Twin Valley wiped out by Southern Lehigh’s perfect storm
2025 Berks football coverage presented by
Utilities Employees Credit Union
By Rod Frisco — MikeDragoSports.com senior correspondent
MECHANICSBURG — It was the perfect storm.
And it swamped Twin Valley’s chance at a perfect season.
The perfect season for the Raiders was in sight: A 14-0 record following its first District 3 football championship last month and a huge PIAA semifinal victory left Twin Valley facing once-beaten Southern Lehigh for the PIAA Class 4A state title Friday night at Cumberland Valley High School.
But the storm? It was building. And when it hit with 17 seconds remaining in the first half, Twin Valley was eventually doomed, falling 43-21 to the Spartans.
Like any huge storm, this one has a name: Sean Steckert.
Steckert, Southern Lehigh’s senior star running back, executed one of the finest rushing efforts in PIAA championship game history, carrying 37 times for a PIAA Class 4A title game record 301 yards and four touchdowns to destroy the Raiders’ collective dream.
Steckert’s 27-yard scoring run with those 17 ticks remaining in the second quarter flipped a 14-10 Twin Valley lead into a 17-14 deficit, a lead Southern Lehigh never relinquished en route to its first PIAA football championship.
Steckert’s touchdown, his second of four in the game, energized the Spartans, who left CV’s Rimpfel Athletic Center fieldhouse whooping and cheering as they returned for the second half.
By contrast, Twin Valley, which had built its lead on Lucas Myers’ 20-yard first quarter TD and a beautiful 64-yard dart from Maverik Foster to Dominic Summers in the second quarter, left the same building determined but silent and never regained its equilibrium.
“We’ve been down at halftime,” said Twin Valley head coach Brett Myers. “We just didn’t capitalize on what was available to us.”
But Southern Lehigh did capitalize. The Spartans received the second half kick, threw a curveball at the Raiders by eschewing Steckert’s superb runs and throwing the ball with great effectiveness. The net result was a 40-yard strike from quarterback Colton Sams to Otto Young just two minutes and 11 seconds into the third quarter for a 24-14 lead.
And it got worse.
Just one play into Twin Valley’s first possession of the second half, Foster’s flip in the left flat tipped off Drew Engle’s outstretched hand and ended up in the belly of Southern Lehigh’s Adam Fritts at the Twin Valley 31.
It was Foster’s first interception of the year and a freak one at that.
Re-enter Steckert, who picked up a huge first down on third-and-6 at the Twin Valley 27 by breaking off a 16-yard run, then followed up with touchdown No. 3 one play later from the 6 to make it 30-14 with 6:10 left.
Ergo, the perfect storm for Southern Lehigh: Emotionally crushing score late in half, two scores in the first six minutes with Twin Valley having just two offensive plays.
“We knew we needed to score getting the ball right back (after halftime),” Steckert said. “That’s a tough team over there, but I gotta say that no team in the state can stop our offense with the way our offensive line plays.”
Hard to argue. No one has slowed down Steckert this year. He had 3,212 rushing yards and 45 rushing touchdowns this season – not career – to back his claim.
Even so, Twin Valley showed its mettle.
Aided by a pass interference call on third down on its next possession, the Raiders got back in the game on a 4-yard scoring run by Engle, closing the deficit by nine at 30-21 at 2:44 left in the third.
But the Spartans won the final quarter with two more scores, a 30-yard pass from Sams to Young and a 6-yard by Steckert set up by his 70-yard run.
“We struggled stopping them,” Myers said.
It’s tough to halt a storm.
