Evan Myers leads Twin Valley to first victory over Berks Catholic
2024 Berks football coverage
presented by UECU
By Logan Moyer — MikeDragoSports.com correspondent
There doesn’t seem to be anything that Evan Myers can’t do behind center.
The senior quarterback and four-year starter tallied 349 all-purpose yards and three touchdowns Friday as Twin Valley trounced Berks Catholic 42-16 at Forino Sports Complex to open the season.
Whether he was tossing it down field or tucking it and running, Myers was a big-play machine. He found Ben Grundy and Matthew Knight open for 47- and 44-yard touchdown connections, respectively. Despite running the ball only four times, he tallied 111 yards on the ground.
“Probably, the last two years, I’ve held him back a little bit,” said Twin Valley coach Brett Myers. “He’s a playmaker. He’s a point guard, he plays middie in lacrosse. When he played baseball, he was a middle infielder and pitcher. He’s a competitor, and he competes. Tonight’s kind of what you expect.”
The Raiders decimated the Saints on the ground, tallying 288 yards on 27 carries – over 10 yards a clip. Myers was the leading rusher, but the two-headed monster of Evan Johnson and Drew Engle also made an impact, rushing for 91 and 82 yards, respectively.
“What (the Saints) do defensively, it sets up for a running quarterback,” Brett Myers said. “So we took advantage of it.”
“The offensive line gave both the backs and myself time to get the receivers open,” added Evan Myers. “The receivers were where they should be, and they made great plays.”
Ryan Rementer made a big impact on the defensive side of the ball, recovering two fumbles – including one for a 9-yard scoop-and-score touchdown.
The Raiders jumped out to a 21-0 lead on a 45-yard scramble by Myers and Knight’s touchdown grab during the first quarter before Rementer took advantage of a poor snap on a punt attempt to score a defensive touchdown during the opening minutes of the second quarter.
Meanwhile, the Saints, led by first-year head coach and longtime assistant Dave Stahler, couldn’t get much of anything going offensively during the first half. They were held to just three first downs, and finally cracked the scoreboard midway through the second quarter on a 29-yard field goal by Tyler Osorio.
A large part of Berks Catholic’s struggle to move the ball came from the domination by Twin Valley’s defensive line, a unit that has four new starters. The Saints were limited to a single rushing yard during the first half.
“Out of our front seven, six of them are new,” Brett Myers said. “You know, you have to be happy with (their performance). The effort they gave was good.”
It wasn’t until the second half that things started to open up for the Saints and new starting quarterback Zach Suski. The senior signal-caller, who started one game last year, completed 12-17 passes for 141 yards.
“I thought Zach did a good job,” Stahler said. “I thought he stood in the pocket well, he moved up in the pocket, I thought he threw the ball okay and commanded the offense well.”
The Saints’ lone offensive touchdown came in the fourth quarter on a 3-yard toss from Suski to Nathaniel Rose, who also led the team in rushing with 52 yards. Their other score was also in the fourth quarter when Faith Zudie recovered a blocked punt in the endzone.
“I think there’s two stories there,” Brett Myers said. “One’s the first half, they came out prepared to play fast. They played at a tempo that all of us are proud of. Second half, we really didn’t show the maturity that we have.”
Anointed Section 4 favorites and even District 3 4A favorites by many, the Raiders are doing their best to drown out the noise and stick to football.
“I think a lot of (us) take it as white noise,” Evan Myers said. “We can’t let a lot of stuff affect us. I think within the program, we have hard-minded kids and kids who want to come and work.”
The Raiders have a tough test ahead of them next week when they welcome District 4 powerhouse Selinsgrove to town. The Seals won 13 games last season and reached the 4A state semifinals.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| Twin Valley | 14 | 14 | 14 | 0 | 42 |
| Berks Catholic | 0 | 3 | 0 | 13 | 16 |
Scoring summary
| 1 | Twin Valley | E. Myers, 45 run (Shaffer kick) | 6:34 |
| 1 | Twin Valley | Knight, 44 pass from E. Myers (Shaffer kick) | 0:33 |
| 2 | Twin Valley | Rementer, 9 fumble return (Shaffer kick) | 10:15 |
| 2 | Berks Catholic | Osorio, 29 FG | 6:23 |
| 2 | Twin Valley | L. Myers, 2 run (Shaffer kick) | 0:28 |
| 3 | Twin Valley | Engle, 43 run (Shaffer kick) | 8:54 |
| 3 | Twin Valley | Grundy, 47 pass from E. Myers (Shaffer kick) | 7:32 |
| 4 | Berks Catholic | Rose, 3 pass from Suski (Osorio kick) | 5:40 |
| 4 | Berks Catholic | Zudie, 0 fumble return (kick failed) | 2:30 |
Team statistics
| Twin Valley | Berks Catholic | |
| First downs | 18 | 8 |
| Rushes-yards | 27-288 | 27-42 |
| Passing yards | 238 | 141 |
| Total yards | 526 | 183 |
| Passes | 12-16-1 | 12-17-0 |
| Fumbles-lost | 2-1 | 1-1 |
| Punts-average | 1-0 | 5-45.2 |
| Penalties-yards | 8-100 | 4-30 |
Individual statistics
RUSHING
Twin Valley: E. Myers 4-111, Johnson 10-91, Engle 7-82, Reilly 3-4, L. Myers 1-2, Team 2-(-2).
Berks Catholic: Rose 12-52, Gerald 1-6, Gumby 5-2, Schalk 4-1, Suski 1-0, Curley 3-(-2), Team 1-(-17).
PASSING
Twin Valley: E. Myers 12-16-1–238.
Berks Catholic: Suski 12-17-0–141.
RECEIVING
Twin Valley: Grundy 4-73, Knight 2-93, L. Myers 2-22, Engle 2-17, Batezell 1-21, Johnson 1-12.
Berks Catholic: Welker 2-48, Duffy 2-34, Rose 2-19, Curley 2-3, Kozik 1-24, Sutton 1-7, Partsch 1-5, Schalk 1-1.
INTERCEPTIONS
Berks Catholic: Schalk.
