Conestoga Valley shuts down McCaskey, reaches 2-0
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
LANCASTER — A Picasso it was not.
Hey, not all football games are going to be works of priceless art. But if you come out of it with a victory, that’s all that really matters.
Ask Conestoga Valley.
| Final | |
| Conestoga Valley | 35 |
| McCaskey | 6 |
The Buckskins never really punched their high-octane offense into fifth gear on Saturday. McCaskey had a lot to do with that, forcing Conestoga Valley to play at its pace, especially in the first half.
But the determined Bucks were finally able to finish a couple of drives, and Conestoga Valley painted a pretty nice picture, downing McCaskey 35-6 in a non-league clash.
The game was played at a neutral site, Lancaster Catholic’s Crusader Stadium, the Red Tornado’s home away from home this season because of construction in and around the Barney Ewell Sports Complex.
“We have to look at what’s in front of us,” said Conestoga Valley’s Teagan Ruble, who had two touchdown runs. “Right after this game, the first thing Coach brought up in the huddle was Dover. We’re already talking about Dover (next Friday). You go from one game to another, and every game is important.”
After two games, Conestoga Valley is 2-0 and the Bucks have outscored their opponents 63-6.
“We’ve set ourselves up for where we wanted to be, but we have a really tough road ahead of us,” said Conestoga Valley coach Jon Scepanski, who guided the Bucks to an 11-0 start and to the Lancaster-Lebanon League Section Two championship last fall.
“It’s only going to get tougher the longer we go,” he said. “No doubt about it.”
After blanking Penn Manor 28-0 in their opener, the Bucks took a different kind of a route to a win against McCaskey, which was playing its second game under new coach Todd Mealy and his staff.
The first half was a real grind. Both teams used all three of their timeouts. There were multiple penalties and a turnover; McCaskey’s Quinnes Jones-Hawkins intercepted a pass with 8:19 to go in the first half to thwart a Conestoga Valley drive.
“We forced them to make adjustments,” Mealy noted.
The Bucks hung tough and got a pair of first-half touchdowns to grab the lead. Ruble’s 4-yard TD run with 1.8 seconds to go in the first quarter made it 6-0. Ruble had a 15-yard run and JoJo Garcia had a 17-yard gainer to set up that TD.
Later, Conestoga Valley QB Sawyer Esbenshade flipped a 17-yard TD toss to Garcia with 5:47 to go in the second quarter and CV had a 13-0 lead at the half.
But the first half was a real slog. That’s just how McCaskey planned it: Hog the ball, try and establish a rushing attack out of their single-wing look, and just kind of make life miserable for the Bucks by using two different quarterbacks, and hanging in there on defense for as long as possible.
“I thought we played an exceptional first half,” Mealy said. “I thought in the first half we were really sharp on the defensive side. The things that hurt us offensively were the penalties. We spent pretty much the entire first half inside of our own red zone.
“Our kids see that they have the ability to execute. But it comes down to doing it more than just in one half.”
It wasn’t all gloom and doom for Conestoga Valley. The Bucks stretched their lead to 28-0 with a pair of third-quarter scores. Ruble’s 8-yard scamper and Esbenshade’s 2-point pass to Cordell Bair gave the Bucks a 21-0 lead.
Ruble rushed for a game-high 79 yards for Conestoga Valley. The Bucks held McCaskey to 38 rushing yards on 33 carries, and to 63 total yards and three first downs. Eight penalties for 73 yards also backed up the Tornado.
Esbenshade lobbed a 24-yard TD toss to Bair and CV was in good shape midway through the third quarter. Sam Matoni set up that score for the Bucks when he swooped in and blocked a McCaskey punt with 6:16 to go in the third.
“We responded quickly in the third quarter,” Scepanski said. “Second half we came out a lot more focused and efficient. In the beginning we missed some opportunities on some key plays, and we were able to address that at the half.”
The Bucks triggered the mercy rule early in the fourth quarter on Esbenshade’s 1-yard TD keeper, making it 35-0.
That’s when McCaskey (0-2) finally caught a break. Conestoga Valley fumbled the ball away on a lateral pass with 6:15 to go, and the Tornado’s Samir Williams scooped it up and zoomed all the way to the Bucks’ 15.
McCaskey punched in a TD with 1:04 to go when Liam Stinchfield — a senior who went from never playing organized football in his life to starting QB this season — hit Jones-Hawkins for a 6-yard TD pass.
In between, there were 13 penalties for 111 yards, 10 punts, a missed field goal, multiple timeout stoppages and a couple of cramps for good measure.
Hence the no-Picasso tag.
“We had four kids returning,” Mealy said. “We’re new to varsity football. The physicality. The speed. But we’re very proud of the way these guys are competing. They never gave up, and they keep competing until the very end.”
Conestoga Valley will welcome Dover (1-1) and McCaskey will play at Elizabethtown (1-1) on Friday.