Record night by Drew Engle helps Twin Valley run down ‘Hanna
2025 Berks football coverage presented by
Utilities Employees Credit Union
By Mike Drago — MikeDragoSports.com Managing Editor
MYERSTOWN — A relentless Drew Engle and a tremendous second-half defensive effort sent Twin Valley to a 41-21 victory over top-seeded Susquehanna Township and the program’s first District 3 Class 4A championship Friday at Elco.
| Final | |
| Twin Valley | 41 |
| Susquehanna | 21 |
The third-seeded Raiders (13-0) trailed by a point at halftime but shut out the high-powered Indians (12-1) in the second half, coming up with two fourth-down stops in the red zone.
Engle broke his own single-season program rushing record on his first carry and finished with a career-high 281 yards and three touchdowns. He’s up to 1,855 yards this season and 3,972 for his career.
He had touchdown runs of 2, 52, and 32 yards, pushing his program-record single-season total to 36.
His coaches and teammates acted as if it were just another night — which for Engle, it was. He rushed for 250 yards and four scores last week in a semifinal win at West York. He went for 219 yards in the district opener against West Perry.
“Drew Engle’s Drew Engle,” Raiders coach Brett Myers said casually. “If you go back and look at big games, he’s always produced. Today is no different, it was just a little harder than usual.
“Give credit to (Susquehanna coach) Joe Headen and the defensive guys over there, they battled us the whole way, put (together) a game plan that made it difficult for us to do what we did, but Drew managed to get it done anyway.”
“He’s just an incredible player,” center Noah DiGiacomo said of Engle. “I couldn’t be more proud of him. It’s just an honor to block for him; everyone on our line would say that.”
Engle will get a shot to go for 2,000 yards in a season and 4,000 in a career next week when Twin Valley advances to the PIAA semifinals to face District 7 champ Aliquippa (10-3) at a site, time and date to be determined. The Quips beat Oil City 28-7.
The Raiders took the lead for good two minutes into the third quarter when Ben Grundy scored on a 55-yard catch and run for a 27-21 lead.
They took full control of the game with a 16-play, 82-yard drive that ended with quarterback Maverik Foster’s 24-yard TD run on fourth down and lasted 8 1/2 minutes.
Engle put the game away with a dazzling 32-yard TD run to make it 41-21 with 6:22 left.
The game went back and forth in the first half, with the Raiders unable to control the scrambling of Indians quarterback Torin Evans, who ran for one TD and passed for another.
‘Hanna extended its lead to 21-14 when Evans heaved a 67-yard bomb to Zi’Khere Leaks with 42 seconds left in the half.
The Raiders answered in two plays, with Engle weaving his way down the sideline for a 52-yard scoring run to make it 21-20. It stayed that way when Nate Shaffer missed the PAT, just his third of the season (the other two were blocked).
The first half was filled with big plays.
Susquehanna Township struck first when Xavier Rivera burst through the line and went 61 yards for a TD.
Big runs by Engle set up Twin Valley scores on its first two possessions. He capped the first with a 2-yard run. Lucas Myers finished the second with a 5-yard run.
The Indians tied it 14-14 when Evans scrambled out of the pocket and ran 20 yards for a score with 8:33 left in the second quarter.
Engle broke his own program single-season rushing record with a 35-yard run on his first touch. That sent him past the 1,599 yards he ran for as a sophomore.
This was the fourth trip to a district championship game for Susquehanna Township; it lost each of the previous three, most recently in 2015.
The Raiders again played error-free ball, while picking off two Evans passes. Twin Valley has committed a Berks-low six turnovers. They did not have a turnover last week against West York.
With another 41 points, Twin Valley became the highest-scoring team in Berks history with 681 points. Wyomissing set the Berks record with 671 points in 16 games in reaching the PIAA championship game in 2021.
Twin Valley coach Brett Myers won three District 3 Class 3A championships in his previous stop at Middletown, beating Wyomissing 48-20 in 2016 and 49-0 in 2017 and Bermudian Springs 42-20 in 2018. This was his sixth district final overall, the first five with Middletown.
In their only other meeting, a district quarterfinal last year, the Raiders stunned the Indians with three scores in a 23-second span, erasing an early deficit before pulling away for a 47-19 victory at Susquehanna Township.
The Raiders got a 31-yard pass from Evan Myers to Engle with 1:03 left in the first quarter to take their first lead. The Indians fumbled the ensuing kickoff into the end zone for a safety. Grundy took the resulting free kick back 66 yards for a TD and 23-7 lead with 40 seconds remaining in the quarter.
The game marked a triumphant return for Engle, who had missed the final nine games of the regular season with a broken collarbone. He rushed for 122 yards and scored three TDs.
Evans threw for 179 yards and 3 TDs.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| Twin Valley | 14 | 6 | 7 | 14 | 41 |
| Susquehanna Twp. | 7 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 21 |
Scoring summary
| 1 | Susquehanna | Rivera, 61 run (Bailey kick) | 9:51 |
| 1 | Twin Valley | Engle, 2 run (Shaffer kick) | 7:06 |
| 1 | Twin Valley | Myers, 5 run (Shaffer kick) | 4:55 |
| 2 | Susquehanna | Evans, 20 run (Bailey kick) | 8:33 |
| 2 | Susquehanna | Leaks, 67 pass from Evans (Bailey kick) | 0:42 |
| 2 | Twin Valley | Engle, 52 run (kick failed) | 0:20 |
| 3 | Twin Valley | Grundy, 55 pass from Foster (Shaffer kick) | 10:08 |
| 4 | Twin Valley | Foster, 24 run (Shaffer kick) | 10:34 |
| 4 | Twin Valley | Engle, 32 run (Shaffer kick) | 6:22 |
Team statistics
| TWIN VALLEY | SUSQUEHANNA TWP. | |
| First downs | 19 | 18 |
| Rushes-yards | 55-383 | 32-206 |
| Passing yards | 74 | 185 |
| Total yards | 457 | 391 |
| Passes | 4-6-0 | 9-19-2 |
| Fumbles-lost | 0-0 | 0-0 |
| Punts-average | 3-31.3 | 2-31.5 |
| Penalties-yards | 6-67 | 7-55 |
Individual statistics
RUSHING
Twin Valley: Engle 31-281, Myers 19-76, Foster 3-28, Team 2-(-2).
Susquehanna Township: Evans 16-118, Rivera 11-86, Littlejohn 4-3, Team 1-(-1).
PASSING
Twin Valley: Foster 4-6-0–74.
Susquehanna Township: Evans 9-19-2–185.
RECEIVING
Twin Valley: Grundy 4-74.
Susquehanna Township: Leaks 2-84, Littlejohn 2-29, Kent-Yother 2-25, Kern 2-7, Malette 1-40.
INTERCEPTIONS
Twin Valley: Moser, Alexy.
