Octorara Makes Amends As Braves Come Back From Unceremonious District Playoff Exit, Rebuke Last Year’s Opening Round State Playoff Loss As Braves Fend Off Pesky Frankford To Reach Round Of 16 In PIAA-5A Tournament
Written by: Andy Herr on March 7, 2026
While losing a game in the state tournament – especially in the first round – can sometimes be a crushing blow, it doesn’t necessarily have to always be. No, not all these losses are necessarily created equal. In theory, all one would have to do is just look at last year’s Octorara squad to help bring that notion to light.
Last year, after entering the PIAA-5A state tournament owning District 3’s #6 seed, the Braves drew arguably the toughest assignment of anyone in that entire bracket – having to travel to Upper Dublin, the District 1 champ, against a Cardinals’ squad that had lost all of one time leading into the state tourney last winter. And yes, while the Braves would succumb to UD on the Cards’ home floor in that affair last March, the silver lining involved for the Octorara contingent was that 100% of the roster who had suited up that night was slated to return this season, 2025-26. In fact, while obviously not overjoyed that his team’s season had just reached its final resting place, long-time Octorara head coach Gene Lambert remained excited for this season by stating in the postgame that night, “I’m excited because for the first time in my 24 years, I’ve never had basically a whole team come back. That’s just never really happened. Not a whole team.”
Turns out, Lambert’s reason for excitement wasn’t false hope.
How about being the last Lancaster-Lebanon League boys’ basketball team left standing this season when it came to possessing a 0 in the loss column? Well, that’s precisely what the Braves achieved this season before a loss against Downingtown West that came so far down on the calendar that it was nearly February, January 30th to be exact, but not before notching a 19-0 mark on the year to first show for it. Shortly thereafter, aside from winning their first L-L section title since joining the conference back in 2018-19, Octorara was able to revel in similar spoils even more so in taking center stage for the L-L League championship game for the first time ever as well, despite falling shy to another historic group, Lancaster Mennonite, as the Blazers went on to claim the league crown against Octorara for the first time this past month.
Since then, it’s admittedly been a bit of slog through the postseason in comparison to the resume the Braves had previously put forth throughout the regular season before the postseason had gotten underway.
Case in point, seeing the crew from Atglen enter this year’s state tournament while on the road yet again in the far eastern corner of the state, Philadelphia this time around, as the Braves began this year’s jaunt as the 4th seed representing District 3 after having lost their two games against Milton Hershey and Hershey respectively to the tune of 30 points on average, while also not including their darn-near miraculous fourth quarter comeback bid against Cocalico in the game prior to those to even advance on inside the District 3-5A bracket prior to said defeats against the schools from Hershey.
Now, all that is to say, while it’s hard to find many fault with a team that has quite literally been historic in the annals of the Octorara boys’ basketball program when it comes to this 2025-26 bunch, especially considering the Braves’ 24-4 mark on the season as a whole, the most wins tallied by any member of the entire L-L League this season prior to entering the state playoffs, for a group that exited last year’s dance with hopes of a promising future, and for what has arguably been the foremost team at the top of mind when the discussion shifts to L-L boys’ basketball, Friday night’s entrance into the statewide bracket brought with it the most amount of turbulence the Braves had experienced all season considering their most recent stretch.
Granted, while trying to obtain your new lease on life doesn’t typically come during the state playoffs, it still might’ve been the case scenario for Octorara all things considered once the bracket was unveiled and the Braves found themselves with a roundtrip ticket to Philly on Friday evening to take on Frankford, the District 12 runner-up, against a Pioneers’ squad that came into the 5A state playoffs with a sub. 500 record at 13-14 overall – certainly a far cry compared to the 27-1 Upper Dublin outfit that the Braves encountered last season.
And while it wasn’t the easiest night at the office from tip to final buzzer, it was nonetheless a far more successful venture this time around as compared to that trip of a year ago from Octorara’s perspective.
Punch, counterpunch. By and large, that was the narrative that took shape over the course of the first few minutes on Friday evening at Lincoln High.
