You know that one phrase? The one that goes, “You only get one shot to make a good first impression?” Yeah, true as that notion may be in certain instances, sometimes fate can also intervene. And when it does, while may not –or frankly cannot– totally erase a bad first meeting that transpired between two parties, it can at least give one the opportunity at trying to make amends in smoothing over some of those initial rough edges if nothing else. Rest assured, that’s all that the Twin Valley Raiders’ football team could’ve possibly hoped for given what went down the last time they got on a bus and went to Lampeter. Just one more shot at trying the right the wrongs from October 18th.
Guessing it probably won’t be all that difficult for the Raiders to recollect, try as they might to erase that outing from their memory banks if they could help it.
On that night, almost one month ago to the exact date, a seismic result went out that could not be understated as to just how mammoth it truly was. Sure, while Lampeter-Strasburg has rightly elevated its program into one of the Lancaster-Lebanon League’s perennial powers that always finds itself on the short list of projected District 3 champions prior to the start of any given year matter who’s suiting up for them, no one really expected “that.” Not in that fashion. Not 62-14. That had to be a typo. Surely the correct score would come out in due time, right?
Then again, it’s not like that type of victory was necessarily all that uncommon from the ones that the Pioneers had routinely put up against their fellow L-L Section Four brethren up until that point. In fact, prior to that game against Twin Valley now four weeks ago, L-S had beaten every one of their divisional foes by a tick above 41-points-per-game leading up, so seeing L-S’ utter domination in running roughshod over like-foes wasn’t something that totally came out of left field or anything. But against Twin Valley though? That almost had to be an entirely different animal, yes?
Again, while a 62-14 score stands by itself regardless of who happened to go up against who, this result more than moved the needle in L-S’ favor when it came to altering high school football tectonic plates laying around the state. And how could it not? After all, while you could of course go with the low-hanging fruit to say that Twin Valley traveled to the Lampeter-Strasburg campus that Friday night while perhaps still in their feels in coming off a tough 34-24 setback at the hands of Wyomissing just one week prior, surely the biggest game in TV program history, this was a Raiders’ squad that went toe-to-toe with those Wyo Spartans, a group that came to Twin Valley ranked as the #4 team in the state in early October.
But that’s also burying the lead. The elephant in the room of course being the fact that Twin Valley came into that game ranked as the #1 4A team in all of Pennsylvania by comparison, obviously setting up a game that deserved not just Berks County’s collective attention, but the entire state as well.
And it wasn’t a fraudulent Raiders’ resume either. Coming into that game against their fellow Berks counterpart in Wyo, Twin Valley was putting up more than their fair share of absolutely mind-boggling numbers to rightfully earn them such acclaim. Chief among them perhaps being the Raiders continuing to score more than a point-per-minute. Yes, even here, more than halfway thru the 2024 season at that time. Again, this is football we’re talking about. Not some other sport where the points are supposed to come that easily.
Yet for as spoiled and fortunate as the L-L League was in seeing this triumvirate of state powerhouses residing in their own backyard slug it out in an impromptu round-robin format that developed over the course of the final three weeks of the regular season in seeing who would emerge victorious in taking the Section Four crown between either Lampeter-Strasburg, Twin Valley, or Wyomissing respectively, those eventual spoils would be bestowed upon the Pioneers following their (also) downright impressive victory on the road at Wyomissing on the final day of the regular season, making it the first 10-0 regular season mark in L-S history which almost also seems ripe to be a typo given their sheer and undisputed success tabulated over the years.
The irony to all that though? While L-S deservedly won their section title without having the need to share with anyone else, they too probably knew all too well that they’d see one of –if not both—of those same divisional foes come the postseason seeing as how the District 3-4A playoffs this year could rightly be described as the “L-L Section Four Invitational.”
Sure enough, we didn’t have to wait very long for that assumption to bear fruit seeing as how both L-S and Twin Valley handled their business in respective fashion with similar relative ease last week against ELCO and Susquehanna Township in setting the stage for L-S/Twin Valley Part II.
So, what would we end up concluding from that first impression? Was a 48-point L-S win at the hands of Twin Valley 28 days ago the true measure of separation between these two programs, or was that an aberration that was nothing more than a dramatic one-off? For Twin Valley, while obviously hoping for the latter and not the former, the Raiders found themselves with an opportunity that doesn’t come around all that often whether it be in sports or life—making good on a second chance.
However, while the score would indeed much, much closer this time around, the fact of the matter remains –as far as the lore 2024 of the season is concerned — that Lampeter-Strasburg continues to have the ultimate Twin Valley antidote.
Truth be told, it seemed almost right from the jump that 62 points scored by the Pios in this meeting might even be in danger considering just how fast the hosts struck to begin the contest. Sure enough, after the Raiders got charged for an offsides call on the first play from scrimmage on Friday night, a mammoth-sized hole opened up courtesy of the L-S offensive line on the second play of the contest was all the daylight that Danny Weichler needed as the Pios’ senior running back was off to the races for the 73-yard touchdown run with fans still literally heading to their seats following Peter Fiorello’s successful PAT which made it a 7-0 L-S lead with just 32 seconds having expired.
