Twin Valley Heads Into Holiday With Added Jolt As Raiders Suffocate E-town, Continue December With 3-0 Sweep Over L-L League Teams
Written by: Andy Herr on December 23, 2024
It’s just a couple of days before Christmas. Just a few more days until Santa leaves some presents underneath the tree. For high school basketball teams however, they’ll gladly take a prize on the 23rd as opposed to waiting until the 25th to open something up. And on a rare Monday afternoon high atop the village of Elverson, such an opportunity was awarded to a pair of teams who surely wouldn’t pass the chance to head into Christmas with even more excitement than normal provided they could get a win to start this holiday week off right.
For the E-town Bears, they’d certainly bite at the chance for this apple.
When describing their season, it’s been a bit of an up-and-down ride for the Bears thus far. For the positives, the high-water marks could certainly be found in a 2-0 start to begin the campaign with triumphs against Lebanon and Littlestown respectively.
But like any season, there are sometimes valleys after the peaks.
Despite their fast start out the chute — something that obviously gave Bears’ camp a bit of good juju and momentum to get out and rolling — it’s been a bit of a mixed bag since that point as evidenced by E-town’s 1-5 record in the ensuing six games afterwards and their lone win coming against Solanco, a Golden Mules team that was fresh off their own first win of the season prior to the start of last week.
Suffice to say, if they could head into the new calendar year of 2025 with an added pep in their step, similar to the one which they enjoyed trotting along with back in early December, would be a much-desired goal provided that the Bears could find a victory on Monday over in Berks County. The only problem was, much like in the spirit of Christmas, they were facing a team more than comfortable in their own skin when it came to starring in the role of Grinch as far as the Lancaster-Lebanon League was concerned.
Maybe it’s because their primary color is green, albeit a shade which is noticeably a tick or two darker than the that of the Dr. Suess character. But for whatever the reason is, hues of various greens involved or not, Twin Valley has been scooping up taking victories away from L-L foes all throughout this first month of the season.
In fact, while the Raiders came into the day with three victories overall so far to date, two of those had come against the likes of Northern Lebanon and Lancaster Catholic respectively, meaning that Twin Valley is a quasi-leader in some sort of L-L conference metric given their current 2-0 record against said foes. In short, when you add in the fact that their fellow Berks schools have been equally as inhospitable to the Raiders thus far in going 3-0 against them, it’s easy to reconcile as to why Twin Valley may have in some ways been overjoyed, like a youngster waking up on Christmas morning, to find an L-L team waiting there for them under their tree on Monday.
That said, playing the likes against Elizabethtown, a team which boosts arguably one of the best players in the league who routinely flies under everyone’s collective radar, Brandon Andrews, along with a solid young head coach in Lee Eckert leading the charge in front of this 6A, Section Two program, this almost certainly figured to be Twin Valley’s toughest test against a squad that makes its living inside the L-L borders.
But on Monday, there was no warm reception when it came to welcoming the visiting Bears into their house for this nonconference affair. In fact, Twin Valley played with that same Grinch-like emotion when it came to their performance that spanned the entire 32 minutes against E-town.
While both teams seemed to struggle getting out of the gates offensively – as is typically the case in these day games when school isn’t in session – it would’ve been understandable as to why a Kooper Zdimal triple which made it a 6-0 affair in Twin Valley’s favor with 4:10 left to play in the opening quarter seemed rather innocuous and somewhat innocent. Maybe not so much however once Raiders’ senior point guard, Evan Myers, was able to rise and fire in a smooth pullup jumper a few minutes later, making it a 10-0 Twin Valley bulge. But there most certainly was a serious predicament developing for E-town once Twin Valley 5’10 junior guard, Carter Schmidt, knocked home a J of his own on the Raiders’ ensuing offensive trip following the Myers’ bucket, prompting E-town into burning a timeout with 2:06 left in the first stanza while also peering up at a 12-0 deficit.
From there on out though, Twin Valley would only continue to flex their collective muscle as the game worn on.
Finally, certainly a moment too soon from their perspective and understandably so, Brandon Andrews was finally able to quench the Bears’ ongoing field goal thirst, knocking home E-town’s first bucket of the game courtesy of a silky smooth 3-ball with just 75 seconds left in the quarter by that point.
Even here, minor speedbump or not when it came to finally allowing a Bears’ shot from the field, the Raiders just continued to grind undeterred.
In fact, after spotting what would be their first – and only surrendered field goal of the opening stanza as fate would have it – Twin Valley responded in kind and with a vengeance. For that, look no further than a Schmidt bucket at the cup off transition — the assist going to Evan Johnson with the Raiders out and running on the break — for what would prove to be the penultimate bucket inside a wonderous first eight minutes which then concluded with Twin Valley possessing the commanding 19-6 advantage.
But Twin Valley just kept putting the hammer down despite their somewhat overwhelming early cushion all the same.
