The Spartans were coming off a heartbreaking overtime loss at Twin Valley in their non-league season opener on August 28. The Garden Spot football team traveled to Conestoga Valley for another non-league contest on Friday, September 3.

On their home turf, the Buckskins managed to keep the Spartans scoreless in the second half as they scored 24 unanswered points in a 38-23 comeback victory, overcoming the Spartans' 23-14 halftime edge. Garden Spot fell to 0-2 on the year.

Spartan quarterback Tristin Sadowski, who was virtually unstoppable against Twin Valley (130 yards rushing, 17 completions for 110 yards) ran through CV defenders for 79 yards and also completed 10 passes, including two touchdowns, for 132 yards.

Garden Spot opened the scoring with the first of Sadowski's TD passes - a nine-yard toss to Derrick Lambert. A one-yard sneak across the goal line by Sadowski was sandwiched between the nine-yard scoring pass and the four-yard pass to Lambert in the second stanza. Zecheriah Nagle hauled in two passes from Sadowski for a total of 73 yards.

Nick Tran's 80-yard run brought the Buckskins close in the second quarter. They scored on touchdown passes of 26 yards and 55 yards from Macoy Kneisley in the second half. Kneisley's night included 205 passing yards on eight completions.

The scoring on the day was not limited to touchdowns as Spartan's place kicker Walker Martin booted five field goals, including one in the extra period. The Spartan senior connected from as far out as 47 yards and added a 46-yarder also.

VOLLEYBALL

The Spartans suffered a season-opening setback to Ephrata on Tuesday evening at New Holland. There were very close sets in this Section Two battle - a 26-24 win for Garden Spot in the second set followed by a 25-23 victory for the Mountaineers in the third set. Ephrata prevailed 3-1, winning the bookend sets by nearly identical scores, 25-17 opening set and 25-18 in fourth set.

"They were a very good serving team," Lauren DiPiano, the Spartan coach, commented. "In the final set our passing game struggled. Our setter also struggled getting balls to our hitters and our hitters weren't able to put the ball away."

Regarding the two middle sets, DiPiano said, "We were up at times and let them dig their way back. I felt like it used more of our energy than we should have. They did a good job of getting back in it and pushing us to capacity."

Chloe Grady led the way with seven kills and one block. Lucy Stern and Trinity Xiong, tops with 19 digs, served up four aces each while Jada Dickson dished out 27 assists.

Ephrata improved to 1-0 in the Lancaster-Lebanon League while Garden Spot fell to 0-1.

TENNIS

Garden Spot opened the season with consecutive victories, defeating Pequea Valley and Octorara in non-league girls' tennis matches in the final week of August.

In the season opener at New Holland, the Spartans downed the Braves 4-1. Natalie Wirta returned to the lineup at number two singles, blanking her opponent 6-0, 6-0. Meredith Horst repeated the outcome at third singles, giving the Spartans the 4-1 margin of victory.

Earlier in the match, Bella Robbins teamed with Maggie Martin for a 6-0, 6-0 doubles victory. Nicole Zeiset and Leah Moua were 6-1, 6-2 winners at number two doubles.

Garden Spot hung on for a 3-2 win at Octorara on August 30. The victory featured another win for Zeiset and Martin while Erika Chernovsky came away with a win at number one singles.

The following afternoon Penn Manor edged the Spartans 4-3 in Millersville. Horst had an epic battle at number two singles, posting a 3-6, 6-3, 1-0 (11-9) win. Martin fell 2-6, 4-6 at third singles while Zeiset battled Lydia Meier to the very end of a number four singles win by Meier - 4-6, 7-5, 10-7.

Horst and Martin also earned a point at number two doubles, winning 8-4.

The Spartans were blanked by Conestoga Valley and Warwick on September 2 and 3, respectively, falling to 2-3 on the year.

BOYS' SOCCER

Facing archrival Manheim Central in a Tuesday evening road game, the Spartans came up short 4-2. The Barons carried a 1-0 halftime edge in this Lancaster-Lebanon League match and doubled that lead six minutes into the second half. Luke Redcay increased the advantage to 3-0 before the Spartans waged a late comeback.

Goals came from Luke Steiner and Dylan Nolt - the latter of whom scored with two minutes left. But the Barons added a late goal, starting their season 1-0-0 in Section Two while Garden Spot fell to 0-1-1.

FIELD HOCKEY

Garden Spot tipped off its season opener on Tuesday, September 7 with a victory over Lancaster Country Day. In the 5-0 L-L League victory, Erin Gonzalez and Lauren Horning each scored two goals. Returning junior Melanie Esh also netted a goal while Briana Zimmerman and Sara Hoffman each notched one assist.

Amanda Hoover vacuumed up every shot that came her way (5 saves) for a shutout.

CROSS COUNTRY

The Spartans raced against Columbia and Annville-Cleona in Section Two cross country competition at A-C on Tuesday. In the boys' race, the home team edged the Spartans 23-32 while also dominating Columbia 15-50.

In the girls' race, Annville came out on top with a 19-40 defeat of Spot and 15-50 over Columbia. The Spartans topped Columbia 15-50.

Alan Krock and Josiah Martin finished third and fourth, respectively, posting times of 18:35 and 19:12. Will Culbert's time of 19:57 earned him eighth place, only a few strides ahead of Finn Wenrich (20:01), who took ninth.

Thomas Witt (11th, 20:20) and Evan Graham (13th, 20:46) also made the top-15 for Spot.

Jahmar Gonzalez-Allie of Annville-Cleona won the race at an 18:27 clip.

Nicole Kelch was the top runner for the Garden Spot girls, posting a time of 24:56 while finishing fourth. Taking sixth was Julia Hoover (25:49) while teammate Hayley Zimmerman (8th, 26:34) also finished strong. Haylee Horning (28:46) took 14th.