Ironically though, for just as potent that L-S had appeared to look right from the jump, the offense –for either side for that matter—was in relative short supply for the remainder of the opening frame.
As far as Twin Valley’s operation was most concerned, two of the Raiders’ first three offensive possessions in the first quarter would fall victim to nothing more than three-and-outs posted by way of the Pioneers’ swarming defensive troops. Suffice to say, had it not been for a pair of Evan Johnson runs to move the sticks, the Raiders would’ve been held to zero first downs in the opening act if the Raiders’ all-time rushing leader not come through in picking up key third down conversions on Twin Valley’s second offensive series of the night.
To their credit though, Twin Valley was equally as formidable on defense as the opening stanza drug on as well.
In fact, on the next three L-S drives following the early haymaker landed by way of the aforementioned Weichler jaunt to the house found back on the opening drive, the Pioneers would proceed to go three-and-out in their own right through the remainder of the frame, effectively putting the stamp on a somewhat tame and unassuming 7-0 L-S advantage following an opening dozen minutes which couldn’t have started off much more high-flying than the original course it seemed to be destined for considering the early fireworks.
Sure enough, while Twin Valley’s defensive troops were nothing if not worthy of the rightful praise bestowed upon them in how they were able to settle down and right the ship following that initial blow levied against them, their equally adept offense was also getting themselves into a lather as well.
Case in point, following a long Johnson run off the left side of the line which moved the ball down deep inside L-S territory and down to the Pios’ 10-yard line, the Raiders only needed to split the difference the rest of the way before crossing the chalk line for good as a 5-yard Drew Engle touchdown run between the tackles on a 3rd & 3 play allowed TV to draw back even at 7-7 following Nate Shaffer’s PAT with 10:43 left to play in the opening half for a score that almost surely allowed the Raiders’ sideline to breath a collective sigh of relief.
Then again, maybe prolonged and methodical drives wouldn’t really need to be L-S’ soup de jour. After all, so long as they would be able to get the job done by any way shape or form, the rest of the details were just frivolous. With that in mind, seeing L-S’ junior speed merchant, Cole Lopez, return the ensuing kickoff for 60 yards worth of distance before getting spilled down at the Twin Valley 30-yard line, it looked for all the world that an urgent Pioneers’ rebuttal wouldn’t be hard to find. And as fate would have it, the hosts needed all of just two plays following the Lopez return before punching it in once more as the man who got the party started, Danny Weichler, got lost behind the Raiders’ secondary for his second touchdown of the night, this of the 29-yard receiving variety thrown by Caileb Howse, as the Pios went back in front by a 14-7 count a mere 43 seconds following all the work that Twin Valley had just exerted when it came to clawing back on level ground.
But the hits just kept on coming for Twin Valley in the immediate aftermath.
This time, forget about going three-and-out. The Raiders wouldn’t even get the chance to do even that seeing as how Christian Nolt was able to climb the ladder from his defensive back position for an acrobatic interception on 3rd & 3 on the ensuing TV drive, setting the Pioneers up with even more advantageous field position while looking to break the dam open.
Yet to their credit, as they had largely been able to do throughout much of the contest up until that point, the Twin Valley defense would bow their necks and rise to the challenge once called upon, this time seeing an L-S field attempt sail wide to the left, effectively allowing the white-clad, green-lidded squad to get out of dodge without taking any additional damage upon their ship despite the initial odds suggesting otherwise.
But this next Lampeter-Strasburg drive would do the trick in that department.
Here, after successfully slamming the door shut on a Twin Valley 4th & 2 attempt to conclude the Raiders’ next possession following the missed kick just earlier, a much more methodical and prolonged L-S offensive march was about to take shape. Well, grading on a curve perhaps when judged against their previous scoring drives demonstrated up until that point of course.
Then again, with Dominic Brown toting the rock while also leveling and running over would-be tacklers who dared to take down the Pioneers’ violent senior running back, Brown’s first two runs of the drive didn’t exactly seem all that tame or tranquil. Speaking of Brown, he continued to carry the Pioneers’ mail later in the same drive as his 19-yard scoot on a 3rd & 3 attempt not only gave L-S a fresh set of downs, but it also put them inside the Twin Valley redzone with the ball resting at the Raiders’ 15-yard line. By that point, considering how he had largely just bullied his way through the entire Twin Valley defense up until that point, why not give Dom Brown the ball with the opportunity to finish things off? And while at the precipice of tallying another score to their existing lead, Brown would indeed deliver the goods for his side, this time capping off the nearly two-minute long, 60-yard march with a 3-yard touchdown plunge, making it a 21-7 L-S buffer with all of 63 seconds remaining in the opening half at that point.
