Garden Spot's Lauren Horning scored twice as the Spartans blanked the Red Tornado at McCaskey on Thursday, September 16, posting a 2-0 victory in a Section Three field hockey match. With the win, Garden Spot was able to hang on to first place in the section, improving to 3-0-0 in the Lancaster-Lebanon League and 5-1-0 overall.

Horning, a junior, scored at the 13:33 mark of the third quarter, breaking the scoreless deadlock. She doubled her team's lead in the fourth quarter. Sarah Hoffman and Erin Gonzalez each assisted on Horning's goals.

Coming into this match, Garden Spot had allowed only three goals in six matches. The goalkeeping twosome of Amanda Hoover and Bryna Kelly claimed another shutout with Kelly making four saves and Hoover recording two.

Garden Spot suffered a Lancaster-Lebanon League loss to Annville-Cleona on Monday, September 20. The Dutchmen scored three times in the first half.

Melanie Esh responded at the 6:23 mark of the third quarter, capitalizing on an assist by Gonzalez. That would be the only goal allowed by Grace Coleman (5 saves). Kelly collected six saves in front of the Garden Spot cage.

The Spartans got back on the winning track with a 2-1 triumph over Solanco on Wednesday. Esh, who also had an assist, and Gonzalez both scored first-quarter goals. Horning also added an assist while the defense limited the opposition to two shots on goal - one save by Kelly.

FOOTBALL

The Garden Spot offense got a tremendous effort from quarterback Tristin Sadowski on Friday, September 17, against visiting Cocalico. The senior signal caller had a phenomenal night with 22 completions for 267 yards and three touchdowns.

The scores all came in the second half of this non-league game. It was not enough to top the Eagles, who left New Holland with a 31-20 victory. Garden Spot fell to 0-4 on the year.

Eagles tailback Anthony Bourassa ran for a 70-yard touchdown as well as an 80-yarder in the second quarter, giving his team a 17-0 halftime lead. Bourassa compiled 312 yards on 28 carries, going on to score again in the fourth quarter.

Sadowski threw a 23-yard touchdown pass to Joel Martin and a six-yard scoring toss to Zechaeriah Nagle - both in the third quarter. The two touchdowns closed the gap to 17-13 before another big play - Blake Taddei's 63-yard dash - made it 24-13 Eagles heading into the fourth quarter.

Derrick Lambert, who had eight receptions for 117 yards, caught Sadowski's third TD pass - a 29-yard connection. Nagle finished with nine catches for 10 yards. Luke Nagle had two catches for 18 yards.

VOLLEYBALL

With wins against Cocalico and Solanco, the girls' volleyball team improved to 4-1 in league play (4-2 overall). The Spartans topped the Eagles 3-0 on Thursday, September 16. On Tuesday the 21st, they posted winning sets of 25-20, 25-22 and 25-19 in an exciting victory over Solanco in New Holland.

Julia Ellsworth rose to the occasion with seven kills and two blocks in the Solanco match. Jewel Boninu and Kayla Kauffman each served up two aces while Kauffman led the team in assists (20). Summer Stern recorded a team-high 10 digs.

In the match at Cocalico, the Spartans escaped the first set 25-20 and won the next two 25-18 and 25-16.

Chloe Grady came away with seven kills while Medea Esh served three aces. Lucy Stern's 10 digs led the Spartans as did Kauffman's 23 assists and Ellsworth's three blocks.

BOYS' SOCCER

Garden Spot opened the week with two victories, winning 3-1 at Lampeter-Strasburg on Tuesday, September 21, then coming back home the following afternoon for a 5-1 defeat of Berks Catholic.

Garden Spot (2-3-0) stunned the Pioneers with three second-half goals on Tuesday. Jack Bruggeman scored 13 minutes into the second half. Luke Steiner scored one at the midway point and George Rohrbaugh made it 3-0 in the 69th minute.

Rohrbaugh had one goal and two assists the next day. Keegan Redcay added a goal in the 24th minute and Bruggeman made it 3-0 ten minutes later.

Steiner made it 4-1 in the second half. Trey Dwyer capped the scoring with six minutes left in the match.

Bruggeman had one goal in the non-league game on September 18 as Cocalico eked out a 2-1 win at home.

TENNIS

In a league match at Lampeter-Strasburg on September 20, the Spartans fell to the Pioneers 7-0.

Among the gutsy efforts by the Spartans was a number four singles match in which Nicole Zeiset came up short against Lindsay Steele 6-2, 6-4. Zeiset was also part of a number two doubles match, pairing with Maggie Martin. They suffered a setback against Laura Leaman and Kati Platt.

Leaman also escaped with a win against Martin at number three singles.

The Spartans fell to 3-7 on the year (1-4 league).

CROSS COUNTRY

Coming up just short at Donegal, the boys' cross country team fell to 4-3 on the year. Donegal topped Spot 24-33 while Elco won by an even slimmer margin of 26-29.

Taking fourth and fifth places, respectively, were Josiah Martin (18:02) and Alan Krock (18:08). Finn Wenrich took eighth (18:23) and Will Culbert was 13th (19:14).

The girls' team also went to 4-3 on the year, topping Elco 24-32.

In a race dominated by Donegal, whose runners claimed five of the top six finishes, Garden Spot's Nicole Kelch raced to a seventh-place finish in 23:32. Julia Hoover was ninth (24:25),

Hayley Zimmerman (11th, 24:33) and Haylee Horning (13th, 28:21) also made the top-15.

GOLF

Finishing four strokes ahead of Conestoga Valley, the Garden Spot golf team was third overall in Tuesday's section match at Tanglewood. Solanco finished first with 345 points with Elizabethtown recording a 366. The Spartans (374) took third with CV (378), Manheim Central (393) and Ephrata (415) behind them.

Justin Kemper led the Spartans with a score of 87, finishing fifth overall. Logan Lesley shot a 93 with Zach Uplinger and Bryce Clymer finishing at 96 and 98, respectively.

Garden Spot improved to 13-12 on the year.