Twin Valley Program, 2025 Season, Continue Rapid Upward Ascension As State-Ranked Raiders Run Through Simon Gratz En Route To 3-0 Record

This is usually a cyclical beast to try and wrestle with. If you’re a public school, you probably know this far too well.

For most schools, the world of high school athletics is one that can have more peaks than Mount Everest and more lows than Death Valley. Find a good nucleus of kids to try and work with as they come up through the ranks of your feeder system and you’ve struck whatever the scholastic version of gold feels like. On the other hand, if you’re devoid of either numbers or talent – worse yet if you’re absent of either – and you’re fighting an uphill battle for years on end.

But your fate doesn’t have to be dictated on who leaves each spring with a diploma wearing a cap and gown.

In Lancaster-Lebanon League football circles, some schools have bucked the trend of worrying what a graduation will do for a roster, much less a program at large. Manheim Central, Wilson, and Wyomissing are probably the best proven standard-bearers of what that perennial success looks like over the decades. There are of course those who are quickly proving themselves to be of that same ilk. Schools like Cocalico, Governor Mifflin, Lampeter-Strasburg, and Manheim Township are just a small handful within that crop that come to mind, name dropping just a very few specifically– with plenty of others hot on their heels also rapidly climbing up the ranks with signs of enjoying long-term staying power.

Like, say Twin Valley perhaps.

Coming into the 2024 season, the buzz surrounding the Raiders’ program was palpable enough to feel in all points both near and far from the school’s campus in Elverson. And to their credit, especially in the early portion of last year’s slate in particular, Twin Valley somehow exceeded those expectations. In fact, heading into the start of L-L Section Four play at this time a year ago, Twin Valley was tabbed as the #3 ranked team in all of Pennsylvania high school football in terms of the 4A ranks by Pennlive. Coming out the chute at 3-0 and winning by a 42-point margin probably didn’t hurt their case either of course. All told, while a 9-3 record would be the final tally for the 2024 edition of the Twin Valley Raiders, don’t find fault with them if they might have felt as if they had left some meat on that bone come the end of last season’s campaign—most likely due to the fact that TV ended the campaign absent of any championship status despite such a torrid start.

And that probably felt even more pronounced when you consider the likes of those who departed the program heading into 2025.

Four-year starting quarterback in Evan Myers who is essentially the author of the school’s record book by his lonesome? Off to showcase his talents at Kutztown U these days. Stalwart on the line who flashed enough to catch the eye of a service academy? Aris Drake is now a Navy Midshipman. And if that wasn’t already enough, how about the program’s all-time leader in touchdowns, Evan Johnson, now being an alum of the school in his own right. Mind you, if this was somehow just a three-man senior class with that triumvirate right there, that alone would be pretty difficult to try and replace you’d think. Psst, that’s not even counting the other four who made L-L League All-Conference last season.

So, probably a dip coming into this year, right? Nah. Doesn’t seem that way from here.

We might only be entering the third week of this season, but Twin Valley seems to have picked up right where the 2024 squad had left off.

Besides a 2-0 record heading into their game against Simon Gratz on Friday night back at their home confines, how about winning those affairs by a combined clip of 108-19 against the likes of perennial powers in their own right, Berks Catholic and Selinsgrove, respectively.

And this isn’t not for nothing either.

To be frank, there hasn’t been a better time to be inside the Twin Valley football program. Ever. Presently, the Raiders are enjoying their most fruitful levels of success here and now these last couple of autumns. And not to bury the lede any further here, but having a guy in charge who has demonstrated himself to be nothing but a proven winner –something best evidenced by taking Middletown, another public school, to three straight state championship games from 2016-18 – shouldn’t be a mystery as to why this somewhat sleepy town perhaps best known as being as exit along the PA Turnpike has quickly become a football-crazed community somewhat overnight. Fortunately for Twin Valley, they just so happened to have one of the state’s best program builders, Brett Myers, residing quite literally in their own backyard once the job opened up prior to the 2022 season. Since then, a 27-10 overall record probably doesn’t accurately depict how far this program has risen.

