Twin Valley flips the script, uses big comeback to down Daniel Boone
By Matt Gaffney — MikeDragoSports.com correspondent
Twin Valley had a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde kind of game against Daniel Boone Friday night.
In the first half the Raiders were the gang who couldn’t shoot straight, as they looked like anything but a team cruising towards a District 3 Class 4A playoff berth. At halftime, they had more penalty yards (45) than total yards (37).
The second half was a completely different story as the Raiders flipped the script and ripped off 36 unanswered points to overcome a 13-point and defeat Daniel Boone 43-20 at Brazinsky Field in Birdsboro.
The “thunder and lightning” backfield tandem of senior Jaydon Goebel and sophomore Evan Johnson led the way for the Raiders (3-3, 5-4) as they turned things around after a sloppy first half.
The win keeps Twin Valley on track for a spot in the District 3 playoffs; the Blazers (0-5, 1-8) lost their sixth straight game.
Goebel and Johnson each went over 100 yards rushing and combined for five touchdowns as the Raiders enjoyed a scoring explosion in a 10-minute stretch of the second half.
Daniel Boone had no answer for the bruising inside running of Goebel or the speedy Johnson out on the edge.
The first half was the complete opposite. False start after false start hindered the Raiders’ ability to get anything going on offense.
Daniel Boone coach Rob Flowers’ squad, on the other hand, looked like they were the team headed to the postseason as they dialed up successful passing plays time and time again.
Twin Valley coach Brett Myers attributed his team’s slow start to an unusual week of practice with multiple players missing time due to illness.
“I think it took our guys the first half to get in a groove and to play the way that they expect to play,” said Myers. “We have some great kids who are mentally tough and they decided to come out and separate from the other team (in the second half).
“Give Boone a lot of credit, though. Those kids played extremely hard. Coach Flowers and his staff do a great job getting them ready to play.”
The Blazers were ready to play at the outset.
Daniel Boone jumped to a 13-7 lead on the strength of two Dean Rotter touchdown passes. Rotter finished with three touchdown passes, two of which went to Robbie Burns. After the break, though, the Blazers struggled to move the ball.
The game started to get away from Boone midway through the third quarter as momentum swung quickly back to the Raiders for good.
Goebel’s fourth-down, 3-yard touchdown run with 4:09 left in the third quarter cut Daniel Boone’s lead to 20-14.
The Blazers fumbled the ensuing kickoff which allowed the Raiders to set up shop inside the Boone 20-yard line. Three plays later, Twin Valley sophomore quarterback Evan Myers scored on a keeper from 9 yards out to tie the game at 20-20.
It was all Twin Valley from there.
After forcing a Daniel Boone punt, it took all of 15 seconds for the Raiders to score again. Johnson took a delayed handoff and turned on the jets as he sprinted 59 yards for a score that gave Twin Valley the lead for good with 23 seconds left in the third quarter.
Goebel also had a great night punting the ball (38.4 average on seven punts) and helped flip the field numerous times for Twin Valley. He pinned the Blazers deep early in the fourth quarter to set up a safety.
“Jaydon might be the best all-around athlete in our school,” said Myers of his bruising fullback/punter. “He’s one of those kids who is very unselfish and will do whatever he’s asked to make sure the team is successful.”
His backfield mate Johnson and teammate Mason Marks, who had a key interception in the first half and a sack of Rotter in the end zone for a safety, also earned high praise from his coach.
“What a great night for him,” Myers said. “Just playing as hard as he does, he just did a great job. I can’t say enough about him. He’s a great example of working hard every day and when he gets his chance to perform, he does. And Evan, he has great vision and was able to capitalize on Boone’s aggressive front on the long touchdown runs.”
After the free kick following Marks’ safety, Twin Valley started to pull away.
A 49-yard burst by Goebel set up his 1-yard touchdown plunge one play later to give Twin Valley a 35-20 lead before Johnson’s second touchdown of the night, a 41-yard scamper with 6:12 left in the fourth, put the game out of reach and secured the victory for the Raiders.
Johnson finished with 127 yards rushing and two touchdowns while Goebel had 113 yards and three scores.
Rotter, who went over 1,000 yards passing, finished with 156 yards passing. The dual-threat quarterback was held to only 34 yards on the ground. Burns netted his two scores on only three receptions while Anthony High added three receptions and a score for Boone.
Looking ahead to Week 10, Flower’ focus for his team is simple.
“We have one game left in the 2022 campaign,” said the Boone coach. “You always want to finish your year on a win so that’s what we are going to focus on.”
Daniel Boone wraps up its season next week at Fleetwood; Twin Valley ends its regular season with a non-league game with Hatboro-Horsham.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| Twin Valley | 0 | 7 | 20 | 16 | 43 |
| Daniel Boone | 0 | 13 | 7 | 0 | 20 |
Scoring summary
| 2 | Daniel Boone | High, 8 pass from Rotter (Brown kick) | 9:08 |
| 2 | Twin Valley | Goebel, 8 run (Frey kick) | 5:01 |
| 2 | Daniel Boone | Burns, 15 pass from Rotter (kick failed) | 1:11 |
| 3 | Daniel Boone | Burns, 18 pass from Rotter (Brown kick) | 8:03 |
| 3 | Twin Valley | Goebel, 3 run (Frey kick) | 4:09 |
| 3 | Twin Valley | Myers, 9 run (kick failed) | 3:43 |
| 3 | Twin Valley | Johnson, 59 run (Frey kick) | 23.0 |
| 4 | Twin Valley | Safety, Rotter tackled in end one | 7:55 |
| 4 | Twin Valley | Goebel, 1 run (Frey kick) | 6:20 |
| 4 | Twin Valley | Johnson, 41 run (Frey kick) | 6:02 |
Team statistics
| Twin Valley | Daniel Boone | |
| First downs | 9 | 15 |
| Rushes-yards | 33-258 | 28-97 |
| Passing yards | 76 | 156 |
| Total yards | 334 | 253 |
| Passes | 7-14-0 | 15-33-2 |
| Fumbles-lost | 2-1 | 3-2 |
| Punts-average | 7-38.4 | 4-26.8 |
| Penalties-yards | 14-85 | 6-50 |
Individual statistics
RUSHING
Twin Valley: Johnson 10-127, Goebel 16-113, Myers 5-25, Engle 1-(-1), Team 1-(-6).
Daniel Boone: Tolosky 10-53, Rotter 15-34, Kryman 3-10.
PASSING
Twin Valley: Myers 7-14-0-76.
Daniel Boone: Rotter 15-33-2-156
RECEIVING
Twin Valley: Zolty 3-34, Harris 2-30, Winchester 1-7, Johnson 1-5.
Daniel Boone: Heffner 5-58, Burns 3-40, High 3-22, Klick 2-28, Kryman 2-8.
INTERCEPTIONS
Twin Valley: Marks.
