Twin Valley rolls over Conrad Weiser in non-league football matchup

Sep. 9—Despite being limited at practice due to the excessive heat throughout last week, the Twin Valley football team showed no signs of cooling off after defeating Conrad Weiser 49-0 in a non-league game Friday at Robesonia.

"We're practicing hard every single day," Raiders starting quarterback Evan Myers said. "We faced some adversity this week with the heat and not being allowed to be on the turf every single day, and not in full pads every single day. But together as a team, we overcame a lot of adversity. Throughout the week, it brought us closer and we had to believe more and be more mentally focused. So I think it definitely helped."

Suffice it to say the motivating factors paid off for Myers and Twin Valley. The quarterback he completed 8-of-11 passes for 152 yards and two touchdowns, and ran for a 13-yard score. In addition to Myers, Ean Winchester had three carries for 58 yards and two touchdowns as the fullback scored from the 3 and 1.

Running backs Evan Johnson and Drew Engle came into the night leading the Raiders (3-0) in rushing, with Johnson having 436 rushing yards and Engle 369. Engle ended Friday's contest with 116 rushing yards while Johnson had 56.

While the two did not need to have a standout performance this week, the collective work of the Twin Valley offense accounted for 263 rushing yards.

"Our offensive line did a great job," Myers said. "Our backs are really humble and understand what we're trying to do, and I would say everyone else on the field does as well. The offensive line does a great job every single day. We're working really hard at practice. Our offensive line can do it all right now."

Winchester's 3-yard touchdown run caped a 4-play 65-yard drive on the Raiders' second possession of the first quarter to open the scoring. Myers added to that lead when he connected with Owen Rhoads on a 54-yard touchdown pass with 39 seconds remaining in the first quarter.

With a dynamic offense, Twin Valley is showing it does not need to rely only on its runners.

"We really trust in our receivers; they've had a great week," Evan Myers said. "There's a bunch of guys rolling in there, five or six receivers at a time coming in and out. I think we're building a really good bond."

"It just kind of it is what it is," said Twin Valley coach Brett Myers, also Evan's dad, regarding the Raiders' offense. "With having a quarterback and some receivers like that, we have the ability to pass, but if we don't have to, we don't, so it was what it was."

Twin Valley's defense made significant contributions as well, as the Raiders forced four fumbles and recovered two.

A fumble by Scouts quarterback Donovan Gingrich on an option play was returned by defensive end Kyle Kline for a 50-yard touchdown to make it 21-0.

Another fumble set up a 12-yard TD pass from Evan Myers to Ben Grundy later in the second quarter.

Rhoads ended the night with two catches for 91 yards and Grundy had two catches for 36 yards.

Myers recorded his 13-yard rushing touchdown with 3:30 to go in the first half just before a lightning delay postponed the game for 30 minutes. The play capped a 99-yard drive and the Raiders led 35-0 at the half.

"The kids played really hard," Brett Myers said. "They knew we were gonna come out and try to be aggressive and they enjoy that game plan. They new kind that Conrad Weiser is a storied program in Berks County. Coach (Alan) Moyer does a great job with those guys. So our kids wanted to match that, and what they (the Scouts) have there, and I think they did that tonight."

Winchester scored on a 1-yard run with seven minutes left in the third quarter and Rementer closed the scoring with a 10-yard run in the fourth.

Gingrich finished 12-of-24 passing for 74 yards and also ran for 27 yards as Conrad Weiser recorded 165 total yards of offense, 76 on the ground.

The mistakes are adding up in droves and proving to be too costly for the Scouts, according to Moyer.

"Since Week 1, it's just been mistake after mistake," Moyer said. "We have to clean those things up if we're going to be competitive in a game when we're facing three difficult opponents the first three weeks.

"I told the kids, we're just not very good in any facet of the game right now. We've got a lot of work to do to get better in all three facets; our offense, our defense and our special teams haven't been real good. It's a work in progress."

For the Raiders, a strong start to the season will be tested in Section 3 when Lancaster-Lebanon League play begins next week at home against Fleetwood. Though it surely has plenty to be proud of after outscoring opponents 117-34 during the first three weeks of the season, Twin Valley is resting on a humble mentality and staying focused on the weekly task at hand.

"Everybody is talking about the season and we're three games in, but none of it really means anything starting tomorrow." Brett Myers said. "We played a couple teams and now league play starts, and I'm sure those guys are all ready to roll. So what happened the previous three weeks doesn't mean much."

"For another three hours, all I know is we played Conrad Weiser today," Evan Myers said. "No idea who we got next week."