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Red Lion Clinches First Victory On Season In Nail-biter Against J.P McCaskey, 34-30

 
Tagged under: District 3, Gameday Hub, News

| September 19, 2026

Under the lights of Horn Stadium—the home of the Red Lion Lions—both teams entered Friday night’s matchup starving for a win against the J.P. McCaskey Red Tornado. Both teams had struggled to build momentum in the win column, but Friday’s game changed that for Red Lion, which narrowly outlasted the Tornado, 34–30.


For Red Lion, this was a win filled with heart and grit when pressure was rising against them in crunch time. When a play needed to be made, the Lions rose as king. On the other hand, the Red Tornado displayed a true representation of resilience and competitive spirit. At times, things looked like they’d slip away but the Red Tornado continued to weather the storm.

J.P McCaskey set the tone from the opening kickoff flipping field position with sophomore Wesley Ray on the return. Shortly after, the Red Tornado stormed past Red Lion with a rushing touchdown from sophomore quarterback Marlon Valentin to make it 8-0.

After a series of punts, Red Lion proceeded to respond with a breakaway strike to senior Hunter Koons from sophomore Benjamin Peters to cut the deficit to two at 8- 6. The Lions began to roar from this point on. On the very next series, they forced a fumble which they received in the redzone. Junior Julian Cedrone punched in a rushing score in the Wildcat formation to extend their lead to 14-6.

Red Lion forced another turnover on defense, this time an interception which turned into another Hunter Koons touchdown catch. The score was now 20-8 and a 20 point swing was in favor of the black and yellow, before Marlon Valentin threw his second interception of the game caught by Lions Senior Ashton Bell before going into halftime. 


On the coin flip, Red Lion elected to defer and it panned out. Out of halftime, the Lions were prepared to ice this one away as Peters connected with Evan Smith for his 2nd passing touchdown of the night and a 27-8 lead. Red Lion’s nineteen point lead vanished in a matter of minutes the following drive. Jahsier Reeves, seeming to have cleaned up past fumbling issues added a 1-yd rushing touchdown to cut the deficit to 27-14.


Hunter Koons and Red Lion were not done yet. Winding down the third quarter was yet another receiving score for Hunter, along with this one’s hat trick recipient. 34-14 was the score at the top of the 4th, but the storm started to shift. Senior tail-back Jahsier Reeves cashed in another rushing score to make this one 34-22. With little to no hope on the away stands, a fumble recovery shocked some life into Red Tornado culture.


Just moments after a fumble recovery, a third interception from Marlon Valentin left McCaskey fans breathless. After getting the ball back, finally without giving up points, senior Haneef Porter goes airborne to make this one 34-30 with 3:30 remaining. A clutch stop was served by the Red Tornado defense, leaving 1:26 left on the clock with no timeouts. An unfortunate way to lose the chance at an improbable comeback for McCaskey, however Marlon Valentin clinched the Red Lion Lions their first victory of the season with his 4th interception of the ball game, again to Ashton Bell to stamp this one in the books.

Red Lion looks to carry ahead this momentum on hit the road next week against William Penn, while J.P McCaskey, still searching for their first victory, wraps up their away-stand against Penn Manor.

 



 
 
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