Engle piled up 281 yards and 3 TD on 31 carries. The Army lacrosse commit holds school records for single-season rushing yards (1,855) and career rushing yards (3,971). “He’s a great leader. He’s a great guy to be around. [He] holds people accountable and just wants to be better than he was yesterday,” replied Foster. The 5’11, 185-pound senior also owns Twin Valley’s record for career touchdowns with 60. Engle’s 2-yard TD run tied the game at 7-7 after Xavier Rivera broke free for a 61-yard score on the opening series. Engle raced 35 yards on the Raiders’ first play from scrimmage and he was just getting warmed up. He added a 30-yard run on their second possession. Myers capped off that 43-yard drive with a 5-yard touchdown run. Seven minutes into the contest, there were already 21 combined points on the scoreboard. That wasn’t a big surprise. Twin Valley entered the night averaging 53 points and Susquehanna Township was putting up 42 ppg.

Torin Evans, who decommitted from Marist this week, showed off his elusiveness with a nifty 20-yard touchdown scamper that made it 14-14 with 8:33 left in the second quarter. That score was set up by Evans’ 40-yard pass to Steph Malette. Evans only threw five interceptions in the Indians’ first twelve games, but he was picked off by Grant Moser and James Alexy in the first half. The 6’, 175-pound southpaw ended the season with 37 touchdown passes and another 13 rushing scores. Evans launched a 67-yard TD pass to Syracuse commit Zi’khere Leaks with 42 seconds remaining in the first half. The third-seeded Raiders responded 22 seconds later when Engle sprinted down the right sideline for a 52-yard touchdown. The extra point was no good so the top-seeded Indians were in front 21-20 at halftime.

Foster noted that his coaches and the leaders on the team told him to calm down during the break. He acknowledged that he couldn’t get into a rhythm in the first 24 minutes. The 5’11, 175-pound sophomore made some pivotal plays in the second half. Foster connected with Ben Grundy over the middle for a 55-yard touchdown pass less than two minutes into the third quarter. Twin Valley held a 27-21 advantage before embarking on a 16-play, 82-yard drive that lasted eight and a-half minutes. On fourth-and-3, Foster faked an inside handoff to Engle and ran 24 yards down the left sideline to put the Raiders on top 34-21 with 10:34 to go. “Coach Myers trusted me to make reads so we ran the RPO [run-pass option]. Joey Buckley had a great block for me, Drew Engle carried out his fake, and I saw the lane and took off,” explained Foster. On Twin Valley’s next series, Engle went 32 yards off the left side for a touchdown on fourth-and-6. The Raiders were in firm control at 41-21 with 6:22 to play.

Susquehanna Township got inside the 5-yard line with four minutes left, but Foster and Ryan Rementer came up with sacks to turn the Indians away. Myers, a 215-pound junior, racked up a team-high ten tackles. He also ran for 78 yards and a touchdown on 19 carries. Rementer, who plays next to Myers at linebacker, added nine tackles. Junior defensive end Andrew Cabigas and Keenan Munn chipped in with seven tackles apiece. Susquehanna Township had 391 total yards, but couldn’t score in the second half. The Indians fell to (0-4) all-time in District 3 championship games.

Foster was an efficient 4-of-6 for 74 yards. The first-year starter is completing 72% of his passes this season. He’s thrown for 1,219 yards with 16 TD passes and no interceptions. The Raiders will take on 5-time state champion Aliquippa next week in the PIAA-4A semifinals. “I’m proud of every single person on this team. I love every single one of them. I wouldn’t want to do it with any other people, but we got two more weeks of grinding,” said Foster.

The Indians are also searching for their first District 3 title. They stunned fourth-seeded Wyomissing 37-35 in the semifinals. Evans scrambled to his left before finding Josh Nengite in the end zone for a 15-yard TD on the final play. Nengite, who’s headed to Temple, is a standout on defense. The 6’3, 205-pound linebacker leads Susquehanna Township in tackles with 81. Evans also has a pair of 6’2 wide receivers to target in a passing attack that averages 226 yards per contest. Jarrett Kern has a team-high 46 catches for 724 yards and nine scores. Syracuse commit Zi’khere Leaks has provided 38 receptions for 629 yards and 10 TD. Running back Rakhi Seville, a 5’8 senior, has chipped in with 741 rushing yards and 15 touchdowns. Twin Valley fell behind #2 seed West York 14-0 last week before reeling off 45 unanswered points. “The teams get better as we keep winning. We know that if we get down 14-0 again, it’s gonna be a lot harder to come back this time,” replied Engle.

The third-seeded Raiders haven’t had to play from behind very often this fall. They’ve dominated almost all of their opponents during a historic year. Twin Valley went unbeaten in the regular season for the first time in the program’s 29-year history. The (12-0) Raiders are putting up an eye-popping 53.3 points a night while allowing just 9.1 ppg. Engle has set school records with 3,690 career rushing yards and 57 touchdowns. “I’m pretty proud, but I wouldn’t have been able to do it without my offensive line. They’re fantastic at what they do,” he emphasized. Twin Valley’s front five averages 279 pounds. “They’re some of our hardest workers and you can see them improve throughout the year. They keep getting better week by week and it’s awesome to watch them improve as a unit,” remarked Engle. The Army lacrosse commit is averaging 10.4 yards per carry this season with 28 TD. He needs just 26 yards to top his single-season school record of 1,599 rushing yards. Engle is joined in the backfield by 215-pound junior Lucas Myers. He’s added 1,020 yards and 20 TD while averaging a lofty 11.2 yards per pop.

The Raiders are piling up 399 yards per game and 293 of that total comes on the ground. Maverick Foster has been extremely efficient in his first year as the starting quarterback. The sophomore is completing 72% of his attempts without a single interception. “He’s doing fantastic. He’s done a great job. He works super hard at practice,” noted Engle. Foster has thrown for 1,145 yards and 15 touchdowns.

Susquehanna Township’s defensive line features Coastal Carolina commit Yendor Mack and Jayden Riley. Mack (6’3, 295) leads the Indians with ten tackles for loss and four sacks. Riley (5’10, 290) has racked up 50 tackles including 6.5 TFL. Steph Malette and Jasani Brown have combined for six interceptions. Brown, a 6’2 junior with 42 tackles, has offers from Old Dominion and Akron. They’re joined in the secondary by Kern who’s an invaluable piece to the puzzle for Susquehanna Township.

Two of the premier Class 4A squads in Pennsylvania will square off on Friday. Kickoff is set for 7pm at ELCO. The Raiders are ranked first in the state by PennLive. The Indians aren’t far behind at #4 in the statewide poll. They met in the District 3-4A quarterfinals a season ago with Twin Valley prevailing 47-19. “We can’t wait. We’re super excited for this game,” said Engle.