Suffice to say, if Twin Valley could somehow muster a metaphorical steal of a score here before both teams went into the locker room to regroup for the halftime break, that would be nothing if not massive. Then, following a 40-yard kickoff return by Evan Johnson which placed the ball just 55 yards away from paydirt with just under a minute left, it was rather obvious that the Raiders might as well dance with the opportunity presented to them suddenly. However, Caileb Howse would effectively reject this instance of Raiders’ flirtations in the waning stages of the second quarter with yet another case of his thievery exhibited from the defensive back position, sealing yet another interception to his already sensational 2024 resume put forth on both sides of the ball in the form of half a dozen INT’s alongside 33 touchdowns scored offensively, sending both teams into the halftime break with L-S owning a 21-7 lead that felt like it was teetering dangerously on the verge of being put away for good once the third quarter would commence.
Throughout the game’s first 24 minutes, it was rather apparent that while L-S was posting a well-rounded team effort that could easily be proved by their two-touchdown cushion at the break, it was equally evident that both Dominic Brown and Caileb Howse were the Pioneers largely filling the role of “gamebreaker” up until that point. And as far as the home patrons felt, seeing that same duo continue with their ongoing exploits inside the second half wouldn’t exactly hurt matters either.
True to form, on the Pios’ initial offensive drive of the third quarter after holding Twin Valley to another harmless three-and-out, both Brown and Howse continued with their old tricks. First, Caileb Howse reversing field while operating back in the pocket after buying himself some extra time before ushering the L-S march near the midfield stripe at the Pios’ 44-yard line for a first down. From there, Dom Brown getting the call and rattling off a 12-yard run to move the attack down to the Twin Valley 31-yard line before ripping another of the 9-yard variety on the very next play after that.
However, even here while seeing the snowball storming downhill against them yet again, the Twin Valley defense did the job at its most urgent hour, holding L-S to nothing more than a field goal which was successfully booted between the pipes by way of Peter Fiorello’s 35-yard kick which moved the L-S lead up to a 24-7 count with 6:37 still left in the third stanza.
Without much in the way of sound debate, the time was now if Twin Valley had any desires to keep Lampeter-Strasburg within reach given the mounting score separation and father time operating in tandem against them.
And when you’re working uphill with most everything needing to go right given the time and score, operating on a short field would certainly be the most welcomed of starting blocks. Sure enough, after returning the ensuing kickoff back to their own 45-yard line, being just a tick past midfield was certainly a great place in which to start. Then, if you can bear witness to Drew Engle taking off on a long run down your sideline before getting knocked off his pins at the L-S 18-yard line, things would certainly appear to be on a good trajectory. Lastly, knowing the objective being asked, finishing things off with a touchdown would be the only welcomed result. For Twin Valley, they would indeed get that sought-after score courtesy of senior quarterback, Evan Myers, who powered all of his 5’10 185lb frame behind his offensive line before getting the spoils of a 1-yard touchdown to his name, trimming the Pioneers’ lead back down to size once more, 24-13, following a two-point conversion try that be unsuccessful with 4:20 still left in the third.
But did we mention by this point that both Dom Brown and Caileb Howse were instrumental in steering L-S’ overall effort on this night? Well, if that hadn’t already been obvious, his next L-S drive would extinguish all leftover doubt if that was still a matter of debate not yet settled.
Case in point, Howse yet again shrugging off would-be Twin Valley tacklers on a key 3rd & 9 play on this next Lampeter-Strasburg drive with a scramble drill that not only kept the existing L-S drive alive, but it also almost surely served as another body blow against Twin Valley’s relative psyche in which the Raiders simply couldn’t marry up the momentum exhibited on their previous offensive series with this one on the defensive side. Later, even more punches were landed by way of Dom Brown and his 6-yard run on a 3rd & 2 attempt, moving the ball down to the Raiders’ 43-yard line and things rolling downhill yet again. Next, Brown going around the left side of the Pios’ offensive line and coming away with a 24-yard dash, getting the festivities inside the redzone at the Twin Valley 18-yard line. And in terms of the punctuation mark that would be put on this L-S scoring drive, that would come in the form of a wide open Emory Fluhr spotted in the middle of the Twin Valley defense that was located by Howse, as the senior duo would account for this 18-yard pitch and catch TD, making it a 31-13 L-S lead heading into the final frame once the final 47 seconds evaporated off the third quarter clock.
But in all reality, while there were still twelve minutes left to play, that final touchdown tallied in the waning stages of the third quarter largely proved to be the difference in cementing the final outcome. Granted, while it didn’t take the winds out of Twin Valley’s sails definitively as evidenced by the Raiders refusing to go quietly into the night inside the final period without offering up a fight all the way up until the final seconds, the hill to climb was simply far too steep and the opponent far too chiseled when it came to the possibility of seeing an 18-point bulge get wiped away, especially given the stakes involved. And so, while the margin of separation in this second meeting between L-S and Twin Valley a month apart would be exactly 30-points fewer than its predecessor, the fact of the matter was that L-S was just as potent in late October as they had been here in mid-November against this divisional foe. And a result, following this 31-13 victory over Twin Valley, the Pioneers not only find themselves with a ticket in the District 3-4A championship game against either West York or Wyomissing next Friday night at Warwick High School in Lititz, but this now historic 12-0 Pioneers’ squad also find themselves just three weeks away from potentially doing something even more dramatic and everlasting—winning the first state championship in program history.