That said, it wasn’t necessarily as if the hosts were operating a clip offensively that seemed otherworldly in their own regard. Instead, while largely leaning on their stifling defense which held E-town to a litany of one-and-done chances and nothing more, Twin Valley also opted to put the Bears through the proverbial grinder defensively with the Raiders also more than comfortable seen operating at a methodical pace which forced prolonged possessions defensively from E-town’s perspective. Yet once they struck and put the ball through the cup, the Raiders made the most of those opportunities, such as the case once Schmidt, the game-high scorer on the afternoon who went on to post a 20-point day at the office, knocked home another jumper which made it a 24-9 affair in TV’s favor with just 2:40 left to play before the intermission.
And while one might’ve thought that E-town, only having tallied their second field goal of the afternoon with 1:20 left before the halftime horn following a jump shot knocked down by way of 6’4 sophomore forward, Carter Torborg, would’ve been far out of reach by that stage with the Raiders well off and running away unscathed, that was simply not the case seeing as how Torborg’s deuce cut the Twin Valley lead down to a somewhat modest baker’s dozen all things considered at a 24-11 count with the end of the first half all but in sight.
For that reason, Matt Knight’s trifecta splashed in from the far corner off a well-run offensive set right before the buzzer felt rather massive, a key bucket which allowed the Raiders to saunter off into the dressing room with a slightly bigger sigh of relief in the form of their now 27-11 lead at the break.
Now, for as surly and stingy that their handiwork on the defensive end of the floor had been up until that point, surely Twin Valley couldn’t possibly replicate another half of play in which they again would hold the opposition to all of two field goals, yes?
Well, yes and no.
No, to the actual number of field goals given up inside the third stanza. But an emphatic yes to describe their propensity for continuing to make the Bears’ lives arduous while trying to work on the offensive end.
In fact, in the afterglow of a spectacular offensive possession that was punctuated in the form of a Carter Schmidt trifecta that came after nothing if not stellar ball movement, the scoreboard would then reflect a 36-13 Raiders’ lead with the third quarter careening toward its halfway point. Aside from that, Twin Valley had also gotten off to this 9-2 start by allowing E-town’s only pair of points to come by way of the charity stripe.
Finally, after tallying E-town’s fourth field goal of the day off a determined put-back at the cup courtesy of their team-high scorer on the afternoon who bucketed an 11-point showing, Brandon Andrews, the Bears’ multifaceted senior weapon would then step outside and hit a triple of his own not long afterwards, this making it a 45-19 affair with just 1:40 left in the third frame and E-town getting into their best offensive rhythm and flow by that point to date.
But even here, while perhaps being able to cut the gap inside of 20 points before heading off into the final period, Twin Valley would just as surely slam on those Bears’ best laid plans as well.
For that, following a pair of dagger trifectas splashed home by way of Matt Knight and then Evan Myers following suit right at the third quarter buzzer, Twin Valley would have the benefit of playing with a running clock for the remainder of the contest given their 30-point lead, 53-23, as the Raiders only continued to exacerbate their earlier halftime advantage despite their blue-clad guests chipping in their most points scored during any one quarter
All that said, while the advent of a fast-moving final eight minutes would figure to be the biggest driving force as to what may or may not transpire within the confines of the fourth, there were still positive glimpses to be found for either club. Yes, albeit with the eventual outcome a matter of formality by that stage.
From the E-town perspective, while Brandon Andrews continued to be his usual leading-scorer self on this day yet agin, it became evident, even here in the waning stages, that the Bears are more than just a one-trick outfit.
Simply put, it’s hard not to like the upside offered by way of their promising wing, Carter Torborg. While the Bears’ sophomore is still an underclassman who will make marketed gains, not the least of which could be directly correlated to working under the leadership of his head coach seeing as how Lee Eckert was a star center in his own right during his high school playing days while at Hempfield, Torborg’s physical gifts of already hitting 6’4 on the measuring stick is most certainly a solid mold to build upon. And while he may only scored 10 points on the day, eight of which came during the second half of play against Twin Valley, Torborg’s skill set was on full display throughout, something arguably no better exemplified than by with his turnaround jumper sunk in the latter stages of the game to then make it a 61-29 ballgame with time rapidly running out.
More than enough time for Andrew Cabigas, however.
After checking into the contest following the yeoman’s work of his fellow Raiders put forth up until that point, the 6’3 sophomore forward wearing a Twin Valley jersey seemed right at home while operating beneath the bright varsity lights. And wouldn’t you know it, but Cabigas’ turnaround jumper scored right in front of his bench drew the most raucous of all cheers found from any of the Raiders’ fans – or players — in attendance on this day before Christmas Eve as the Cabigas bucket would put the final nail in a downright dominant nonconference win registered to Twin Valley’s credit as the Raiders never trailed, nor left anything to doubt, by virtue of their 65-29 triumph against Elizabethtown on Monday afternoon in front of their home patrons.
As far as Christmas is concerned, it figures to be a good day on Wednesday for anyone residing in Twin Valley camp considering this gift that they gave themselves on this day. One that happened to giftwrap and all. More importantly though, the Raiders are right to hope that such a performance akin to the one demonstrated place against Elizabethtown can be one that buoys Twin Valley into the future as the calendar slips closer and closer into turning over and into January. For if that happens to come to fruition, it may not whom the other team is sitting on the opposing bench. Yes, even if they happen to hail from the L-L League or not.
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