But as any coach will tell you, you’re only as good as your next performance.

In Twin Valley’s case, while Simon Gratz came calling upon them while hailing from the Philadelphia Public League despite an 0-2 overall mark without having yet tallied a point to their name this season, go ahead and dare doubt any competitor from Philly at your own peril. That’s especially true when talking about a Bulldogs’ program that walked away with last year’s 3A Public League championship after defeating School of the Future, even having the distinction of being formally honored by Philadelphia’s City Council for their achievement at a ceremony this past February.

Yet for a team once again pegged with a state ranking next to their name — #10 in this instance entering this week as published by Pennlive – the fact of the matter was that Twin Valley quickly proved on Friday night as to why every bit of acclaim they have garnered thus far has been totally justified.

If fast starts are what you’re looking for, how about the game’s first play? No, not the first play from scrimmage. Like the literal first play of the game as in the opening kickoff.

For the hosts, the party couldn’t have gotten started any faster than when Twin Valley’s burner of a running back, Drew Engle, put his mitts on the bounding ball and quickly raced back to the house for jaw-dropping 89 yard kickoff return for a score – never getting touched while en route – as Twin Valley found themselves with ownership of a 7-0 lead all of a dozen seconds in following a Nate Shaffer PAT.

But forget describing that Engle TD as some sort of early punch in a back-and-forth foray. That was really the dam bursting for the rest of the night.

In fact, after holding Simon Gratz to a prompt three-and-out on the Bulldogs’ initial offensive series, Engle’s second touch of the evening, this from his traditional residency within the Raiders’ backfield, was all of an ankle tackle away from being two touches and two scores on the young evening. Instead, Engle would have to settle for three touches and two touchdowns at that time as a timely two-play, 33-yard drive, capped off with a 3-yard touchdown toss to Engle, made it a 14-0 TV bulge up on the scoreboard with still 9:41 left to play in the opening frame.

Then, after stymying Simon Gratz to their second series of three plays and punt their next time with the football, yet another short Twin Valley field would be awaiting the Raiders’ offensive troops following a short Bulldogs’ punt back to them.

This time, it took Twin Valley all of one play to find paydirt once more as a quick pop pass perfectly executed to a fast-moving Ben Grundy coming down the line motion just as quickly made it a 21-0 contest a Grundy’s 31- yard touchdown reception which preceded Shaffer’s third PAT of the contest made it clear the relative drama on this night would at best be short-lived. And that’s before we even mention the 8:21 still left outstanding on the first quarter clock.

At this point, Twin Valley’s night at the office looked like this—Four plays possessing the football whether it be on special teams or offense, three touchdowns scored. Proficient wouldn’t even be a strong enough word to describe what was happening.

And as if things couldn’t have been going in Twin Valley’s favor any more by that point, the ensuing offensive series for Simon Gratz would just make this opening period even more bananas.

Forget about authoring another quick Bulldogs’ possession courtesy of their defense. Why not end it before the punt team even has to come onto the field? Well, Maverik Foster must’ve been thinking that same thing as a deflected pass bounced off hands and bodies before ending up in the hands of the Raiders’ quarterback now turned defensive back on this play as Foster’s 35-yard pick six following the ball’s carom ballooned the TV cushion out to a 28-0 difference with literally a full 1:10 left before the first quarter even reached it’s halfway point. Yes, that now signifying that Twin Valley had scored touchdowns from all three phrases of their operation. Talk about playing complimentary football.

What’s that point-per-play stat looking like? Could it actually get better? Somehow, yes. Yes, it would.

Now, beginning only their second offensive series despite somehow already owning a four-touchdown lead, Twin Valley’s propensity for striking quickly didn’t go away. In fact, it took the hosts all of one play once more to travel 60 yards as a dart thrown from Foster in the shotgun to a streaking Patrick Shanahan down the TV sideline bumped the score out to a 35-0 count following a Grant Moser fumble recovery which had just extinguished what was the most promising Gratz march at that point all evening. Oh yeah, exactly halfway down with the opening period at this point—6:00 on the nose.

