Starting Lineup: Gamebreaker Evan Johnson gives Raiders a reason to smile
To recognize the top players in Berks football MikeDragoSports.com has selected the “Starting Lineup,” a preseason All-Berks team that includes the top linemen, backs, receivers, linebackers and specialists.
Players were selected based on past performance, expected performance this season and college potential. Two-way players were given special consideration. One player will be introduced each day, in random order (the players are not ranked).
This is ninth installment in the series.
Evan Johnson, Twin Valley
| 5-11 | 165 | Senior | RB/DB/KR |
BACKSTORY: College football coaches who watch Evan Johnson run with the football see a guy with burst and maddening open-field moves, cuts and fakes that have freed him to reach the end zone 36 times the past three seasons.
When his quarterback at Twin Valley, Evan Myers, looks at his longtime teammate he first sees the smile on Johnson’s face, not a football player with mad skills.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen him not smile,” Myers said. “Sophomore year, we were playing (Bishop) McDevitt. An All-State player (Riley Robell) nailed him. Paint flies off his helmet; his mouthguard flies out.”
When he returned to the huddle Johnson looked as though he had just taken a thrill ride on the ‘Storm Runner’ at Hersheypark, not been flattened by a 6-3, 290-pound Division I linebacker.
“Sure enough he’s back in the huddle with a smile on his face,” Myers said.
Evan Johnson’s about as easy-going a guy as you’re going to find on a football field. Sure, he competes like heck, wants to win every game, feels the sting after a loss. But it’s not the be-all, end-all of his life.
He enjoys running track – he qualified for districts in the 100 and 300 hurdles in the spring. He takes part in school musicals; last year he played ‘Doody’ in the Twin Valley rendition of ‘Grease.’ He’s a student-athlete who doesn’t forget to fully partake in the first half of that hyphenated descriptor.
“I’m a renaissance man,” he jokes. “I do everything.”
Maybe that’s what helps keep him so calm in clutch situations. Like that game at Solanco last season when the Raiders’ perfect season was on the line. They trailed by a touchdown with 30 seconds left and faced a third-and-11 from their own 29.
Johnson wasn’t exactly a nervous wreck in the huddle.
“Get me the ball and we’ll win,” he assured his quarterback.
“Sure enough,” said Myers, picking up the story, “he’s standing right where he said would be, catching the ball and running down the sideline to win the game.”
Johnson’s 71-yard catch-and-run out of the backfield pulled the Raiders within 28-27; a two-point conversion gave them the win.
“I’m able to make big plays whenever you need me,” Johnson says proudly. “I’m reliable. I’m willing to do anything for the team.”
Johnson is coming off a junior season that saw him rush for 1,089 yards, score 15 touchdowns, and average 9.7 yards per carry – all while splitting time at tailback with Drew Engle. He earned second-team all-league honors as a running back and a defensive back, each for the second straight year.
“He’s a play-maker in all three phases of the game,” said Raiders coach Brett Myers.
Johnson passed the 1,000-yard milestone late in his sophomore season before finishing under that mark after some big losses in the season finale. In three seasons he has 2,426 yards, well within range of Dominic Caruso’s career mark of 3,684 yards. He needs six TDs to top Caruso’s program record of 41.
Over three seasons he has averaged an impressive 9.5 yards per carry, reaching the end zone on nearly eight percent of his carries.
The 5-11, 165-pound Johnson dazzled as a sophomore, rushing for 210 yards with touchdown runs of 60, 19, 63, and 42 yards in a 43-29 district playoff victory over Milton Hershey.
“He does some things that are natural in space,” Brett Myers said after that performance, “stuff that’s not coached. He just understands. His vision is a little different.”
Johnson is a different runner than that guy. He is never going to be confused for an H-Back but he’s now willing to put his nose down and bang for those tough third- and fourth-down yards.
“What EJ has learned is how to run inside the tackles, and he’s become a very physical back,” Brett Myers said. “You watch him inside the tackles (now), he’s downhill and it doesn’t matter who’s in front of him.
“He’s not looking to make a big play, he’s just looking to run the play. When you’re paying attention to the details something big happens.”
Johnson is one of the old hands on the Raiders’ roster; he broke into the starting lineup at cornerback as a freshman and got a handful of carries. He has been around for 23 victories over three seasons, the best run in program history. He’s anxious to finish that off with a few more W’s and some championship hardware.
“(It’s my) last year, I’m gonna play with everything I’ve got,” he promised. “You don’t want to take football for granted.”
ROLE: Tailback, safety, kick returner, team captain.
COLLEGE PROSPECTS: No offers; getting looks from PSAC and Patriot League schools.
COACH’S TAKE: “Great vision and breakaway speed. Explosive. A game-changer as a kick returner.”
Starting Lineup
| Xavier Beatty | Reading High | WR/S/CB/KR | Sr. |
| Aris Drake | Twin Valley | T/DT | Sr. |
| Chase Eisenhower | Wyomissing | FB/LB | Jr. |
| Justic Hardy | Wyomissing | HB/WR/CB/KR | Soph. |
| Reese Hohl | Gov. Mifflin | RB/WR/CB/KR | Sr. |
| Evan Johnson | Twin Valley | RB/DB/KR | Sr. |
| Evan Myers | Twin Valley | QB/DB | Sr. |
| Luke Spotts | Schuylkill Valley | TE/LB | Sr. |
| Logan Wegman | Exeter | T/DT | Sr. |
