Costly turnovers lead to abrupt ending for Buckskins
2025 Berks football coverage presented by
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(This story was produced by LNP/Lancasteronline, and published in partnership with MikeDragoSports.com.)
By Jeff Reinhart — LNP/Lancasteronline
WITMER — You can go ahead and add another wacky chapter to the Lancaster-Lebanon League football rivalry that is Conestoga Valley vs. Exeter.
| Final | |
| Exeter | 41 |
| Conestoga | 34 |
The Buckskins and the Eagles locked horns in yet another wild game that went down to the wire in the drizzle in Witmer Friday night.
This time, Exeter survived.
The Eagles turned two first-half takeaways into touchdowns, Riley Martinez launched two deep touchdown passes to Jayden Ware, Leo Brown continued his torrid season on the ground with another 200-yard night and seventh-seeded Exeter fended off hard-charging, second-seeded Conestoga Valley 41-34 in a much-anticipated District 3 Class 5A quarterfinal.
“You can’t have turnovers in these types of games, where the team that makes the fewest mistakes has the better chance to win,” Conestoga Valley coach Jon Scepanski said. “We made some mistakes in the first half and they capitalized on it. I’m not taking anything away from our kids. They have a lot of heart, and I’m very proud of them.
“A lot of teams would look at that halftime score (34-14) and say forget it. Our guys never do that. And we were able to battle back.”
The game more than lived up to the hype and that’s saying something, considering the game these two played just three weeks ago, also at Witmer. In that one the Bucks scored two touchdowns and recovered an onside kick in the final 2:49 for an unreal 21-17 comeback victory.
For the second year in a row, Conestoga Valley survived Exeter in their Section 2 clash but the Eagles got payback by winning the rematch in a district playoff game to send the Bucks packing. And both years, Conestoga Valley was undefeated.
Exeter will get another rematch next week when the Eagles play at Bishop McDevitt in a semifinal. The Crusaders beat Exeter in last year’s title game.
“We wanted the same thing to happen as last year,” said Martinez, who had 41- and 77-yard TD bombs to Ware. “We know we didn’t play our best game here in Week 9. We practiced really well this week, and we came here knowing we had to dominate on the field.”
Exeter (10-2) vaulted to that 20-point lead at the break, then withstood Conestoga Valley’s frantic comeback.
The Bucks (10-1) scored three fourth-quarter touchdowns and nearly made it two incredible finishes in a row. Exeter’s Josh Jackson recovered Conestoga Valley’s last-gasp onside kick with 1:14 to go and the Eagles survived.
Brown, who last week became the 12th back in the Lancaster-Lebanon League history to rush for 2,000 yards in a season, was up to his old tricks. He zoomed for 220 yards and three TDs. He had a 20-yard scoring sprint late in the first quarter, a 30-yard TD run early in the second quarter and a 4-yard jaunt for a 34-7 lead.
Brown’s 30-yard run and Ware’s 77-yard grab came after turnovers. The run followed Aidan Dauble’s interception; the catch was set up by Joel Ummarino’s fumble recovery.
Those were first-half backbreakers.
“Huge,” Exeter coach Matt Bauer said. “The last time we were here we didn’t get any turnovers, and that’s something we take a lot of pride in. So we practiced a lot of situational football this week. And I thought we played a lot cleaner than we did three weeks ago.
“The feeling we had here three weeks ago just kind of sat with us. And it never left. The kids were waiting and waiting for this opportunity, and they came out and did what they needed to do.”
After Ware’s 77-yard grab, Conestoga Valley’s Josiah Garcia returned the ensuing kickoff 99 yards for a TD to cut it to 34-14.
The Buckskins kept slugging to make Exeter sweat.
In the fourth quarter Garcia had a 4-yard TD run and Sawyer Esbenshade had TD passes to Konnor Fisher of 20 and 9 yards, the latter coming with 1:14 to go.
In the end the two turnovers, and being held twice on downs, including once in the red zone, was too much for Conestoga Valley to overcome.
“We were in a rhythm,” Martinez said. “And getting those turnovers was a great momentum swing — the biggest we could ask for.”
