterback keeper and later hit Brayden Zirkie on a 31-yard scoring pass to give the Eagles their 40-21 lead in the fourth quarter. Coming into the final stanza, the Spartans (7-4) were within striking distance, trailing 28-21.

Woven between a blocked punt that led to the first score of the game for Dover (9-2) and Campbell's first of two one-yard sneaks, Garden Spot scored on two big plays. Blake Weaver sprinted to the Dover endzone from 72 yards out and was on the receiving end of a Kye Harting 81-yard TD pass, making it 14-14 in a wild opening period. The Eagles responded on a big play of their own as Gavin Mullins (24 carries, 140 yards) scored on an 80-yard rushing TD.

Harting's two-yard touchdown runs, and Nick Gleason's third PAT kick of the night again tied the score, making it 21-21 in the second quarter. The Eagles would carry that 28-21 lead into the locker room at halftime on Garon Quillen's rushing touchdown.

Aided by those two big scores, Weaver finished the night with 260 yards from scrimmage. He had six carries for 116 yards and caught four passes for 146 - one touchdown rushing and one receiving.

Harting completed 13 of 30 passes for 233 yards. The Dover defense picked off three passes, making their defense a tough challenge for the Spartans comeback bid.

Zac Nagle caught five of Harting's passes for 53 yards. With the 233 yards passing, Harting finished just shy of throwing for 2,000 yards on the year. He had 133 completions for 1970 yards (20 TD's) while also running for 1108 yards and 13 touchdowns.

"Kye Harting became only the 11th quarterback in Lancaster-Lebanon League history to run for and pass for 1000 yards," head coach Matt Zamperini pointed out.

"Zac Nagle, Blake Weaver, Jadon Burkholder, Nick Gleason and Gabe Smeltz were the senior field leaders who helped us with our first winning season and playoff appearance since 2014," Zamperini added. "Harting and Reed Gruber were the junior field leaders who contributed greatly."

Weaver finished with over 1,100 yards on offense, catching 19 passes for 452 yards while leading the running backs in rushing yardage with 659 with seven touchdowns.

Nagle was the leading receiver for the Spartans - 52 receptions for 850 yards and eight TD's Conrad added 275 receiving yards to the offense with his 21 receptions.

Burkholder carried the rushing responsibilities also with 58 carries and 405 yards, scoring five TD's.