Despite loss, Raiders will soon realize what a special season this was
2025 Berks football coverage presented by
Utilities Employees Credit Union
By Mike Gross — MikeDragoSports.com senior correspondent
MECHANICSBURG — It wasn’t so long ago that Twin Valley was a small, rural high school that didn’t even have a football team.
Even once the program started, in 1996, it took a while to get traction. There have been two 26-game losing streaks, and back-to-back 0-10 seasons as recently as 2012 and 2013.
In the context of all that, the Raiders’ 43-21 loss to Southern Lehigh in the Class 4A state championship game Thursday at Chapman Field was a milestone, even if not quite the milestone they were hoping for.
The early history, of course, was before the current players were born. They get it, though, at least according to their coach.
“I think they do understand, because of what the community has done,’’ said Brett Myers, who lived in the Twin Valley district long before he started coaching there.
“When you get an elementary school sending them a video saying good luck, when you’ve got half the community out on (Rt.) 23 waiting for the players, I think they realize,’’ he said. “I think they realized it today.’’
It was Southern Lehigh’s first state title, and the game came down to a familiar championship football formula: run the ball, stop the run.
Twin Valley ran it well — 235 yards in 35 tries, including 175 by Lancaster-Lebanon League Section 4 Offensive Back of the Year Drew Engle.
Southern Lehigh, specifically senior running back Sean Steckert, ran it brilliantly; he went for 301 yards in 37 relentless carries, and four touchdowns.
It was the second-highest rushing yardage number in state championship history, the highest in a 4A final. And as usual, the run created opportunities for the pass.
Colton Sams, Southern Lehigh’s junior quarterback, completed 13-of-18 throws for 145 yards and two TDs.
Steckert had a 71-yard run and a 27-yard TD gallop on fourth-and-1 with 25 seconds left in the first half. Among several key plays that turned this one the Spartans’ way, that might have been the biggest.
“This kid, his balance was really good,’’ Myers said of Steckert. “I don’t know if he’s the best (we’ve seen), but he was probably the best inside the tackles, bouncing off tackles.’’
Myers shepherded his players hurriedly off the field after the game, so that only he could speak for them. A request for player interviews was turned down.
“They’re in there bawling,’’ he said. “There’s no way I’m putting a 17 year-old kid who just lost his first game and is heartbroken in front of people.’’
Then Myers blamed himself.
“I wasn’t calling the best plays,’’ he said. “The running back (Steckert) is good. They got a big line, and their line played really well today, and their coaches did a better job than I did.’’
Myers got to three straight state finals coaching at Middletown High from 2016-18.
This is only his fourth season at Twin Valley. Over the last three the Raiders went 33-6, so even though this is a senior-oriented team this doesn’t feel like the end of something.
“Twin Valley is a special place,’’ Myers said. “I’ve got special families, and a special school. If I was a young person looking for a place to raise my kids, I’d move to Twin Valley.’’
It is the end of something, of course, for Twin Valley’s seniors, for whom the tears were probably less about losing a game than the truth that there’s not another game to get ready for.
The thing Myers tries to instill more than anything, is to be in the moment, to take care of today, to pour everything into what’s in front of you right now.
That travels beyond football.
“There’s wrestling and winter track, and I guarantee you they’ll be guys going to those practices,’’ he said. “For me, I’ll watch the film and see if I can get better as a coach.
“That’s what’s right now.’’
