Octorara Stands Tall As Braves Make History, Topple Conestoga Valley On Buckskins’ Home Floor To Advance To Program’s First L-L League Championship Game Appearance Following Overtime Thriller (Article By Kyle Morgan)

Written by: Andy Herr on February 11, 2026

(Cover photo courtesy of Kate Levato)

By Kyle Morgan

A doubleheader in the league semifinals brought the L-L League a pair of overtime thrillers Tuesday night at Conestoga Valley’s Rill Gym. 

CV and Octorara had the daunting task of trying to top game one, where Lancaster Mennonite held on in the fifth period after a last-minute rally from Hempfield in regulation. Somehow, the Buckskins and Braves managed to pull it off. 

But only one team could advance to the finals. Give it up for Octorara. 

Despite CV forcing overtime on a magnificent buzzer-beating layup from senior Sawyer Esbenshade, the Braves were able to snatch momentum back in OT, coming away with a 62-60 win to earn a berth in the championship game for the first time since they joined the L-L ahead of the 2018-19 season (having previously won the ChesMont League in 2017-18). 

“It’s one of those things where you don’t feel like you’re part of the league until you do something like this,” head coach Gene Lambert said. “It’s the first time that one of our sports has gone this far (in the L-L). This is big for the school.” 

Both teams came flying out of the gates in the first quarter, trading early buckets. Neither team missed a shot from the field during the first two-and-a-half minutes, and the largest lead in the quarter was just four, after CV went up 13-9 thanks to a 6-0 run. 

The Buckskins came out of the first with a 20-17 advantage. They were carried by Esbenshade and junior Carter Gehman, who had 7 points each in the opening quarter. Octorara junior Karter Lambert had 8 to keep the score tight. 

Things changed quickly in the second, however. CV posted the first seven of the quarter to put the lead at double-digits. And when the Braves cut the score to 30-24, the Buckskins answered with another 7-0 run. They would’ve had led by 10 at halftime, had Octorara senior Chase Fetrow nailed a late 3-pointer to make it 39-32. 

Karter Lambert and senior Vito Vespe finished with 10 first-half points each for the Braves, but the story was the duo of Esbenshade and Gehman, who combined for 27 points and 11-of-14 shooting. 

“Their size makes them tough to stop,” Coach Lambert said. “They’re just very tenacious players who want to get to the rim and shoot their shots. Our key coming in was to not let them shoot a bunch of 3’s. We wanted to give them 2’s instead, and we were able to run them off the line a bit into the midrange. But they’re confident shooters, and they still knocked down a bunch.” 

Just like their quarterfinal win over Cedar Crest on Saturday, however, Octorara turned the tide in the third. The Braves clamped down defensively, holding CV to just 3 points for the majority of the quarter. Offensively, they chipped the deficit away gradually, eventually taking a brief lead on a layup from senior Vincent Thaler late before Buckskins junior Jayden Conaway forced a steal and scored on a fastbreak to give them the lead back going into the fourth.

The damage was done though. Octorara held Esbenshade to just one foul shot and Gehman to only a pullup jumper in the third. The latter didn’t score again for the rest of the regulation, having to battle a bloody nose he sustained during warmups. 

“I felt our guys couldn’t get in sync in the third quarter,” CV head coach Jim Shipper said. “We had some defensive breakdowns there, but we got it going in the fourth quarter again.” 

“I think our defense was allowing them (CV) to do things that we talked about (preventing),” Coach Lambert said. “We came out in the second half and made adjustments as we always do. I’m so lucky that (these guys) allow us to change things up without taking it personally. They’re involved and paying attention.” 

The final quarter was a near replay of the first, with both sides throwing haymakers back and forth. Neither had a lead larger than four for the remainder of regulation. 

Fetrow was the difference for Octorara. He opened the fourth with a 3-ball to put the Braves in front, then responded with another after Conaway tied the game before swishing a third deep shot at the midway point to put the score at 54-50 before CV senior Toby Schaub knocked down a corner 3. 

“He is the ultimate teammate,” Coach Lambert said of Fetrow. “He can do that a lot, but he doesn’t do it (all the time) because he wants to move the ball to (the other guys). There’s no ifs, ands or buts about it: he can knock down a shot.” 

“They run an organized break really well, and they’re very disciplined,” Coach Shipper said. “What they do that is probably most overlooked is pass the ball well. It’s always on target into the shot pocket, and kids never have to reach for it. You love that as a shooter. Tip of the cap to Fetrow; he made a lot of big shots on the road.” 