Sure, while Octorara, Vito Vespe to be most specific, began the night’s proceedings by tallying the first five points to get the Braves’ contingent off on the right foot, a 3-ball splashed down by Frankford 6’2 sophomore guard, Jaden Natal-Diaz, later gave the Pioneers their first lead of the early evening at a 6-5 count with 3:30 left in the opening frame in short order.
From there, it would be Vincent Thaler’s turn at offering the latest round of heroics to aid the Octorara cause as a pair of bunnies scored inside by the 6’1 senior forward awarded the lead back to the Braves, 9-8, with just 2:10 left in a back-and-forth first period that had steadily taken shape once both squads took their time at settling into their own grooves.
Fittingly, for an initial eight minutes that featured neither side being able to open up a margin of separation anything greater than one possession when describing either team’s instances in playing with the lead, it would prove to be Frankford that would carry a lead by the slimmest of margins, 14-13, with them into the second quarter on Friday night.
Finally, when it came time for someone to garner a bit of breathing room for themselves, it would be the team found playing just a stone’s throw away from their school’s campus who would take those honors.
For that, once Frankford 6’3 sophomore big man, Jasir Jeffcoat, was able to finish off an offensive rebound and stick-back that preceded a bucket at the cup put home in transition by way of bruising 6’3 senior guard, Doron Ross, the Pioneers had sprinted out of the chute to begin the second stanza while en route to a 20-15 lead with the second quarter having elapsed its halfway point and Octorara having traversed through the first four minutes of the period with only a pair of points to show for it.
However, much like the quarter previous, if either team had any desires of being able to run away and hide from the other, any such dreams quicky had cold water thrown upon them.
In fact, following a 3-ball dialed up by way of Octorara’s Chase Fetrow, that somewhat sturdy Frankford margin had been totally erased into dust once the Braves’ senior sniper poured in a bucket from bonus distance to knot things up at a 20-20 stalemate with just 2:27 left to play in the opening half by that point.
And while the Octorara snowball would continue rolling downhill courtesy of Vito Vespe who tallied a layup at the cup to then make it a 24-22 Braves’ cushion with the team’s leading scorer on the year en route to his usual tricks while bucketing a team-best 20-point showing once again on this night to pace the Braves’ collective charge against Frankford, a timely Natal-Diaz 3-ball on the Pioneers’ ensuing trip down the floor with now inside of a minute left in the first half gave Frankford a lead which they would enjoy throughout the intermission with the District 12 silver medalist owning the 25-24 lead at the conclusion of the first 16 minutes of play.
By this point, while it wasn’t time to press the panic button by any means whatsoever from Octorara’s perspective, getting off on the right foot to begin the second half was pretty darn imperative on the Braves’ to-do list once the third quarter rolled around on Friday. Fortunately, whether that was truly a topic of conversation uttered in the halftime cleanup session or not, Octorara would indeed come out with all pistons firing all the same.
Remember that earlier five-point bulge that Frankford was able to obtain early in the second quarter? Well, Octorara most surely recalled that as well seeing as how the Braves would offer up a similar response in both size and stature once the game’s third act got rolling along.
In terms of the gap reaching a five-point hill, that would come to being once Vito Vespe followed in Vincent Thaler’s prior footsteps just before as the Octorara senior duo tallied back-to-back bunnies at the cup which had then expanded the Braves’ margin out to a 30-25 count with a shade inside of six minutes left outstanding on the third quarter clock.
And while it took Frankford until nearly the five-minute mark of the third quarter before finally notching their first points of the second half by virtue of a Doron Ross pullup in the lane, two more en route to his team-high 20-point in leading the Pioneers’ ship in this, his final high school outing, Ross would then promptly follow those exploits up with a trifecta on the very next possession, a five-point Ross-led incision into the Octorara bubble that trimmed things down to a modest 32-30 count with 4:40 left in the third by that juncture.
That said, from that moment on, Octorara began to put their foot down.
Ironically, the tandem of Vespe and Thaler was on the case yet again as first a pair of Vespe freebies at the charity stripe extended the Braves’ lead back out to five, 41-36, before then a Thaler follow up at the cup birthed the largest lead enjoyed by any of the two sides yet seen on Friday night by that point, 43-36.
