Even the linemen score in Twin Valley’s romp of undermanned Donegal
2024 Berks football coverage presented by
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By Mike Drago — MikeDragoSports.com Managing Editor
It’s the dream of every lineman to get his hands on the football and score a touchdown.
For Twin Valley’s Greyson Miller it’s not such a big deal. Maybe because he’s done it a couple time now; maybe because he just loves doing his thing up front and has no desire to run for the end zone on a regular basis.
“It’s pretty cool,” the senior defensive end said after his 5-yard fumble return for a TD Thursday in the Raiders’ 49-0 Homecoming romp over undermanned Donegal. “(But) I (didn’t) make the play. My teammates, I think Ryan (Rementer) and Joey (Buckley), they made the play. They forced the fumble and I just happened to be in a lucky spot to pick it up.”
Rementer, an impressive junior linebacker, blitzed and separated quarterback Brady Reck from the football inside the 10 late in the first quarter. The 6-1, 255-pound Miller reached down with one paw, grabbed the ball, took a couple steps toward to goal line and had his second touchdown of the season.
He had a similar play against Olney Charter.
“He has a knack for handling the football,” said Twin Valley coach Brett Myers. “He picks up a ball with one hand and goes. He plays lacrosse; he’s a skilled kid. Our guards, our D-linemen, we consider them athletes.”
The Raiders (4-0, 7-0), who are ranked No. 1 in the state in Class 4A by PennLive.com, had way too many athletes for the Indians (0-4, 1-6) – literally.
Donegal came into the game banged up, missing at least 10 players, many of them two-way starters. It saw four more players get injured during the first half Thursday.
At that point Donegal coach Anthony Sottasante said enough is enough and opted to end the game. He and his team packed up at halftime and left.
“We’re decimated by injuries,” Sottasante explained. “We probably shouldn’t have even played the game, but since it was their Homecoming we played it.
“I didn’t feel as though it was safe for our kids to be playing in the second half because we had so many kids out of position; (we were) just trying to put bodies in there to fill positions.”
Twin Valley is so strong a lot of its opponents probably feel the same way. The Raiders, who matched the best start in program history with the win, did pretty much anything they wanted.
Their defensive linemen and linebackers got into the backfield at will, causing all kinds of havoc – including three turnovers. Donegal was held to minus-53 yards rushing and minus-27 overall.
“I thought our kids gave good effort,” Myers said. “We had too many penalties (five for 45 yards), but they were aggressive penalties. I thought the kids responded well.”
Myers was disappointed the game did not continue. He began inserting defensive backups on Donegal’s final possession of the first half and would have done that on offense when the third quarter began.
He never got that chance.
“In the second half, you want your second-, third-, fourth-string guys to be experienced,” he said. “We want them to develop and grow, and they don’t get a chance to do that today. That’s what’s bad: There’s kids in there that want to play today and they don’t get a chance.”
The guys that did get on the field did pretty well and look ready for their much-anticipated match-up against state ranked Wyomissing next week. Assuming the Spartans handle winless Daniel Boone Saturday at Wolfrum Field that game will knock someone out of first place in Section 4.
The Raiders are hoping to have all-league running back Drew Engle back for that game; he hasn’t played since the season-opener against Berks Catholic. Myers has not shared many details about Engle’s absence. He did say Thursday that the junior two-way starter is “doing better” and allowed that he may see the practice field before Wyomissing visits Twin Valley Stadium.
Despite playing without the program’s single-season rushing record-holder the Raiders haven’t been lacking for offense this season. They entered Thursday’s game ranked No. 1 in the league in total offense and scoring.
Senior quarterback Evan Myers, as usual, led the way Thursday, running for a pair of touchdowns and throwing two scoring passes. He ran eight times for 110 yards and scored on runs of 6 and 10 yards.
Senior Evan Johnson rushed for 81 yards, scored a touchdown, surpassed the 3,000-yard career mark – and was named Homecoming King.
“He’s pretty special, right?” Brett Myers said.
As for Miller, a second-team all-league offensive guard as a junior, he’s not about to petition for a spot in the backfield so he can score more touchdowns.
“I love what I do,” he said. “I love blocking and seeing EJ and Drew and Evan and the other backs score.”
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| Donegal | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Twin Valley | 14 | 35 | 49 |
Scoring summary
| 1 | Twin Valley | Johnson, 1 run (Shaffer kick) | 6:44 |
| 1 | Twin Valley | Miller, 5 fumble return (Shaffer kick) | 0:49 |
| 2 | Twin Valley | E. Myers, 6 run (Shaffer kick) | 11:55 |
| 2 | Twin Valley | Grundy, 7 pass from E. Myers (Shaffer kick) | 10:18 |
| 2 | Twin Valley | Reilly, 6 run (Shaffer kick) | 7:24 |
| 2 | Twin Valley | E. Myers, 10 run (Shaffer kick) | 6:30 |
| 2 | Twin Valley | Grundy, 21 pass from E. Myers (Horst kick) | 4:10 |
Team statistics
| Donegal | Twin Valley | |
| First downs | 1 | 11 |
| Rushes-yards | 16-(-53) | 18-197 |
| Passing yards | 26 | 83 |
| Total yards | (-27) | 280 |
| Passes | 5-14-1 | 8-16-1 |
| Fumbles-lost | 5-2 | 1-1 |
| Punts-average | 3-25.3 | 0 |
| Penalties-yards | 4-35 | 5-45 |
Individual statistics
RUSHING
Donegal: Tompkins 1-2, Weymers 4-0, Donough 1-(-4), Lopez 4-(-8), Baughman 4-(-20), Reck 2-(-23).
Twin Valley: E. Myers 8-110, Johnson 9-81, Reilly 1-6.
PASSING
Donegal: Reck 5-12-0–26, Baughman 0-2-1–0.
Twin Valley: E. Myers 8-16-1–83.
RECEIVING
Donegal: Mendel 4-21, Marshall 1-5.
Twin Valley: Grundy 7-78, Johnson 1-5.
INTERCEPTIONS
Donegal: Mendez.
Twin Valley: Akinrefron.
These photos and others from the game can be purchased from PhilMarPhoto.
