Well-grounded Evan Myers finds a new way to lead Raiders romp

By Mike Drago Last updated Sep 2, 2024

Twin Valley's Evan Myers looks for running room against Selinsgrove. (PhilMarPhoto)

2024 Berks football coverage

presented by UECU

By Mike Drago — MikeDragoSports.com Managing Editor

Carter Faubel did a little research on his new team before he arrived at Twin Valley earlier this year.

He saw the Raiders had a good quarterback but he didn’t realize Evan Myers was quite this good until he got on the field with him.

“I knew he could sling the rock,” said Faubel, a lineman who played at Delaware Valley last season, “but running the ball he’s really solid, too. That’s one thing that’s surprised me.”

Myers has set all kinds of passing records during his four seasons; Friday, in a 40-10 win over visiting Selinsgrove, he matched a program rushing record with four touchdowns.

The 5-10, 185-pound Myers scored on runs of 4, 40, 1 and 6, following his blocks and making open-field cuts to make defenders miss.

“He has a knack (running the ball),” said Brett Myers, his father and Twin Valley’s head coach. “He can find his way through some small areas. He’s got a natural feel for what he’s supposed to do with the ball.”

With Drew Engle, who set the program single-season rushing record last year, not in uniform Evan Myers knew he’d have to take a few more carries than usual.

The senior quarterback usually has a pair of 1,000-yard tailbacks to choose from, but with Engle out it was up to him and Evan Johnson to carry more of the load.

The Raiders didn’t miss a beat as each of them rushed for 99 yards and the team piled up 224 yards on the ground to go with 17 first downs.

“It says we’ve got a good offensive line,” Brett Myers said of the Raiders ability to move the chains without an all-league back such Engle. “Those guys (up front) work really hard. And (offensive line) Coach (Will) Carter and (line) Coach (Jerry) Wilczynski do a great job preparing them.”

Raiders’ Mark Minardi buries Seals’ Brett Rice. (PhilMarPhoto)

Johnson gave the Raiders (2-0) the lead for good with a sizzling 30-yard touchdown run that saw him display his open-field prowess, cutting past several defenders to make it 7-3 four plays into the second quarter.

Evan Myers added a short TD run late in the first half, then capped off each of Twin Valley’s first two second-half possessions with scoring runs – the first on a 40-yard run that showed off his speed.

Myers also threw the ball efficiently, completing 14-of-19 passes. In the process he set the program career record for completions; he now has 317.

“The coaches put us in great opportunities to succeed,” Evan Myers said modestly. “EJ’s great with the ball, but you can’t give EJ 100 carries a game, it’ll take it’s toll.”

So Myers kept it a dozen times on the read option and made the Seals (1-1) pay the price.

Twin Valley, with a big advantage in depth against on the outmanned Seals, reached the end zone on six straight possessions over the second, third and fourth quarters.

“That’s a great football team,” said Selinsgrove coach Matt Wenrich of the Raiders. “We were getting gashed defensively. Couldn’t really move the ball much on offense.”

The Raiders took a while to get going. They had trouble slowing the Seals on the opening drive that lasted 13 plays. Sophomore quarterback Rocco Amato found Wyatt Teats on a crossing pattern that covered 57 yards, to the 8.

The Seals got as close as the 4 but a penalty, then tackles for loss by Mark Minardi and Elijah Zimmerman on consecutive plays, forced a 30-yard field goal, which Noah Walter converted.

The Raiders had three penalties on the first six plays of their opening drive and were forced to punt.

Momentum swung in Twin Valley’s favor for good when Walter, the Seals punter, decided to run on fourth-and-13 from his own 41. He came up well short, giving the Raiders possession at the Selinsgrove 46. Four plays later Twin Valley led for good, following Johnson’s long scoring run.

By early in the second quarter Twin Valley’s depth began to take its toll; it was a mismatch the rest of the way.

“We’ve got a lot of guys going two ways, and they wore us out,” said Wenrich, who dressed only about 35 players. “We were laying on the ground, cramping up a lot.”

After that big first quarter the Seals managed just 50 total yards. Overall, they managed just 45 rushing yards on 28 carries. They were held to a minus-9 yards in the second quarter.

Faubel made several big hits up front and had a sack. Zimmerman had a team-high six tackles; linebacker Ryan Rementer had cornerback Brendan Yagle each had five.

“They really get to the ball well and they’re pretty fundamental kids,” Brett Myers said of his defensive unit, “and they like to play together. They played hard, and that’s what’s important. We base everything on effort, and our kids gave effort tonight.”

Evan Myers thought some of his teammates may have been a little too excited at the outset because it was the Raiders’ home opener and they were playing in front of a big crowd.

“They got the jitters out,” he said, “and we started moving as a team and relied on our fundamentals a little more.”

Faubel knows his team needs to get going a little sooner.

“We can’t have slow starts against good teams,” he said. “That team was pretty good but they weren’t on our level.”

Wenrich wasn’t about to disagree; he knew his guys would have their hands full with Twin Valley, which is ranked No. 4 in the state in Class 4A.

“That’s a good team,” Wenrich said, “they’re gonna win a lot of games this year.”

Evan Myers cuts inside on way to 40-yard touchdown run. (PhilMarPhoto)

	1	2	3	4	Final
Selinsgrove	3	7	0	0	10
Twin Valley	0	20	13	7	40

Scoring summary

1	Selinsgrove	Walter, 30 FG	5:45
2	Twin Valley	Johnson, 30 run (Shaffer kick)	10:55
2	Twin Valley	L. Myers, 1 run (kick failed)	5:22
2	Selinsgrove	Rice, 90 kickoff return (Walter kick)	5:08
2	Twin Valley	E. Myers, 4 run (Shaffer kick)	2:16
3	Twin Valley	E. Myers, 40 run (Shaffer kick)	8:38
3	Twin Valley	E. Myers, 1 run (Shaffer kick)	4:03
4	Twin Valley	E. Myers, 6 run (kick failed)	11:37

Team statistics

	SELINSGROVE	TWIN VALLEY
First downs	7	17
Rushes-yards	28-45	36-224
Passing yards	118	124
Total yards	163	348
Passes	8-15-1	14-19-0
Fumbles-lost	0-0	0-0
Punts-average	3-39.0	2-41.5
Penalties-yards	8-45	10-98