Schaub’s 3-pointer was the final bucket either team scored until the last minute of regulation, as the two teams jockeyed for the ball. Finally, with 24 seconds to go, Esbenshade drove to the hoop and got fouled on the way up. He hit 1 of 2 free throws to tie the game at 54-54. 

Octorara looked to run out the rest of the clock for a final shot. CV brought immense pressure on defensively, but that strategy backfired when they got whistled for their fifth foul of the fourth on a swipe for an attempted steal, putting Karter Lambert at the line. He buried both foul shots with 7.9 to go, giving the Braves a 56-54 lead. 

Too much time for the Buckskins to respond? You bet. Coming out of a timeout, Esbenshade took the in-bounds pass the length of the court, dashed to the left side of the rim and got a friendly roll on a reverse layup as time expired, sending the game to overtime. 

“We ran a double-curl off the in-bounds since we thought they may try and deny the ball,” Coach Shipper said. “We were just trying to get it in and go. I told them that if they could get it (into the post) going downhill, we could try and get a 3-point play.” 

For a moment, it seemed like the Buckskins would carry that moment through the rest of the game. Esbenshade immediately gave them the lead on a fastbreak layup just seconds into OT.

But Fetrow came right back with his fifth and final 3-pointer of the night, this time from the left corner. Octorara forced a turnover on CV’s next possession and proceeded to drain extensive time off the clock with a long possession of its own. After extending it with a tough offensive rebound (one of his game-high 17 on the night, over half of the Braves’ 30 team boards), Thaler then finished it off with a wide-open layup. 

“Vincent is a state high-jumper, probably the best athlete at our school,” Coach Lambert said. “When it comes to basketball, he knows he has to rebound the ball for us. He’s done that for three years on varsity, and he does a good job at it.” 

The Buckskins had multiple chances to tie from there but came up short on two 3-balls and a putback. Both teams missed a pair of free throws each afterward, but with 4.5 seconds left, senior Lazo Christou got to the line and went one-for-two, essentially icing the game. A Gehman putback at the horn wasn’t enough for the CV equalizer. 

Fetrow had a career night, finishing with 21 points, 15 of which came from 3-point range. Karter Lambert grinded out 16, with Vespe and Thaler adding 13 and 8, respectively. 

Esbenshade matched Fetrow with 21 points, while Gehman had 16. Conaway came through with 8 points off the bench as well for the Buckskins, who were forced to battle through a few injuries. Aside from Gehman’s bloody nose, Esbenshade had to briefly leave the game to a gash on his arm, while sophomore Kylinn Noon, the team’s second-leading scorer behind Esbenshade, missed time because of a shoulder injury, which limited him to just 2 points. 

“Our toughness is what we hang our hat on,” Coach Shipper said. “Carter’s bloody nose kind of messed up our rotations a bit, but he gutted it out. And I’ve never seen someone get back into the game with a separated shoulder like Kylinn did. That’s what we’re all about, grit and grind. When we got that first bucket in overtime, I thought we had a chance to grind it out. I’m disappointed for our guys, but I’m equally happy for Gene; he does a great job with his kids.” 

CV bows out of the league playoffs in the semifinals for the second season in a row, having lost to last year’s champions Cedar Crest as well. The Buckskins will have a week off before the District 3 playoffs get underway; they’re currently ranked 10th in Class 6A. 

“I knew at the end of last year that we had to make a few philosophical changes,” Coach Shipper said. “We learned in that semifinal game last year that our defense had to be better. You get to this time of the year, and you’re not just gonna outscore (other teams). You have to be able to get stops. That was our focus going into this season, and I think we achieved that. We’re in a good place as a program. This loss stings, but if it doesn’t hurt, why are we doing this? We’ll be back.” 

Meanwhile, the league is guaranteed to have a first-time champion when Octorara faces off against Lancaster Mennonite in the finals on Thursday at Manheim Township. The Blazers last appeared in the title game back in 1991.

An elated Coach Lambert admitted that he wouldn’t start thinking about the game until Wednesday morning, content to bask in his team’s hard-fought victory. When they next hit the floor, however, the Braves will be going for their first L-L gold. 

“I’m just so happy for the kids,” he said. “We’re gonna enjoy this and get ready for Mennonite. It should be a good game.”

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