“If you close your eyes and envision what a West Point commit is, that’s Drew’
MikeDragoSports.com Player of the Year
Drew Engle had a modest goal his freshman season at Twin Valley: He wanted to score a touchdown.
He did better than that: Just before the season-opener Raiders coach Brett Myers informed Engle he would be splitting time at safety, a job he held the rest of his ninth-grade season.
A year later Engle was the main cog in the Raiders’ attack and set a program record by rushing for 1,599 yards.
He rushed for 175 yards scored his final touchdown in his last football game, in the PIAA Class 4A championship.
Engle’s been running circles around all the other kids since he was big enough to wrap his hands around a football but he admits he never envisioned that final scene, playing out on such a big stage.
“Coming in freshman year, I don’t think I would’ve imagined that,” he said. “That’s something every player wants to experience.”
Engle arrived at the varsity level at a good time, just as Myers was named head coach and about to transform a program that rarely rose above also-ran status. Engle realized the culture was about to change; he grew up playing with Lucas Myers and was a ball boy on Brett’s teams at Middletown, which played for three straight state championships.
“I got to watch his program do phenomenal stuff there,” Engle said. “When I heard Coach Myers was coming here it go me super-excited.”
Engle became a centerpiece of Myers’ rebuild, a triple threat who changed games as a ballcarrier, kick returner, defender – and leader.
Engle set more than a dozen program records, helped the Raiders win a pair of Lancaster-Lebanon League section championships, ascend to the No. 1 ranking in the state and win 14 games this season.
“Drew has that it factor,” said Twin Valley running backs coach Al Grundy. “He’s just gifted.”
Engle became one of the few players in Berks history to score six touchdowns in a game, against a Lampeter-Strasburg team that spent time ranked in the Top 10 this season. His 37 touchdowns as a senior are tied for third-most in Berks history; his 61 career scores are tied for seventh-most.
His 2,095 rushing yards as a senior are third-most in Berks history and made him just the fifth Berks running back to both top 2,000 in a season and 4,000 in a career.
In one unforgettable playoff win over West Perry he piled up a staggering 388 all-purpose yards, a night that included 212 rushing yards, a 75-yard kickoff return, and a Pick-6 that covered a program-record 95 yards.
Myers, who has watched Engle do these sorts of things since he was playing flag football, barely batted an eye.
“From 8 years old until now, the only thing that’s changed is he’s gotten bigger,” Myers said. “He’s just different.”
Different, indeed. He’s arguably the best all-around football player in the 37-team Lancaster-Lebanon League but he doesn’t plan to play the game in college. Football may not be his best sport; that could be lacrosse.
Engle was the Most Valuable Player in the Berks League as a junior when he set a program single-season record with 61 goals, career marks with 143 goals and 200 points, and led the Raiders to their first PIAA semifinal. He’s committed to play that sport for Army, which has one of the top programs in the nation.
Early the morning after Twin Valley’s loss to Southern Lehigh in the state championship game he was on the way to West Point for his official visit.
“The culture and identity they’ve built around their program is something I want to be a part of,” he said of the Black Knights.
Myers admits he would love to see Engle play football in college but understands and respects the decision to concentrate on lacrosse.
“If you close your eyes and envision what a West Point commit is,” he said, “that’s Drew.”
Engle was influenced to attend a military academy by his brother Anthony, a top distance runner for Twin Valley who now runs for the U.S. Naval Academy team.
“(That) caught my eye,” he said. “The reason I am who I am today has a lot to do with him. He’s been a great role model for me.”
Engle has and will continue to serve as a role model for the Twin Valley football program. Not just because of what he’s done on Friday nights but because of the way he’s trained and worked on all the days leading up to those games.
Grundy impressed upon him at an early age to go as hard in practice as he will in a game. Watch the Raiders run through their plays at practice and you’ll see Engle break through the line and keep running – all the way down the field, 70, 80 yards sometimes.
That kind of thing rubs off; it’s no wonder Twin Valley earned a reputation as a team that never stops playing hard.
“Drew comes to play every day in practice,” Grundy said. ‘He pushes himself; he pushes others around him.”
Player of the Year finalists
- Leo Brown, Exeter
- Michael Glover, Wilson
- Justice Hardy, Wyomissing
- Lucas Myers, Twin Valley
- Cameron Small, Muhlenberg
- Joel Ummarino, Exeter
Drew Engle’s game-by-game rushing, scoring
| Att. | Yards | TDs | |
| Berks Catholic | 7 | 164 | 1 |
| Selinsgrove | 14 | 138 | 2 |
| Simon Gratz | 2 | 28 | 2 |
| Elco | 9 | 71 | 3 |
| Octorara | 10 | 78 | 2 |
| N. Lebanon | 6 | 93 | 2 |
| Donegal | 11 | 123 | 2 |
| Wyomissing | 27 | 199 | 2 |
| Lampeter-Strasburg | 25 | 184 | 6 |
| Daniel Boone | 5 | 34 | 2 |
| West Perry | 12 | 219 | 5 |
| West York | 23 | 250 | 4 |
| Susquehanna Twp. | 31 | 281 | 3 |
| Aliquippa | 20 | 65 | 0 |
| Southern Lehigh | 22 | 175 | 1 |
| Totals | 224 | 2,095 | 37 |
