Twin Valley defeats Conrad Weiser in high school football

Sep. 10—Twin Valley coach Brett Myers called Jaydon Goebel "a closer, a 210-pound closer."

And the battering-ram senior certainly was that Friday night.

Goebel's 50-yard run late in the fourth quarter helped seal the Raiders' 28-16 non-league football victory over visiting Conrad Weiser in an entertaining game full of big plays and emotional swings.

"Offensive line," said the 6-2 Goebel of his big play. "They opened up the hole for me and I hit it. There was nobody there and I ran as fast as my big body could."

On the play following Goebel's run on a second-and-9 from the Raiders' 37, Evan Myers scored from 13 yards with 2:31 left to clinch it.

Goebel's run was the final plot twist.

Conrad Weiser (1-2) had controlled the second half and, down 21-16, was driving for the go-ahead score when Sevon Parham (97 yards on 21 carries) ran for 3 yards to set up what appeared to be a third-and-3 at the Raiders' 18.

But following that play, the Scouts were called for a personal foul. That third-and-3 all of sudden was third-and-18. Donovan Gingrich's pass was intercepted by Evan Johnson on the ensuing play.

"It's a shame, you know," Weiser coach Alan Moyer said. "The kids work hard and to have a game decided by something like that."

At that point, the Raiders (2-1) turned to Goebel, who finished with a career-high 118 yards on 15 carries.

He ran the ball, mostly blasting up the middle, four straight times, picking up one first down and setting up that second-and-9.

On his decisive run, he went right, then cut back to the left, breaking into the open before getting caught.

"He knows how to get north and south," Brett Myers said. "And the nice changeup was that he was able to push it to the sideline and then get north and south, and that makes a difference."

Early on it didn't look like the Raiders would need any late heroics.

After forcing a three-and-out by Weiser following the opening kickoff, Twin Valley drove 67 yards in eight plays to go up 7-0. Evan Myers connected with Everett Olsen on a 39-yard pass on the drive before scoring on a 15-yard run.

On its next possession, Twin Valley went 80 yards in six plays, with Josh Zolty scoring on a 36-yard pass from Evan Myers to make it 14-0.

The Raiders appeared headed for another score after recovering the ball at the Weiser 35 following an errant snap, but Myers fumbled it back to Weiser two plays later.

Three plays after that it was 14-7 as Josh Miller scored on a 72-yard pass from Gingrich.

Twin Valley quickly went back up by 14 as Drew Engle returned the kickoff 87-yards for a TD.

Then it was Weiser's turn for a big play as Gingrich hit Miller for a 49-yard reception that set up a 37-yard field goal by Adam Noll to make it 21-10.

The Scouts could have gotten closer, but another botched snap on a third-and-4 play from the Raiders' 14 turned into a 12-yard loss. Noll's 43-yard field goal attempt was blocked.

"They had the momentum," Brett Myers said. "We had the momentum. They had the momentum. We had the momentum."

For much of the second half, Weiser appeared to have the momentum.

The Scouts got within 21-16 on Parham's 7-yard touchdown run with 5:50 left in the third quarter, but the Raiders kept it a two-possession game by stopping Gingrich on the two-point conversion run.

On its next possession, Weiser faced a third-and-1 at the Twin Valley 39, but a false start penalty and a sack by Ben Spiri ended that drive.

Again, the Scouts kept the Raiders from getting anything going offensively, giving Weiser what ended up being its final chance to take the lead.

"Kids really came out and played a second half for us." Moyer said. "I was proud of that. The learning lesson here is you gotta play all four quarters.

"I think I challenged them at halftime that that's not the team we are, the way we played that second quarter and some of the first half, and challenged them to come out and win the second half and be physical, and I think we did."

Brett Myers also talked about teaching moments and was pleased with how his team responded when things didn't go their way.

"What a great learning experience for them," Myers said. "It's great to win 49-0, but we probably learned more tonight than if we would've won 49-0.

"It's a safe environment to deal with adversity. We have 50 kids in there that'll be able to reflect on this, whether they're in a classroom, at a job, dealing with a problem at home, they can reflect on this and go, 'Well things were going bad and I just stayed the course and did my part. Things came out of it right.' "

For Goebel, it was a night he'll remember.

After being on the team as a freshman, he didn't go out as a sophomore or junior before opting to return this season at the urging of Brett Myers.

"He is such a convincing guy, such a powerful dude," Goebel said. "He wanted me to come back. He was asking me and finally I was like, 'It's senior year. I want to have fun. I want to make memories and that's what he's doing for me.

"This is something I'm never going to forget, absolutely."