Valley View Bows Out In First Round Of Playoffs
Germantown, OH — The Valley View Spartans embarked on another trip into the playoffs, only this time the trip was to be a short one, as the visting Hamilton Badin Rams handed the Spartans a 23-16 defeat at Barker field.
The home crowd was silenced early on a 68 yard pass play from Badin QB Spoerl to Carey on the third play of the game. The PAT was blocked by Whaley, but only 57 seconds had elapsed and the Spartans already found themselves in a hole.
Valley View started their first offensive series on their own 28, but it seems that their regular season pattern of play was about to be repeated. The Spartans fumbled the ball on the second play when the ball just slipped out of Smith's hand attempting to pass. This turned the ball back to the Rams at the Spartan 19. A tough Spartan defense stood tall and the end result was a 31 yard field goal by Westover with 8:29 to go in the first.
Valley View had to punt on the next series, but during the Rams next series they fumbled the ball and it is recovered by Clint Hanahan on the Ram 38. The Spartans were able to capitalize on this mistake with a 39 yard middle screen from Smith to Buehner for their first score of the game with 3:29 left in the first. At the end of the period, the Spartans were again on the move and driving into Ram territory behind the speed of Tim Shope. Shopes run on 3rd and long helped keep the drive alive, ultimately scoring on a 14 yard pass from Smith to Myers. The 2 point conversion failed.
Valley View got the ball back after a punt by Badin, but turned the ball over on an interception. Badin quicklty returned the favor when Joe Swanson took the ball away on an excellent play for an interception. Valley View failed to capitalize though and had to punt.
Badin then made good use of the chance scoring on a 58 yard pass from Spoerl to Pfirman. The Spartans marched right back at the end of the half to score on a 31 yard field goal by Partin with just seconds left.
The third period didn't see any scoring but a lot of tough defense. Both Valley View and Badin had chances on fourth down they failed to convert. Things were about to change in the next period.
The last frame saw Valley View trap Badin on their own 11 with a punt. The Rams were quickly out of this hole with a 37 yard pass play and they were not looking back. The only thing that stopped this drive was a fumble at the Valley View 1 yard line that was recovered by Byrd.
The Spartans could not get the ball out of their own end though and were forced to punt. The Rams returned the ball to the Spartan 16 and 3 plays later scored for what proved to be the winning TD with 1:47 left in the game.
Valley View took over on their own 27 but again could not move the ball and turned it over on downs. The defense stood tall again and would have gotten the ball back one last time, but a face mask penalty gave the Rams a first down and they opted to run the clock out.
The game in some ways was plagued with all the same problems that the Spartans had through out the year. This time it cost them. They had 5 fumbles but only lost one. However, these fumbles cost them plays and yardage that they could not make up. Penalties at key times were costly and again, they could not make up the lost yardage.
Badin showed early in the game that they were going to hit hard, when on the opening kickoff they put two Spartans on their back to open a hole on the return. Even though the Rams used the pass for some big plays, at the end of the game it was the power running that won it for them.
What gives with some players quitting the team the week before the playoffs? I not sure what was going on in the locker room, or among the teammates, but maybe this was an indicator of other problems lurking within this team.
