By any way in which you choose to measure it, the 2025 football campaign for the Twin Valley Raiders was nothing if not a successful venture. But we’ll just go over some of the bigger fish here which the green and white reeled in and caught last year real briefly.
14 wins, the program’s first-ever district title, and culminating it all by being one of the final two 4A teams left standing in the entire state of Pennsylvania last December by playing – yet falling – in the state championship game to Southern Lehigh.
That said, for a school that certainly doesn’t fit the bill of a traditional power from a historical perspective save for its most recent past (like 2021 “recent”), much less one that the common fan from around the state still probably couldn’t point to its location on a map without some assistance, it might’ve been natural to expect that Twin Valley would come back down to earth somewhat here in 2026. Sure, cogs in the wheel were due back to return, but the Raiders were hit with some serious graduation losses all the same. So yes, forgive the masses in advance if there may have been some lingering doubts about this bunch coming in. Yes, even a program situated amongst the quiet, rolling hills of eastern Berks County that’s rattled off a very loud 36-6 record in totality since 2023.
At some point, surely this run of success in which Twin Valley has been able to rightfully plant its flag at the top of the local football summit would have to come to an end, right? Historical trends would almost certainly have to eventually bend the arc of time back against them, right?
Well, while 2026 may only be a third of the way complete thus far, any desires or hopes of the above from the Raiders’ naysayers simply ain’t happening.
Coming into their Week 4 tilt this week, Twin Valley yet again was considered amongst the state’s premier brands considering the Raiders seen hovering right around the #5 line inside the litany of state rankings – including #5 by this very publication. And that’s all while still burying the lede until now in mentioning that TV has been bumped up into the 5A rank and file this year while ascending out of 4A to boot.
Within the details, that come part in parcel with a 3-0 record of course, the Raiders kept to the same script when it came to knocking off Susquehanna Township as they did in Week 2, a repeat occurrence of the end result from last November’s District 3-4A championship tilt, before an absolute drubbing of perennial powerhouse Wyomissing last Saturday afternoon, on the Spartans’ home field no less, in an emphatic 42-14 triumph that most certainly opened up even more eyes both locally and abroad.
But, as Twin Valley will discover soon enough in about a month and a half once the postseason gets underway, the Raiders will have to get acclimated to a revamped 5A playoff bracket that will feature new names and faces. Fittingly, so too will their league slate, as TV also got the nod to head up a rung of the Lancaster-Lebanon League ladder this year too in jumping up to Section 3 and leaving behind their former Section 4 mates.
And could they have possibly a more apropos “Welcome To Section 3” moment than what awaited them on Friday night for the first night of league play?
For as successful as Twin Valley has been of late, Manheim Central’s lineage takes a back seat to no one, certainly inside both the L-L and District 3 landscape, but arguably statewide as well. But this season, simply playing the game of football has taken on even greater significance for the Barons as a whole in the aftermath of an off-the-field scandal that reverberated throughout the program, prompting nearly the entire coaching staff to be turned over, and even some lingering doubts for a time if even this 2026 season would even be played at all.
Yet through it all, under direction now of head coach Matt Heiser, fresh into this football-crazed town after leading the Gettysburg Warriors for the last handful of seasons in taking the Barons’ job once the vacancy opened up in the summer, Manheim Central had put together one of the more intriguing nonconference runs through the season’s first three weeks.
First, an impressive takedown of 6A Chambersburg on the road back on opening night to the tune of a 24-19 verdict before last week’s demonstrative 41-3 shellacking of another Mid-Penn opponent, East Pennsboro, in the home opener for the new-look Barons.
But for as noticeable as Weeks 1 & 3 had been in the positive realm for Manheim Central, so too was their Week 2 showing, albeit for an entirely different reason, as Central made the short trek westward and took it squarely on the chin against Elizabethtown, 46-13.
So, would Manheim Central be able to put together their first instance of impressive back-to-back showings in 2026 by securing what would be a seismic and landmark victory in the newly minted Heiser era that would come in ruining Twin Valley’s trip to Elden Rettew Stadium, or would this just end up being another case of the Raiders heading home to Elverson with another pelt to hang up on their wall.
In the end, while it may not have been their most glamorous of performances put forth, it was still a decisive victory nonetheless – one going in favor of the team with its goals set for a return visit back to state championship weekend this December.
Not sterling perhaps in the fact that it was rather clunky and cumbersome at times from Twin Valley’s perspective considering how the Raiders were hit with a bevy of penalties tagged against them all throughout Friday night’s affair.
