The secret to Twin Valley’s rapid rise is no secret at all
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Even before he coached at Twin Valley Brett Myers was on the prowl for football players who could help the program.
Several years ago he was at a junior high basketball game watching his son Evan, then a seventh-grader. He noticed the way a couple of his bigger teammates, Paul McClune and Ben Savidge, moved around the court.
“Oh my God,” he thought to himself, “they’re gonna be great Wing-T guards.”
It may appear that Twin Valley’s ascent to the top of the District 3 football world has happened overnight but it’s been years in the making.
It began with what’s now a large senior class – it includes McClune, Savidge, Ean Winchester and 16 others – who believed in themselves after their eighth-grade team went unbeaten. They’ve hung together despite little light at the end of the tunnel; they grew up never having seen the Raiders finish with a winning record.
The program got a jump-start just before last season when Myers, fresh off three straight District 3 championships with Middletown, came in as head coach.
“He said, ‘Get ready to work, we’re going after it,’ ” recalls Winchester of Myers’ first meeting with the team that summer.
Most of the players knew Myers before that; they’d see him at their youth games, watching Evan or his younger brother Lucas. Justin Pinciotti and Drew Engle were ball boys for him at Middletown, along with Evan.
They knew of his track record at Middletown. They bought in immediately.
“I felt good leaving that meeting,” said McClune, a 6-4, 295-pound guard garnering a lot of college attention. “We all really believe in him. Everyone just looks up to him; he’s such a role model and good leader. He’s been there.”
The Raiders have a reason to feel good about themselves right now. They’re 9-1 after completing the best regular season in program history. They claimed a share of the Lancaster-Lebanon League Section 3 title, just the second football championship in the program’s 28 seasons.
They entered the District 3 Class 4A Tournament as the No. 2 seed and earned a first-round bye. They’re at the top of the bracket along with elite programs such as Bishop McDevitt and Manheim Central.
“They’re the blue bloods of District 3,” Myers said. “It’s kind of nice to see Twin Valley hanging out with them.”
The Raiders open district play Friday at Twin Valley Stadium against Elco, the No. 7 seed.
They got here the old-fashioned way: Through hard work. Myers’ secret formula for success is no secret at all: If you block better and tackle better than the other team, he likes to say, you’re usually going to win.
That’s an undeniable and completely obvious fact yet Myers has a knack for getting his players to understand it and to put themselves in position to execute on Friday nights.
There are no magic tricks involved.
“Honestly, it’s the countless hours in the winter, in the spring, the 7-on-7’s,” said McClune, “we’re constantly together, so that really prepared us for having a good season.”
The Raiders have had more than just a good season. They lead the entire 37-team league in total offense and in rushing yards. They’ve produced a pair of 1,000-yard running backs, Drew Engle and Evan Johnson, for the first time. They’ve smashed the program record for points scored.
They’ve provided some thrills along the way, too.
They got a 71-yard touchdown pass from Evan Myers to Johnson with 26 seconds left to beat Solanco 29-28 in Week 6. Seven days later they took the lead on Engle’s 33-yard TD run with 1:22 left and held on for a 35-34 win over previously unbeaten Garden Spot.
Their only loss came in Week 8 when, with Engle and Johnson dinged up and unable to go but more than a few snaps, they lost 52-33 at Ephrata.
Other than that there’s been a lot to celebrate but the Raiders usually kept that to a minimum. Brett Myers makes sure his guys stay focused and don’t look too far ahead.
“We’re all just taking it day by day, working as hard as we can, trying to get this program to where we knew it could be,” said Winchester, a 6-2, 260-pound H-back and defensive lineman who will wrestle at George Mason. “We’re just working hard and trying to do the best we can, day by day, step by step.”
“We’ve had fun,” McClune said. “We’ve enjoyed every win (as much as) we can but after Saturday morning film (session) we forget about it and look forward to the next one.”