Game of the Week: Exeter vs. Conestoga Valley, presented by Kevin Miller of Berkshire Investment Group
District 3 Class 5A quarterfinal
No. 7 Exeter (9-2) vs. No. 2 Conestoga Valley (10-0)
Kick: Friday, 7, at Witmer.
Series: Conestoga Valley leads 3-2.
Last meeting: Buckskins stunned the Eagles with a pair of touchdowns in the final three minutes to pull out a 21-17 victory in Week 9 at Witmer that extended their regular season winning streak to 21 games and essentially clinched the Lancaster-Lebanon League Section 2 title. The Eagles recorded six sacks, held the Bucks to negative rushing yards and saw Leo Brown rush for a career-high 305 yards. Conestoga Valley got a touchdown pass from Sawyer Esbenshade to Jayden Conway with 2:49 left to pull within three points, then saw Conway recover the ensuing onsides kick. Esbenshade found Conway for a 16-yard scoring pass with 51 seconds left.
District playoff history: Exeter, making its 16th appearance, is 14-14 overall with a championship in 2021 and championship-game appearances in 2022 and 2024. It has won 10 of its last 13 playoff games. . . Conestoga Valley is making its 14th appearance and looking for its first championship since 1991. The Bucks are 10-12 overall.
Eagles update: Got a pair of defensive scores from Braylon Reinert and a record-breaking rushing performance from Leo Brown in beating Lower Dauphin 35-0 in a playoff opener last week. . . Brown ran for 269 yards, broke the program single-season rushing record and finished the game with a league-leading 2,175 yards, second-most ever in a single season in Berks history. . . Brown ran for scores of 44 and 52 yards. . . The game marked the return of QB Riley Martinez, who missed the final eight games of the regular season with a shoulder injury. . . He completed 8-of-13 passes, including a 19-yard TD to Jayden Ware. . . Finished the season ranked No. 1 in the league in defense against the rush, allowing 67 yards per game. . . Ranked No. 3 in total defense and scoring defense. . . Allowing 9.8 points per game, fourth-fewest among District 3 teams. . . LB Aidan Dauble leads team with 78 tackles. . . LB Donovyn Alvarez is second with 67 tackles. . . DT Joel Ummarino has team-leading 13 tackles for loss and 6 ½ sacks. . . LB Jackson Kozik has 51 tackles, 10 ½ tackles for loss and 5 sacks.
Did you know? Conestoga Valley has recorded back-to-back perfect regular seasons in winning two straight Lancaster-Lebanon League Section 2 titles.
(Mark Palczewski/LNP photo)
Buckskins update: Earned first-round bye. . . QB Sawyer Esbenshade has passed for over 2,000 yards in consecutive seasons and leads league with 2,146 yards and 30 TDs. . . Has been intercepted just 3 times. . . Completed 21-of-24 passes for 219 yards and 3 TDs vs. Exeter in Week 9 despite being sacked 6 times. . . Has completed 20 or more passes to four different receivers. . . Camryn Bair has 28 catches, with 8 TDs. . . Josiah Garcia has 28 catches with 5 TDs. . . Teagan Ruble leads team with 710 rushing yards, with 8 TDs. . . Esbenshade has rushed for 250 yards. . . Ranked No. 8 in the league in total offense at 365 yards per game. . . No. 6 in scoring at 38.4 points. . . Defense has recorded shutouts over Penn Manor and Dover and held 6 opponents to 7 points or less. . . Held Exeter to season-low 17 points. . . Ranked No. 4 in the league in total defense, allowing 205 yards per game. . . Ranked No. 2 in scoring, allowing 10.4 points. . . Have intercepted 17 passes. . . Ranked No. 8 in the state in Class 5A by PennLive.com.
Fast fact: Exeter’s Leo Brown has strung together a program-record 10 straight 100-yard rushing performances. Jayden Zandier set the program record last season with nine 100-yard games in a season. Brown had just 4 carries in a Week 1 win over Daniel Boone and finished with 91 yards. He has topped 200 yards 5 times, including 4 of the last 5 games.
Series flashback: Four weeks after a stunning and controversial 28-27 Week 9 loss to Conestoga Valley, Exeter unleashed a tidal wave that swallowed up the Buckskins in a 48-14 district semifinal at Witmer last year. All-State tailback Jayden Zandier ran for 268 yards and four touchdowns and the Eagles sacked all-league quarterback Sawyer Esbenshade four times. He completed just 8-of-20 passes and threw for 141 yards, roughly half his total from the regular season victory at Don Thomas Stadium.
Quotable: “Any time we lose a game, I always say: ‘What (else) could we have done?’ The decisions we made, and the way we played the game, (looking back) I’m not sure how much I would’ve done differently. We tried to do everything right, and we did for 3 ½ quarters, but . . . things just kind of fell their way. We left too much for chance.” – Exeter coach Matt Bauer, on 21-17 loss to Conestoga Valley
Winner plays: No. 3 Bishop McDevitt (8-2) or No. 6 Mechanicsburg (10-1) in a district semifinal Nov. 14 at the site of the higher-seeded team.