Ironically, the very first play itself could’ve been a harbinger of things to come seeing as how a 98-yard kickoff return for a score on the game’s opening play brought the proceedings all the way back while quickly throwing cold water on any of the visitors’ best laid plans out of the chute.
However, those with the most obvious starring roles in this one were most certainly the starting 11 and subsequent rotational players who spelled said starters on the defensive side of the football for Twin Valley on Friday night.
And never was that more apparent than when TV’s Lucas Myers, bound for Villanova once his senior season in a Raiders’ uniform comes to a close in just a few months, snared an errant Manheim Central pass over the middle on the Barons’ first possession, with Myers allowing he and his offensive crew to set up shop at the Central 37-yard line following his thievery.
Speaking of Myers, he would remain on the key ingredients in this Twin Valley concoction, this time on the offensive side of the ball, as a direct snap to him on a 4th & 3 play following the aforementioned takeaway allowed TV to move the sticks and keep this series moving forward.
From there, the scoring honors would come in the form of another of the Raiders’ bruising backs standing alongside Myers, Maverik Foster, as the converted quarterback from last year’s state runner-up squad bounced around the left side of the TV line for the 7-yard touchdown jaunt which made it a 6-0 Raiders’ cushion with 5:49 left in the opening frame once the PAT was blocked by the Manheim Central special teams unit.
Then, after thwarting the ensuing Manheim Central series in punctuating show of a three-and-out, the ground and pound methodology of Twin Valley football was on clear display.
A sizable chunk run by Alain Bazile. Myers then keeping his legs churning for a successful pair of third down conversion runs, both of the 5-yard variety. And suddenly, after the latest in that Myers’ bunch, Twin Valley looked up and found themselves on the precipice of entering the Manheim Central redzone.
But there would be no need to actually enter.
No, not when Brody Majeski had snuck behind the Barons’ defense like he was the first man out to practice as the 27-yard pitch and catch touchdown as Gavan Foster, brother of Maverik who just so happens to be this season’s starting quarterback, lobbed it up to Majeski as the pair’s connection made it a 12-0 Twin Valley cushion upon entering the second quarter after yet another Raiders’ PAT was if not blocked, certainly deflected, as one area that requires further brushing up following this affair certainly came into focus for Twin Valley.
Yet the flags continued to be to Twin Valley’s detriment.
Case in point, the visitors getting hit with three consecutive yellow hankies over the span of three consecutive offensive plays their ensuing series following their most recent score, ultimately creating a 3rd & 20 scenario which led to prompt three-and-out with the Barons set to enjoy fortuitous field position following the punt.
However, did we mention how stifling the Twin Valley defense was in this one?
As if to be right on cue, TV’s Joey Buckley proceeded to break through the Barons’ line on the first play following the punt, leading to a monstrous sack from his defensive lineman position that then put the hosts well behind the sticks. In fact, Buckley’s hostile act towards the MC offense helped create what would become yet another Barons’ three-and-out, their third in a row, with Twin Valley poised to do even more damage once they regained possession.
But the damage would instead be self-inflicted.
Here, even despite the good juju that came in the form of a pair receptions hauled in by way of senior tight end, Jayce Oliver, which had quickly put the Raiders back on the Barons’ side of the field at the 40-yard in next to no time at all, a high snap flipped the field in one fell swoop, as a sizable Twin Valley loss that ended in Jahziel Morales making the stop for MC created a 3rd & 31 attempt for the guests which they ultimately did not convert.
All told, while Twin Valley was winning the game within the game, it was still a very ho-hum and modest looking 12-0 gap between themselves and their hosts, who had not yet crossed the midfield stripe mind you, with time running thin on the first half of play. Suffice to say, a productive final drive of the half would be exactly what the doctor had ordered for the Raiders should they find it.
Sure enough, a tidy and timely 62-yard procession down the field with all of 30 seconds remaining prior to the halftime break did more than allow Twin Valley to simply head into the dressing room with the wind of a 19-0 lead at their back following the first successful PAT of the night once booted through the pipes courtesy of Ben Roswick, but it simultaneously took the wind of the Barons’ collective sails as well following what was a game-altering Jayce Oliver 5-yard TD reception shortly before the horn.
Yet while a brand-new half of football was about to commence, some things weren’t about to change – namely Twin Valley’s ferocity in halting Manheim Central at any and every turn offensively.
