Evan Johnson, Twin Valley sprint past Milton Hershey, earn first district win
Evan Johnson has never run track but he’s thinking about it come spring.
The Twin Valley sophomore put together an audition tape Friday night, sprinting downfield several times in a wild 43-29 District 3 Class 4A quarterfinal against visiting Milton Hershey.
“He’s got wheels,” said Raiders coach Brett Myers after watching Johnson break off touchdown runs of 60, 68 and 42 yards on the way to a career-high 205 yards. “Especially (impressive) against a team that has this kind of speed.”
The fifth-seeded Trojans (6-5) had all kinds of big, fast weapons; they could put together a pretty imposing 4×100 relay team.
They just couldn’t keep up with a relentless Twin Valley (7-4) attack that piled up a whopping 559 total yards, 24 first downs and reached the end zone on six of its nine possessions.
Tackle-busting back Jaydon Goebel continued to do his thing, banging out 161 yards on 24 carries, including a 10-yard TD run.
Quarterback Evan Myers made good option reads and smart plays all night. He threw for 89 first-half yards and ran for 86 yards and a pair of first-half touchdowns — scrambling out of the pocket on one play for a 37-yard score.
The Raiders ground game was so overwhelming in the second half Myers attempted just two passes.
Johnson, a sprint star in waiting, stole the show. He went 60 yards for a score on his first touch of the night and gave the Raiders’ a two-score working margin with 42-yard burst up the middle that capped the scoring with 9:33 remaining.
Johnson’s not the type who’s going to carry half the line with him the way the 220-pound Goebel does but give him a crease and a step to get in full gear and he’s gone.
“If I get past the line, I just knew that nobody could catch me,” he said.
He has a graceful, quick stride and looked like the fastest guy on the field.
“The offensive line probably loves him,” Evan Myers said. “If they may a mistake he’ll probably make up for it with his speed.”
Center Masen Ketner will confirm that. He was impressed with Johnson last season when the freshman won a job as a starting cornerback and flashed his breakaway speed on a long touchdown run. He’s continued to be impressed by him this season after each of his 15 TDs.
“He goes to work every day,” Ketner said. “He’s a hard-working kid, doesn’t stop. He has an absolutely insane motor.”
As impressive as Johnson and the Raiders’ offense was their spot in next week’s district semifinal against top-seeded Bishop McDevitt rested on coming up with a couple of key defensive stops in the second half.
The first came when defensive stalwart Ian Winchester stoned Zion Brooks on a fourth-and-1 at the Twin Valley 27 late in the third quarter.
The next came when Milton Hershey quarterback Jason Burney, who passed for 241 yards and three TDs, had the ball knocked out of his hands on a first-and-goal from the 1, his team about to cut Twin Valley’s lead to seven. Junior Markell Norris fell on it to end the threat with 7:39 left in the game.
“That was absolutely huge,” Ketner said. “That fumble recovery really set us up.”
The Trojans gouged the Twin Valley defense for 415 yards — 175 of it from hard-running Elijah Johnson — and punted just once. The Raiders gamely hung in there and limited big plays.
“They’ve got some really good athletes and they all run the ball extremely hard,” said Evan Myers, who made a couple touchdown-saving tackles from his spot in the secondary. “We did a good job of getting to the ball as a team, making gang tackles, running through their legs and not letting go.”
Milton Hershey scored on its first two possessions of the second half to erase Twin Valley’s 29-15 halftime lead but the Raiders didn’t panic. They responded with two straight touchdowns of their own.
“That’s the way they’ve responded all year,” Brett Myers said. “They’re tough kids that are fightin’ and scrappin’ and doing everyhting they can to be successful. I honestly don’t think they were worried about the score, they just wanted to play the next play.”
A year ago Twin Valley made districts for the first time, as the No. 13 seed. This time they earned a home game by nailing down the No. 4 seed.
“This is the new expectation,” Ketner said of districts. “We expected to be here. A whole lot of hard work (went into this). We had the same group of 30, 40 guys in the weight room since January. We really worked out butts off. Everything’s starting to pay off.”
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| Milton Hershey | 8 | 7 | 14 | 0 | 29 |
| Twin Valley | 14 | 15 | 7 | 7 | 43 |
Scoring summary
| 1 | Twin Valley | Johnson, 60 run (Frey kick) | 10:30 |
| 1 | Milton Hershey | Koroma, 13 pass from Burney (Rascoe pass from Brooks) | 3:00 |
| 1 | Twin Valley | Myers, 2 run (Frey kick) | 0:21 |
| 2 | Milton Hershey | Roberts, 7 pass from Burney (Lomodong kick) | 10:30 |
| 2 | Twin Valley | Myers, 37 run (pass failed) | 9:00 |
| 2 | Twin Valley | Goebel, 10 run (Frey kick) | 1:06 |
| 2 | Twin Valley | Safety, ball snapped out of end zone | 0:12 |
| 3 | Milton Hershey | Johnson, 19 run (Lomodong kick) | 9:49 |
| 3 | Milton Hershey | Thomas, 15 pass from Burney (Lomodong kick) | 5:48 |
| 3 | Twin Valley | Johnson, 68 run (Frey kick) | 4:42 |
| 4 | Twin Valley | Johnson, 42 run (Frey kick) | 9:33 |
Team statistics
| Milton Hershey | Twin Valley | |
| First downs | 22 | 24 |
| Rushes-yards | 32-174 | 56-470 |
| Passing yards | 241 | 89 |
| Total yards | 415 | 559 |
| Passes | 16-30-1 | 6-11-0 |
| Fumbles-lost | 2-1 | 0-0 |
| Punts-average | 1-40.0 | 1-35.0 |
| Penalties-yards | 6-35 | 3-38 |
Individual statistics
RUSHING
Milton Hershey: Johnson 26-175, Brooks 3-7, Burney 2-2.
Twin Valley: Johnson 17-205, Goebel 24-161, Myers 11-86, Engle 3-12, Rose 1-6.
PASSING
Milton Hershey: Burney 16-30-1–241.
Twin Valley: Myers 6-11-0–89.
RECEIVING
Milton Hershey: Koroma 7-93, Thomes 5-54, Roberts 3-81, Kittrell 1-13.
Twin Valley: Zolty 2-16, Goebel 1-33, Winchester 1-20, Rose 1-12, Johnson 1-8.
INTERCEPTIONS
Twin Valley: Spiri.
