Lopsided playoff loss won’t diminish Twin Valley’s gains this season
By Sean McBryan — MikeDragoSports.com correspondent
HARRISBURG — The scoreboard showed a 44-point defeat. The season showed a Twin Valley football program headed in the right direction.
Bishop McDevitt dispatched the Raiders 47-3 Friday night at Rocco Ortenzio Stadium in a District 3 Class 4A semifinal.
The perennial powerhouse and top-seeded Crusaders (10-1) will face No. 2 Manheim Central in the district championship next week.
The fourth-seeded Raiders (7-5) can still take multiple positives away from the season. They won their first playoff game and tied for the most wins in program history.
It’s another step in the right direction after the Raiders made the district playoffs for the first time last season behind senior workhorse running back Dom Caruso and all-time leading receiver Trey Freeman.
“Before we talk about building, you’ve got to think about these seniors who after two games were 1-1 and lost to a Lower Dauphin team who people weren’t really sure how good they were,” Twin Valley first-year head coach Brett Myers said.
Those seniors include second-leading rusher and punter Jaydon Goebel, leading receiver Josh Zolty, center Masen Ketner, defensive back Brad Taggart, linebacker Kellen Styer, cornerback Willy Coull wide receiver Ben Spiri.
They’ve seen the growth of a team that went from 3-7 to 3-3 to 6-5 to 7-5.
“For them to do what they did and tie the most wins in school history, get a home playoff game for the first time in school history, get a playoff win, then be in a district semifinal against the No. 2 team in the state,” said Myers, “I can’t say enough about the seniors and what they’ve done to make that happen.”
The Raiders ended up in the middle of the pack in a competitive Lancaster-Lebanon League Section 3 but had only one loss of more than eight points (35-15 Section 3 rival Ephrata) prior to Friday.
Twin Valley played the top two teams in the section tough, losing to section champ Solanco 32-25 and second-place Elizabethtown 47-42. It beat third-place Garden Spot 37-29.
Clearly the Raiders had little trouble scoring throughout the season; the issue was defense as they allowed the second-most yards per game in the league.
If that gets cleaned up Twin Valley could be playing into mid-November again next season, especially with 1,000-yard sophomore passer Evan Myers and 1,000-yard rusher Evan Johnson returning.
Juniors Ean Winchester and Jordan Rose and freshman Drew Engle are just a few of the other key contributors who will be back. The entire offensive line will return, except for Ketner.
And now they have the experience of playing against a team with a roster full of Division I recruits.
“You don’t know what it’s like to get out there and see that kind of speed,” Myers said. “This is definitely a program-builder. When you get to this far in playoffs, whether you’re playing Bishop McDevitt or Wyomissing or Manheim Central or Aliquippa, they’re programs, not teams.
“Our goal in the offseason is to build a program, which starts in the weight room, getting bigger and stronger and spending more time together.”
Myers has built a program from the ground up and knows what it’s like to be a perennial district and state contender.
He went 72-22 as head coach at Middletown after taking over a team that went 2-8. His Blue Raiders won three district titles and went to the state championship three straight years.
Bishop McDevitt unleashed its high-powered offense with sophomore quarterback Stone Saunders, who has offers from Georgia, Michigan, Penn State, Texas A&M, et al., throwing three scores to Tyshawn Russell in the first half. Russell has offers from Maine, Central Michigan, South Carolina, and Virginia Tech.
Minnesota commit Marquese Williams had 4-yard and 12-yard touchdown runs in the first half.
Twin Valley’s lone points came on a 25-yard field goal from Sam Frey in the second quarter.
Ty Kephart returned a fumble 17 yards for a touchdown 49 seconds into the second half and Williams scored his third touchdown on a 3-yarder with 4:44 left in the third quarter.
“When you play an all-star team like this, they all look the same,” Myers said. “Four or five wide receivers who can run really fast who are from all over central Pennsylvania. Running backs and linemen from all over the place.
“The part that people don’t understand is that when you have a group of kids like this who grew up together, eventually those guys catch up to kids like this because of team unity and the bond. And that’s our goal. (Bishop McDevitt) isn’t going anywhere. They’re going to be in the playoffs next year. We’ve got to figure out how to become a tight enough group that we can close the gap.”
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| Twin Valley | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Bishop McDevitt | 21 | 13 | 13 | 0 | 47 |
Scoring summary
| 1 | Bishop McDevitt | Williams, 4 run (Garcia kick) | 11:09 |
| 1 | Bishop McDevitt | Russell, 34 pass from Saunders (Garcia kick) | 7:01 |
| 1 | Bishop McDevitt | Russell, 51 pass from Saunders (Garcia kick) | 3:01 |
| 2 | Twin Valley | Frey, 25 FG | 6:45 |
| 2 | Bishop McDevitt | Russell, 34 pass from Saunders (Garcia kick) | 5:45 |
| 2 | Bishop McDevitt | Williams, 12 run (Garcia kick missed) | 4:02 |
| 3 | Bishop McDevitt | Kephart, 17 fumble return (Garcia kick) | 11:11 |
| 3 | Bishop McDevitt | Williams, 3 run (Garcia kick missed) | 4:44 |
Team statistics
| Twin Valley | Bishop McDevitt | |
| First downs | 6 | 15 |
| Rushes-yards | 36-31 | 24-168 |
| Passing yards | 25 | 279 |
| Total yards | 56 | 447 |
| Passes | 4-9-0 | 12-20-0 |
| Fumbles-lost | 2-1 | 1-0 |
| Punts-average | 6-31.1 | 1-44 |
| Penalties-yards | 2-15 | 7-40 |
Individual statistics
RUSHING
Twin Valley: Myers 15-33, Goebel 8-20, Johnson 13-(-22).
Bishop McDevitt: Williams 12-149, Crummel 4-10, Parson 6-8, Galloway 1-1, Barnes 1-0.
PASSING
Twin Valley: Myers 4-8-0–25, Goebel 0-1-0–0.
Bishop McDevitt: Saunders 11-19-0–256, Hopkins 1-1-0–23.
RECEIVING
Twin Valley: Winchester 2-19, Zolty 1-10, Rose 1-(-4).
Bishop McDevitt: Russell 5-157, Scott 4-88, Williams 2-11, Penn 1-23.