By Ara Grigorian
The top teams in Section Two moved on to the semifinals of the L-L League volleyball playoffs as both Garden Spot and Conestoga Valley won on Monday night at CV.
The Lady Bucks defeated Manheim Township while Garden Spot's play marked an early exit for Section One runner up Warwick.
The Lady Bucks and Blue Streaks were involved in a tough tussle that involved four close games. Conestoga Valley prevailed 23-25, 25-23, 25-21 and 25-17.
The Spartans lost their opener by a 23-25 margin as well even though they trailed by 10 points early on. They then posted victories of 25-23, 25-21 and 25-17. No, that's not a cut-n-paste job.
The other quarterfinal matches were held at Lancaster Mennonite. The Hempfield Black Knights blanked Manheim Central while the host Blazers beat Ephrata 3-0.
Conestoga Valley was led by seniors Heather Martin and Heather Long, who posted four aces and 15 kills, respectively. The Spartans got two aces each from sophomore outside hitter Abby Martin and sophomore Steph High while junior Steph Doherty poured in 14 kills. Junior Julia O'Brien put up four blocks.
The back-and-forth drama between the Lady Bucks and Garden Spot had another sequel as the two teams squared off in the semi-final match at Manheim Township on Tuesday. The teams had evenly split their two head-to-head matches during the regular season. Conestoga Valley had beaten the Spartans in the tiebreaker match that crowned Conestoga Valley as the Section Two champ the Friday before the league playoffs.
But things tipped in the Spartans' favor on Tuesday as they defeated the Lady Bucks 3-0 in three close games at Manheim Township.
Conestoga Valley held a 22-19 lead in the opening game before Garden Spot came back for a 28-26 squeaker. The tenacious CV side held strong as the Spartans were denied game point on three different occasions.
Garden Spot took the second game 25-19. The third game was another nail-biter that the Spartans came back and won 27-25. In this one, it was Conestoga Valley that had a tough time putting it away despite a 24-23 lead.
Stoltzfus and junior Rachel Barlow each served up three aces for CV. It was once again Crills and Long leading the team in blocks with two each while Stambaugh poured in nine kills.
High led the Spartans with three aces. She also had a key block in the first game. Doherty had a game-high total of 12 kills and O'Brien put up five blocks.
But the Spartans' run for the league title ended in heartbreak as Hempfield reclaimed the championship with a 3-0 win on Wednesday.
After a 25-11 win, the Black Knights had to battle for a 26-24 victory in the second game. They withstood a strong surge by the Spartans and broke a 24-24 deadlock with a block and an ace to take that game. The Black Knights completed the sweep with a 25-18 win in the third game.
Horst had 11 kills to lead Garden Spot. Junior Taylor Boone chipped in with two blocks and High served up a pair of aces.
SOCCER
In the District Three Class-AAA soccer play-in round, the Spartans suffered a 2-0 setback to Ephrata on Monday.
Junior Nate Latshaw scored both of the Mountaineers' goals in the second half. He scored the second goal just six minutes after the first goal. Freshman Kyle Phillips registered an assist.
The Spartans out-shot the Mountaineers 9-7 and Garden Spot goalie David Shaffer made five saves in a losing effort.
CROSS COUNTRY
Both Emily Martin and Jesse Mancuso will represent Garden Spot in the PIAA Cross Country Championships.
In Wednesday's District Three Class-AAA Championships, Mancuso raced to a very impressive finish in 17:24, finishing 14th in a very competitive field.
As far as L-L League runners went, Mancuso was second only to Alex Galli of Cedar Crest, who finished ninth with 17:14. Hempfield's Matt Groff another league rival finished behind Mancuso. Groff took 16th at 17:25.
Martin's 39th-place finish qualified the Spartan junior for the PIAA's. She finished in 21:20, just a stride behind Donegal's Jesse McDonald (21:19).
Warwick's Alli Mannon (19:49) took second in the girls' race, finishing 14 second behind the winning runner, Leigha Anderson of Cumberland Valley.
The Spartan girls finished 23rd overall with 640 team points. The boys' team finished 22nd after compiling 651 team points.
FOOTBALL
Solanco's B.J. Enck ran for 214 yards on just 13 carries to lead the Mules to a 41-7 victory over the Spartans on Friday night at Quarryville. The Mules, who improved to 3-3 in Section Two, kicked their running game into high gear as John Fisher also compiled 103 yards of real estate on eight carries.
The Spartans fell to 0-6 in Section Two. They were still within striking distance at halftime, trailing by a 20-0 score. Solanco quarterback Ralph Brown snuck the ball in from two yards out to make it 7-0 in the first quarter.
Enck, meanwhile, made sure that he had the opportunity to add to his pre-game total of 614 rushing yards on the season. He did so by snagging an interception on Garden Spot's ensuing drive.
Justin Zellman's 12-yard touchdown reception and Enck's 14-yard surge to the end zone gave Solanco 13 points in the second quarter, raising the Mules' lead to 20-0 at halftime.
The Spartans cut the deficit to 20-7 early in the fourth quarter. Sparked by a Spartan fumble recovery, the offense capitalized on a Nicholas Rosales quarterback sneak. Rosales led the Spartans passing attack, completing nine passes for 125 yards.
The Mules responded with three big rushing touchdowns. Enck scored on a 68-yard sprint to the end zone. It was Solanco's first play from scrimmage after Garden Spot's ensuing kickoff.
Fisher also scored on a 37-yarder to make it 34-7. Enck capped off the scoring with a 35-yard TD dash.
The Spartans will travel to Manheim Central for the regular season finale. The Barons crushed Lebanon 47-0 while the Cocalico Eagles edged Conestoga Valley 21-14 on Friday night. What that meant to the Section Two standings was that the unbeaten Barons (6-0; 9-0 overall) clinched the section crown while Conestoga Valley fell to a second-place tie with Cocalico at 4-2.