So, four offensive plays from scrimmage, three scores tallied. Why not keep the pace alive and well?

Incredibly, after ending Simon Gratz’s very next offensive drive with yet another takeaway, this one courtesy of an Engle theft in the form of an interception, Twin Valley set up shop at their own 18-yard line in earnest.

Make it five offensive plays from scrimmage, four scores tallied.

In this instance, Lucas Myers found himself the beneficiary of the current Raiders’ snowball rolling downhill as just one successful ankle-breaking tackle was all that was required of TV’s stocky 6’1 210lb running back before hitting the hole and bidding adieu as Myers’ 82-yard scamper made it a 42-0 affair with 5:18 still left in the game’s first period.

But with five minutes and change still left to expire, that seemed like oodles of time still left at Twin Valley’s disposal to try and write another scoring play.

Here, after already starting to churn through the roster given the game’s outcome already a forgone conclusion by that point, Alain Bazile found himself to have the honors of toting the rock when called upon. And to Bazile’s credit, he too would deliver the goods for his squad as his 44-yard touchdown gallop on the Raiders’ next offensive drive made it a 49-0 lead on the heels of Nate Shaffer’s seventh PAT booted home, a score that would miraculously hold firm despite 2:26 still left at the hands of a TV club playing as close to a perfect iteration of football that a team could possibly best exemplify.

Needless to say, Simon Gratz needed something, literally “something” taking on the form of anything at all, to swing momentum in their favor to try and stop the already gushing wound Twin Valley had opened just a dozen minutes in. Fortunately for guests from donning the Georgia Bulldogs logo – and color schemed uniforms to boot – good fortune would finally shine up Simon Gratz inside the second quarter.

In that regard, after pouncing on a Twin Valley fumble in the endzone with the Raiders destined it seemed to tally yet another six-point addition up on the scoreboard, Simon Gratz would instead take their turn following the touchback.

80 yards. That’s the length of the march that the Simon Gratz Bulldogs put together to score their first points of the season. And hey, when you can dial up on an explosive play to assist in the cause, why not?

For that, look no further than Gratz’s junior wideout, Brandon Smith, getting behind the TV secondary and coming away with a monstrous 51-yard reception which in turn propelled the Bulldogs down to the Raiders’ 32-yard line. From there, Gratz went back to the friendly skies as junior quarterback, Amin Alexander, lofted a pretty deep ball to a willing and able Malachi Williams standing underneath it as the 6’2 senior receiver scored the Bulldogs’ first points of 2025 by virtue of his 32-yard touchdown reception which made it a 49-8 game with 3:12 left in the first half following a successful 2pt try from the pair which had kick-started this drive off as Alexander’s pass to a diving Smith put the cherry on top of Gratz’s most fruitful drive yet to date this season.

Yet if things couldn’t have gone any better for Twin Valley up until that point, how about a second special teams trip into the endzone throughout the game’s first two dozen minutes?

That wish would be granted on the ensuing kickoff following Gratz’s score as Vaughn Zielinski picked up the pill along the turf and then raced back to the house for Twin Valley’s second kickoff return for a score found within the first half on Friday night.

All told, following what was a dizzying first half display that could only be labeled as an utterly thorough display of ball put forth by the Raiders, maybe the best evidence of it all was found emblazoned on the board for all the read once both teams retired for the halftime recess with Twin Valley holding serve with a mammoth-sized 55-6 lead to their benefit.

Come the start of the second half, mercy rule in full effect, the number of opportunities for either team to find scoring chances figured to be in short supply. Or so one would think.

In short, after receiving the opening kickoff to begin the third quarter, Simon Gratz effectively moved and plodded their way down the field from 70 yards out. And courtesy of some nice runs that sprung for gains of 25 and 23 yards respectively from their powerfully built junior tailback, Jamir Jones, it apropos that Jones would be the benefactor in sealing the deal as his 11-yard touchdown dash made it a 55-14 ballgame once the Bulldogs hogged the ball for nearly the entirety of the third frame as evidenced by all of 1:56 remaining.

