After falling victim to last-second heartbreak earlier in the regular season, Exeter found the revenge it was looking for Friday night at Conestoga Valley.
The eight-seeded Eagles (12-1) defeated the No. 4 Buckskins 48-14 in a District 3 Class 5A football semifinal to avenge a 28-27 loss to Conestoga Valley (11-1) in Week 8 that ultimately cost Exeter the Lancaster-Lebanon League Section 2 title.
The Eagles will play No. 6 Bishop McDevitt for the district title next week. McDevitt beat Mechanicsburg 26-14 in the other semifinal.
Senior running back Jayden Zandier scored four rushing touchdowns and gained 266 yards. In the Week 8 loss, Zandier was stopped at the goal line on a two-point conversion run with less than a minute to go in the game.
Zandier wasted no time in getting Exeter off to a hot start in the rematch. After receiving the opening kickoff, Zanider orchestrated a 2-play, 52-yard drive that finished with a 48-yard touchdown run, his first of the night.
Zandier juked a defender on a left side handoff and then found a hole and sprinted his way to the end zone to complete the score, making it 7-0 less than a minute in.
With 4:12 left in the first quarter, Zandier scored his second rushing touchdown from 7-yards out. A deep pass play from junior quarterback Jake Hafer to sophomore Jayden Ware that gained 56 yards.
Hafer hit Ware in stride on a vertical route on second and 13 from the Buckskins’ 36 to help set up the second touchdown of the night.
Conestoga Valley showed resilience and would score before the end of the first, however, as Sawyer Esbenshade connected with Teagan Ruble on a 44-yard touchdown pass to Teagan Ruble. Ruble caught the ball on a wheel route right and broke a tackle before sprinting into the end zone with 33 seconds left in the opening 12 minutes.
A back and forth second quarter culminated with a 31-yard touchdown pass from Exeter quarterback Riley Martinez to Carter Redding with 30 seconds left in the half.
Martinez, playing in his first game since missing several due to injury, saw Redding coming across the middle and Redding caught it about ten yards from the line of scrimmage before running out the defense to the right pylon in the end zone for the score.
The Eagles defense stepped up big in the second half to further assure their place in the championship matchup.
After the Buckskins cut it to a one score game with 6:14 left in the third off a 1-yard score by Esbenshade, the Exeter offense made quick work of the Conestoga Valley defense to respond.
A 2-play, 80-yard scoring drive was the result of Zandier taking the ball 79 yards on the first run and then Genuine Stutzman punching it in from the 1-yard line to make it 28-14 Eagles with 6:03 left in the quarter.
With a two-score lead the defense started to take Exeter home.
On third down from his own 33, Esbenshade fumbled attempting to get rid of the pass under pressure. Kevin Oswalt recovered and gave the Eagles the ball at the Buckskins’ 13.
Zandier then took one play to get a 13-yard rushing touchdown for his third score of the night, and a missed extra point made it 34-14.
Following a turnover on downs where Esbenshade was forced under pressure once again to throw deep for an incompletion, Exeter went on a 4-play, 34-yard drive that ended with a 9-yard touchdown run by Zandier to make it 41-14 at the end of the third quarter.
A key sack by Joel Ummarino forced a turnover on downs and gave the Eagles the ball back again with Just under nine minutes left in the fourth at the Exeter 33.
After taking close to six minutes off the clock, the Eagles put the nail in the coffin from the Buckskins’ 32.
On fourth and nine, Exeter went for it and Hafer connected with Redding on a post route to the left side for 31 yards. The play set up a 1-yard touchdown run by Tyler Flanders to close out the scoring at 48-14.
Source: Berkshire mont