In fact, after yielding nothing more than three plays and punt to MC out of the intermission, déjà vu was in full effect at the start of this half just as it had been at the start of the contest once Lucas Myers, the same player who had ended the Barons’ initial offensive series of the contest by way of an interception, traded in his linebacker hat for his rusher position on the special teams unit this time around as Myers’ deflection on the subsequent Manheim Central punt allowed Twin Valley’s offense to take the field all of 20 yards away from paydirt.
And just like the icing on a cake, Myers was able to revel in some of the sweet spoils he himself had helped create just moments earlier as his powerful 11-yard touchdown run, complete with the added visual of dragging would-be Barons’ tacklers along with him along into the endzone, upped the lead out to a 25-0 count with 8:47 left to play in the third.
However, while that same 25-0 gap would be what Twin Valley carried with them upon entering the final stanza on Friday night, it was still a little rough around the edges. Not the least of which included another promising Raiders’ drive hit the skids in the waning stages of the penultimate period with an untimely fumble, quickly pounced upon by Manheim Central senior defensive lineman, Sean Miguel, ending a possible TV scoring drive deep inside Barons’ territory.
In the fourth though, Twin Valley would slam the door shut for good.
Truth be told, it would take the white-clad Raiders all of 16 seconds to do so once inside the final frame as a 5-yard touchdown dash standing up by way of Maverik Foster, his second TD scamper of the evening, made it a 32-0 buffer following a confident PAT knocked home by senior kicker, Adam Phillips.
Then, after holding the Barons to yet another three-and-out on MC’s ensuing series following this most recent Foster score just for good measure, the exclamation mark on this evening was sealed once Alain Bazile dashed his way home for the 7-yard TD run of his own inside the waning minutes as Twin Valley was able to board the buses back home happy following this 39-0 decision at the hands of Manheim Central, the first home shutout loss for Manheim Central since 2011 per MCBaronsFootball.com, yet while also knowing full well that they are far from being the finished product of themselves. Considering that next week marks the halfway point of the regular season slate, that’s certainly not a bad place to reside mentally.
“In the end, our guys played hard,” Twin Valley head coach Brett Myers said postgame. “When you’re aggressive, sometimes things get called, and that’s okay,” he said in reference to his club’s eight penalties whistled on the night, a number nearly half of what they had accrued in total yet this season. “We’re still going to be physical and we’re still going to be aggressive.”
“But we have to be better. We just have to improve and be a little more disciplined. We can’t put balls on the ground and do some of the things we did tonight,” Myers continued. “We missed some opportunities with our fastball stuff, but our tempo was good. (Manheim Central) has 30 guys dressed and we have 50. We’re gonna go as fast we can. Even if (tempo) isn’t successful, it kind of eventually wears the other team down. So, what do we have to do? Clean up the mistakes, keep playing hard, and not be happy or satisfied with where we’re at.”
And he himself would know better than most anyone. After all, with last season’s trip to the state finals in leading Twin Valley to the season’s final summit, that marked Myers’ fourth trip to grand finale in the last ten seasons when accounting for his three consecutive ventures in leading Middletown there from 2016-2018. Two public schools in Middletown and Twin Valley which quite frankly aren’t exactly known as football hotbeds. So, what’s this magic formula that he has seemed to unlock that others would certainly like to steal and emulate? Turns out, it’s not really magic at all. Instead, it’s pretty much just keeping the main thing the main thing – football and nothing but.
“You have to be really, really disciplined, and you have to know how to tackle and block,” Myers offered simply in what he assesses his programs’ success to. “What I mean by that is coaching discipline,” said Myers. “We don’t vary much. We block and we tackle two days a week. We’re not a walkthrough program,” he added. “Even when we practice in half pads, it’s still a physical practice…We just practice fast. We haven’t run conditioning since the last week of July I think it was. Hey, when they’re 16, 17-year-olds, they can go on forever,” he said with humor.
“Honestly, it’s not a hard thing. We’re still using a lot of the same plans from the 80’s & 90’s, but just modernizing it a little bit. It’s the same stuff. And it works. It works pretty well.”
It most certainly has. And if it works well enough again, provided that he sees the necessary improvements required from now until then, maybe this Twin Valley train’s final stop will yet again be at the Cumberland Valley junction on a cold Friday night in December. This time, maybe bringing home the crown jewel of the state’s football prize back with them to those very same quiet rolling hills nestled inside of eastern Berks County.