Then, making up for lost time, Twin Valley quickly made triumphant returns back to the endzone once the final stanza got underway. Yes, as in plural.

First up in those proceedings, a 30-yard touchdown jaunt by way of Bayliss Brunacini, making it a 61-14 affair as the Raiders then chose to graciously take a knee on the PAT attempt.

Later, continuing his nice night of work, Jamir Jones then retaliated with another nice run on the Bulldogs’ ensuing offensive possession, this of the 49-yard variety, which ultimately set up his second TD rush of the contest as Jones’ 5-yard plunge thereafter made it a 61-20 ballgame with 4:16 left to play.

But as was already demonstrated numerous times on this night, that was still plenty of time allotted to Twin Valley to yet again cross the chalk.

Sure enough, that’s the point on the field where the next Raiders’ series crossed as Brunacini rattled off a 62-yard tote right through the heart of Simon Gratz defense while going untouched, helping to put the exclamation point on what would amount to an emphatic 67-20 Twin Valley win heading into L-L section play beginning next week come the final gun.

Yet as marvelous and almost untouchable (in a very literal sense) that Twin Valley had seemed throughout the entirety of their Friday night showing en route to a 47-point victory that frankly wasn’t even that close, there’s more to it than just this one game. This is indeed a football operation right now sitting on incredibly solid footing to where performances like these shouldn’t be all that surprising. Their head coach certainly knows a thing or two about knowing what that looks like. He too likes where his company stands at this moment in time.

“I believe we’re in really good spot right now and I don’t believe that solely what’s based on the football field, but rather what’s going on in the weight room,” Twin Valley head man Brett Myers said postgame on Friday evening regarding the program at large. “We have kids now that are bought in to lifting. This is the strongest team we’ve had,” Myers continued of the team’s gains made in throwing the plates and barbells around. “There’s a bunch of underclassmen now doing those lifts, so it’s not a case of where the seniors move on and suddenly there’s no one left there. It’s a solid program in the weight room. The school’s committed to it too. We just hired another strength coach,” Myers added. “Yeah, right now, I would say the program is pretty healthy.”

Yet as Myers alluded to, he and his staff alone cannot go out and tangibly make the results happen once the lights are turned on come Friday evenings. That onus will have to come from the guys in pads and cleats. Fortunately for Twin Valley, that base too is covered.

“We have guys like Greyson Miller, four-year starter. Lucas Myers, three-year starter. Ben Grundy, three-year starter. There’s guys here that have kind of been groomed for this, really by the older guys, not necessarily by the coaches,” Myers said listing a few of his elder statesmen off by name. “They been around where they’ve heard the older guys say, ‘This is what we need to do.’ It’s been really fun to watch that. When things are right, then you get to watch that every year,” said Myers with an obvious tinge of pride knowing that the team is essentially policing itself internally.

And while some may see the score of Friday night’s game and roll their eyes as to how productive this outing truly was, don’t fall into that trap. There’s simply no substitute for getting game experience, especially when it counts for real in a varsity contest. You want to get a grizzled team? Have the starting units be selfless in handling their business early so that the entirety of the roster can cycle through in getting that precious game experience for long-term sustainability. For Twin Valley, that’s been the recipe they’ve relied upon in recent years. And that’s no accident.

“We don’t have a JV game on Monday, so that was essentially our JV game,” the Raiders’ coach said regarding a comprehensive participation chart here against Simon Gratz. “(His players) got three quarters worth of action against a varsity team that was physically big,” he remarked of the Bulldogs. “Tomorrow when we come in, those guys will get to see themselves on film for most of the time and learn a lot. That’s important. Other places I’ve been, when you can play 14, 15 weeks, those young getting those extra reps, that’s what builds everything up.”

Now, that becomes the next step for Twin Valley—playing well beyond the first few weeks of the postseason. They’ve now made that jump to where playing in the playoffs shouldn’t be treated as a novel achievement. And as was proven on Friday night at least, this is a program just waiting to truly pop. Maybe not if, but when.