Aden Twer Makes Gettysburg History Once Again
Erasing a near half century record, Aden Twer caught two touchdowns against Ursinus to set the all-time record for
most touchdowns in a career. Aden Twer has 19 touchdowns, one more then Ken Snyder had in his last year, 1964. Photo Courtesy of David Sinclair
By Shannon Keeler, Contributing Writer
With 4:06 remaining in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s loss to Ursinus College, Gettysburg College football history was made. Receiver, Aden Twer, caught his 19th career touchdown, a Gettysburg College record-breaking number. The previous record holder was Ken Snyder, whom held it at 18 touchdowns from 1962-1964. Twer tied this 49 year-old record with 4:02 remaining on the clock in the third. He then proceeded to break it with 4:08 left in the fourth but catching a four-yard touchdown.
Aden was enthusiast about his accomplishment, though making it clear he was focused on the bigger picture. “I’m pretty excited about the record but at the same time there are so many people out there that have done far greater things than what I’m doing,” Twer said. “I’m happy about it, but winning the games from here on out and doing what I’ve got to do is more important to me.”
Throughout the past four years the Bullets have had three different quarterbacks, all with great arms. In his break out year, then-Sophomore Twer played with Kyle Whitmore. In his Junior year, he played with Kody Smith, where the duo founded one of the best tandems in both the Centennial and Division III. This season, Junior Zach Miller is starting as quarterback and has already thrown Twer three touchdowns.
When asked about the transition between quarter- backs, Twer replied, “The transition from Kody to Zach, is a little different. You have to get your timing down, and form a chemistry that comes with time but I think it has and will continue to work out pretty well.”
Offensive Coordinator Kevin Burke is confident in Aden’s ability to communicate and form chemistry with Miller as he did last year with Smith “We’ve been blessed with some good quarterbacks in a row,” Burke said. “They’ve all been smart and know that Aden can run real fast and run vertical. A great receiver can help quarterbacks out quite a bit and Aden has done that throughout his career”
Although his play has not reflected it, Twer has faced numerous injuries during his career at Gettysburg. In the last game of his Sophomore year, he broke his leg. After rehabbing all summer, he then suffered an ankle injury, and was out of camp during his Junior preseason. Despite these difficulties, Twer bounced right back.
“I had surgery on my ankle shortly after I broke my leg,” Twer said, “and mentally prepared myself and tried to stay as confident as I could to get where I needed to be.”
Head Coach Barry Streeter is also enthusiastic about Twer’s play, is excited to see what more he has to bring this season “He’s been impressive, he’s very fast, and he catches a good deep ball and we’ve been able to get the ball to him enough times,” Streeter said. “It’s still early in the season but we’re hoping he can break that by a lot instead of by one. He’s a good player no question.”
Burke also agrees that Twer has been an outstanding asset throughout his career, and that his accomplishments this season are far from over. “It’s an outstanding accomplishment; ever since Aden’s been here he’s brought a deep vertical threat to our passing game,” Burke said. “He’s done that exceptionally well throughout his career, we’re hoping he has a whole lot more for us this year.”
Although Twer left the field Saturday with a remarkable accomplishment, the Bullets finished the game with their first loss of the season.
At the end of the first quarter, the game was tied 3-3 after Matt Perkins kicked a 29 yard field goal with 2:44 left in the first. In the second quarter, the Bullets went scoreless after having two consecutive turnovers and finished the half trailing ten points behind Ursinus.
To start off the half, Kyle Wigley had a 38-yard touchdown run and Matt Perkins tacked on the extra point. Ursinus answered back shortly after with a one yard rushing touchdown. After Miller hit Twer on a go-route for a 62-yard score at the end of the third, the Ursinus defense stiffened and the Bullets had trouble moving the ball. The Bears racked up three more scoring-drives before Twer could find the end zone one last time to complete Gettysburg’s scoring effort as well as break the 49-year-old Gettysburg career receiving touchdown record.
Although the final score was 41-23, the game was relatively close until the end. Coach Streeter emphasized that most of the errors came from the amount of turnovers. “Our players will have to focus better and not be reckless with the ball,” Streeter said. “The turnovers really really hurt us the whole game. Then we had a bad snap and punt. We had way too many errors, mental and physical errors that you can’t recover it against a good team. That’s huge.”
Twer is confident that the team will learn from the loss and that the team has what it takes to succeed in the rest of their season. “We’ve got to do things better in practice and prepare better mentally and physically. But we have the athletes to get the job done and we’ve got to do what we’ve got to do to reach our ultimate goal; winning a Centennial Conference Championship.”
