Senior Night a sweet one for Caruso, Freeman and the Raiders
By Pete Beck — MikeDragoSports.com correspondent
As the clock ran down its final minutes Friday night and the Twin Valley Marching Band belted out the last strains of “Sweet Caroline” senior teammates Trey Freeman and Dom Caruso danced arm-in-arm, celebrating their 42-14 Berks Football League Section 2 victory over visiting Schuylkill Valley.
It was Senior Night — a night and a feeling the pair have been working toward for four years.
“Playing football here ever since flag, and to go out with a big statement win on Senior Night, is what it’s all about,” said Caruso.
The prolific duo’s offensive abilities were on full display against the Panthers (1-3, 2-6). Caruso, playing the role of Mr. Inside, ran for 126 yards and two scores on 14 carries. Mr. Outside, Freeman, caught four balls for 145 yards and two scores, pushing his yards per catch to over 20.
“Dom was always trying to get me to play football, but my mom wouldn’t let me until 8th grade,” said Freeman. “And I wouldn’t want anything more for us than being together to change this program.”
The Raiders (3-2, 5-3) were all business, amassing 507 yards of total offense and scoring touchdowns on their first four possessions.
Twin Valley’s defense was able to hold Schuylkill Valley to only 121 yards through the first half, when the outcome was still in doubt.
Twin Valley also needed a win to keep its hopes of a District 3 Class 5A playoff berth alive, a fact that was not lost on Caruso.
“We need to keep this going into Week 11,” said Caruso.
Freeman kept his answer even more succinct: “We’re coming.”
Both Caruso and Freeman will certainly be remembered around Twin Valley for their many program records but they were equally eager to credit head coach Kris Olsen for providing the guidance that has turned their numbers into wins.
“Having Coach Olsen step up as our new coach means everything,” said Freeman. “When we wrapped it up after the game he told us ‘error free’ and that’s Twin Valley football. That’s what we need to do to be successful.”
“We put in the work all week and it paid off tonight, and it feels good,” said Caruso.
In order to keep that feeling going the Raiders will likely need to play up to their coach’s error-free expectations, first at Hamburg next week, then at Gettysburg to close out the regular season.
“We’re going to have two tough games,” Olsen said. “Hamburg has some great athletes and they’re playing well. And it will be a long trip to Gettysburg, so we have to manage that correctly.”
As the autumn days begin to get shorter and the nights begin to get colder, Twin Valley’s “Twin Terrors” will try to lead their program into uncharted territory. If Friday was any indication they are ready for the challenge and ready to keep the celebration going.
“We just have to keep rolling,” said Caruso.
Good times never seemed so good.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| Schuylkill Valley | 0 | 0 | 7 | 7 | 14 |
| Twin Valley | 21 | 14 | 7 | 0 | 42 |
Scoring summary
| 1 | Twin Valley | Caruso, 3 run (Puccino kick) | 9:10 |
| 1 | Twin Valley | Caruso, 5 run (Puccino kick) | 5:29 |
| 1 | Twin Valley | Freeman, 63 pass from Myers (Puccino kick) | 1:28 |
| 2 | Twin Valley | Johnson, 76 run (Puccino kick) | 10:07 |
| 2 | Twin Valley | Freeman, 57 pass from Myers (Piccino kick) | 4:32 |
| 3 | Twin Valley | Harris, 3 run (Puccino kick) | 7:11 |
| 3 | Schuylkill Valley | Campbel,l 5 run (Crills kick) | 1:53 |
| 4 | Schuylkill Valley | Crills, 9 pass from Goad (Crills kick) | 2:43 |
Team statistics
| Schuylkill Valley | Twin Valley | |
| First downs | 11 | 16 |
| Rushes-yards | 32-149 | 30-338 |
| Passing yards | 100 | 169 |
| Total yards | 249 | 507 |
| Passes | 8-15-1 | 6-6-0 |
| Fumbles-lost | 2-2 | 2-0 |
| Punts-average | 2-51.5 | 0/0 |
| Penalties-yards | 2-30 | 4-35 |
Individual statistics
RUSHING
Schuykill Valley: Campbell 15-64, Goad 6-39, Giuffre 9-28, Kemmerer 2-18.
Twin Valley: Caruso 14-126, Winchester 3-79, Johnson 1-76, Harris 3-32, Freeman 1-13, Marks 4-9, Myers 2-3, Taggart 2-0.
PASSING
Schuykill Valley: Campbell 5-12-1–52, Goad 2-2-0–26, Kemmerer 1-1-0–22.
Twin Valley: Myers 5-5-0–165, Styer 1-1-0 — 4.
RECEIVING
Schuykill Valley: Spotts 2-30, Crills 2-28, Aletras 1-22, Campbell 1-17, Hohenadel 1-2, Giuffe 1-1.
Twin Valley: Freeman 4-145, Harris 1-20, Taggart 1-4.
INTERCEPTIONS
Twin Valley: Hatfield.
