The Twin Valley Raiders’ flawless season continues Friday at Mifflin County High School in Lewistown, where they will take on the District 7 champions, the Aliquippa Quips.
The Raiders (13–0) captured the District 3 title last Friday, defeating top-seeded Susquehanna Township 41–21 at ELCO in another dominant performance.
Senior Drew Engle finished with 279 yards rushing and three touchdowns on 31 carries, continuing his outstanding season.
Defensively, the Raiders recorded two interceptions and three sacks, helping them pull away in the second half.
“Really good week of practice so far,” Raiders coach Brett Myers said of his team’s preparation. “Kids have had a really good mindset these last two days, and it’s been a good week. Obviously, everybody has a little bit of pep in their step coming off on Friday, but our guys have kind of moved on already and really dove into Aliquippa.”
But this week, much like the past month, Twin Valley faces another tough opponent.
The Quips (10–3) from District 7 in western Pennsylvania defeated Oil City 28-6 in their quarterfinal matchup.
This season, the Quips’ defense has allowed just over 12 points per game, giving up more than 20 points only twice.
But similar to the Susquehanna Township defense that entered last week’s matchup humming and shutting opponents down, the Raiders have the offensive firepower to counter a good, even great, defense.
Through 13 weeks, Twin Valley has averaged 52 points per game while racking up more than 400 yards of offense on average.
Leading the way is Engle, who is approaching the 2,000-yard mark this season, totaling 1,855 yards and 31 touchdowns.
When the senior breaks off long runs and consistently pounds the defense, opponents have struggled to slow down the standout running back.
Even when Engle needs a breather, Lucas Myers steps in, and the Raiders’ offense, led by a strong offensive line, doesn’t miss a beat.
Lucas Myers, son of coach Brett Myers, recently surpassed the 1,000-yard mark, totaling 1,098 yards heading into the state semifinals. He has also scored 21 touchdowns this season.
On defense, the Raiders allow just 10 points and slightly over 160 yards per game.
They’ll need another strong performance against an offense capable of moving the ball both through the air and on the ground.
“They’re a power offense, but they can spread it out. The quarterback (Marques Council Jr.) is going to Yale. He’s really good,” Myers said. “But they like to run the ball, and they have some big, physical offensive linemen to run behind.”
Council is another dual-threat quarterback that Twin Valley will have to slow down.
Last week against Susquehanna Township, Torin Evans completed 9 of 19 passes for 181 yards and a touchdown. On the ground, he added 123 yards and another touchdown on 17 carries.
Numbers can be misleading, though, as Evans struggled to consistently find open receivers downfield against the Raiders secondary.
But heading into their matchup with the Quips, the Raiders’ defense will need to contain and limit Council’s scrambles to extend plays.
“Defensively, their defensive line stands out on film as being really, really good football players,” Brett Myers said. “They do a good job of keeping their linebackers clean and letting their linebackers run the ball. I would expect to see a very physical football team come Friday night.”
Brett Myers is no stranger to Aliquippa; his 2018 Middletown squad fell 35–0 to them in that year’s state championship.
Myers made three state playoff appearances as Middletown’s coach, reaching the championship game each time. His teams fell to Beaver Falls 30–13 in 2016, Quaker Valley 41–24 in 2017, and Aliquippa 35–0 in 2018.
The Quips have made 13 state playoff appearances and have won five championships, most recently in 2023 with a 60–14 victory over Dallas.
“We exchanged three films. No different than the other playoff games,” Myers said when asked about preparing for a team you rarely face. “We played Susquehanna last year, but they were a different team this year. West York and West Perry, we never played before, so we just take experience from those three films.”
“We break it down the best we can and let the guys study. We talked before about the maturity of our players, and they truly understand the mental preparation that goes into playing at a high level. When you see where we’re at practice, you can see they’re doing the same thing this week.”
The winner of the Twin Valley-Aliquippa matchup will face either Southern Lehigh or Cardinal O’Hara for the state championship at 7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 4, at Cumberland Valley High School.