All told, while the Braves’ advantage would later swell up to as many as nine following two more Vespe free throws chipped in at the foul line which had made it a 47-38 affair, it was still a somewhat manageable six-point buffer at 47-41 that Frankford was forced to overcome with all of eight minutes left remaining for either of these two team’s seasons.
However, as would soon become readily apparent, it would prove to be Frankford’s season which was just about to have its final chapter written.
On the night, while a simple glance at the stat line would lend credence as to just how balanced the Octorara contingent was on this night with four Braves finishing with no fewer than a dozen points next to each one of their name’s in the scoring column headlined by Vito Vespe, Chase Fetrow, Vincent Thaler, and Lazo Christou respectively, you’d be hard-pressed to find many buckets more vital inside the final frame than the ones offered up by Troy Madison as the Octorara 5’8 sophomore guard fearlessly first completed a take to the cup which had made it a 55-47 Braves’ lead with a tick past four minutes remaining before then Madison then fired in a massive corner triple which served as the proverbial dagger of sorts considering how this bucket made it a 61-49 Octorara lead with all of 2:40 left to played by that point. Not too shabby for someone who had come off the bench to toss in all seven of his points inside the second half while playing in the crucible of a state playoff game as a young underclassman, no doubt.
Yet while Frankford had routinely refused to flinch all game long and had consistently answered many of Octorara’s retorts all throughout, the time and score here was just simply too much for the Pioneers to overcome.
And once the clock hit zeroes, aside from what was a strong Octorara second-half performance which had served as the jet fuel to propel the Braves past Frankford in this 5A opening round affair to the tune of a 69-57 final verdict, it was in some ways a truly full-circle moment for this same exact cast and crew that had fallen short in this identical spot just one year prior. Oh yeah, not to mention while also having to bounce back from what was far and away the most arduous part of their season too here of recent memory as well.
“Just trying to stick together, you know,” Octorara head coach, Gene Lambert, said following his team’s triumph against Frankford to open the state tourney which had come on the heels of those aforementioned, sizable defeats just prior to states. “We played a little bit more selfish, more than we had before in those two games (against Milton Hershey and Hershey). That, and we were playing against two really good teams too,” Lambert added of the assignment in having to deal with those two Mid-Penn Keystone stalwarts, both of whom ironically enough fell at home in their own opening round state playoff games held that were also held on Friday night. “When you add that all up, those kind of things happen.”
“But, we had some time to practice and get it back to where it needs to be in order for us to be successful,” the Braves’ coach remarked.
“Back to where it needs to be.” Seems to be a fitting quote to use, no?
After all, you could in some ways intimate and suggest that this Octorara season began right then and there after that opening round loss to Upper Dublin a year ago with everyone slated to come back for this final ride while donning the navy blue and red school colors. Turns out, it’s been a ride in 2025-26 that the coach of 20+ years who has amassed over 350 career victories while in charge of the Braves’ bench has been most fortunate to have a seat for while tagging along for this year.
“The goal was to get to leagues, see how far we could get in districts and then hopefully states if we could make it,” the Braves’ alum turned veteran head coach said when asked to try sum up the growth seen from this particular bunch over the last 360+ days. “I talked about it at the beginning of the season. ‘After this season, you’re done. This is the last ride,’” Lambert said of the message presented to his primarily senior-laden cast back in the offseason. “This is it. Last chance, last run… At the end of the day, you want your last run to be your best run. And guess what? It is,” Lambert remarked with pride.
“I give those kids all the credit,” he said while looking over at his players across the way who were now taking in the warm embrace found in friends and family alike. “I give those kids credit because especially as seniors, you can get that senioritis,” Lambert quipped of upperclassmen sometimes already having one foot out the door while ready for graduation and what lies ahead in their own futures. “Sometimes the ‘itis can you get you. But it hasn’t gotten to them,” he added of his team.
“Maybe the weather has helped us. If it was nicer, maybe I’d be a little more worried, but it’s still basketball weather,” Lambert said with smile. “But, no. I really think these kids are focused and they want to go as far as they can.”
For now, that means a date on Tuesday night with the Octorara Braves being just one of 16 5A teams left standing in the entire state. In other words, exactly where they need to be.
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