District 3 football playoffs: Exeter rolls over Hershey, advances to 5A quarterfinals
· Yahoo Sports
The Exeter Eagles are firing on all cylinders.
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Catching their stride at what is likely the perfect time, it’ll be interesting to see who can slow down the Eagles.
On Friday night at Reiffton, No. 5 Exeter defeated No. 12 Hershey 40-19 in the first round of the District 3 Class 5A playoffs.
“I feel like we have the momentum going right now, and we just got to keep it going through the playoffs,” junior Brady Adams, who had an interception and 70 yards receiving, said of the victory.
Coming off their first Section 2 title since 2022, the Eagles (9-2) continued to show just how effective their running game can be, paired with a defense that refuses to let up.
On both sides of the ball, the trenches are dominated by an experienced upperclassmen line that continues to move bodies down after down. That physicality wears on opponents, draining their confidence until there’s little fight left.
“They were going to try and kill us with 1,000 paper cuts, and we didn’t let that happen tonight,” senior Josh Jackson, who had 163 yards and three touchdowns, said. “We anchored our butts and stopped them from getting first downs and forced turnovers.”
The Eagles did just that for all 48 minutes, intercepting three passes and allowing just one run of more than 10 yards before the waning minutes of the game, when the outcome was decided.
On offense, the duo of Josh Jackson and Donovyn Alvarez continued to make their mark on the 2026 season, combining for 280 total yards and five touchdowns.
“Josh and Donovan are amazing,” Adams said of his teammates. “They are not selfish at all, and they love splitting carries like one’s not just, ‘Oh, give me the ball’. I love blocking for them, and they run hard, and I love them so much.”
When a team is playing the way the Eagles are, and you can visibly see the camaraderie on the field, it’s a testament to what head coach Matt Bauer has built over his 18-year tenure.
Heading into Friday night against Hershey (6-5), the last time the two teams met was in the 2023 playoffs, when the Trojans upset the Eagles 28-27 behind a 20-point second-half comeback.
There was a quick glimpse of history repeating itself in the second quarter following a 45-yard run by Jaesen Donat. He scored on another direct snap from 1-yard out to cut the Eagles’ lead to 14-6.
Immediately on the ensuing possession, Trojans’ Alex Jones jumped a pass from Aiden Gerhart in the flat, taking it 30 yards to the house for a pick-six.
With 7:56 left in the half, doubts certainly crept into the home crowd.
But the Eagles responded just how everyone expected, pounding the ball through the defense at will.
Alvarez, who had 115 yards and two scores, broke away for a 35-yard gain, stiff-arming a Trojans defender inside the red zone before scoring on a four-yard carry to extend their lead before halftime, 20-12.
Dealing with injuries, the Trojans were fortunate to keep themselves in the game for as long as they did.
Starting quarterback Bentley Kohr, who has thrown for over 1,000 yards this season, did not play, which certainly put a wrench in the Trojans’ game plan.
Domenick Argento got the start at the helm, but more than 50% of the Trojans’ plays consisted of direct snaps to the running back, followed by either power right or power left.
Becoming extremely predictable for a hungry Eagles defense.
“Originally we thought we were going to throw the ball more, but when they really started doing the 14-personnel and running the ball up the middle, we had to adjust,” Adams said of the defense.
On 10 dropbacks, the Trojans completed only three passes for 25 yards and threw three interceptions.
Not the day they intended to have.
Their leading rusher on the season, Harrison Farmen, who has more than 1,000 yards, carried the ball just six times for 33 yards. Donat carried the workload with 14 carries for 79 yards, almost all on direct snaps, and even had a few fumbles that the Trojans were lucky to recover.
Leading by just one score coming out of halftime, the Eagles knew they needed to get back to work and build a more comfortable lead.
It didn’t take long.
On their first possession, Jackson broke away for a 64-yard touchdown run, outrunning the Trojans’ secondary.
“Put your head down and keep working, keep grinding, and they’re going to lose energy eventually,” Jackson said of the mindset coming out of the locker rooms.
The Eagles defense forced two punts and an Alvarez interception over the Trojans’ next three possessions.
Exeter capitalized on two of those opportunities, with Jackson completing his hat trick on a 56-yard score and Markeem Graham adding a two-yard reception from Gerhart. On the drive, the two connected on five jet touch passes for a total of 57 yards.
“We communicate on the sideline what we’re seeing, so it makes it easy,” Jackson said of his tandem with Alvarez. “So when I go out there, I know what I’m going to see, and it does not predetermine my cuts, but it makes me think a little less.”
Gerhart finished 12-of-15 for 181 yards and two touchdowns.
The Trojans scored a last-minute touchdown on a 59-yard run from Alex Jones.
Hershey, a member of the Mid-Penn Conference’s Keystone Division, ended its season on a four-game losing streak.
The Eagles will take on fourth-seeded Spring Grove (8-2) at 7 p.m. Friday at Papermakers Stadium.
Exeter is looking to make its fourth trip to the title game in 2026, having lost its last appearance to Bishop McDevitt in 2024, 48-14.
The Eagles came out firing to start the game, chewing up the clock on a nearly seven-minute drive that was capped off after 12 plays when Jackson caught a two-yard touchdown pass from Gerhart in the flat on fourth down.
Then, to start the second quarter, Gerhart connected with Brady Adams for a 60-yard gain on a post route to get inside the Trojans’ 10-yard line.
The Eagles were faced with another fourth-and-goal before Alvarez found the end zone on a one-yard carry.