Let The Season Begin
Germantown, OH — If Teddy Buehner's 90-yard touchdown on the opening kick-off is any indication of the team Jay Niswonger is fielding, it's going to be another exciting football season.
Buehner's romp to the endzone was just the beginning of the Spartan's scoring efforts in this pre-season scrimmage against the Beavercreek Beavers.
The Spartans scored 33 unanswered point in the first half before the junior varsity took over in the second for a 10-10 series with the Beavers younger squad.
Sr. Drew Smith returns to quarterback (a position he last played as a freshman and which he saw only 3 games as a sophomore) to lead the Valley View offense this year. Smith isn't afraid to run the ball when he isn't throwing and showed great strength when forced to do either.
Tommy Byrd (6-foot-1, 220-pounds and an All-Area selection at Twin Valley South last year) and Brock Bolen (6-1, 215) shared backfield responsibilities, along with returner Daniel Gonzalez. They will be running behind a solid line that has three starters returning, Clint Pearson (6-2, 215), Nathan Karn (6-2, 305) and Chad Burton (6-1, 225). Along with Jeff Moler (6-2, 260) and Jason Lawson (6-1, 225).
Defensively Valley View showed a lot of depth. Chip Otten, the new defensive coach has to be pretty satisfied with the intensity showed by this year's platoon. Returning middle linebacker Joe Swanson, who was the team's second leading tackler last year has a lot of help in free safety Byrd, linebackers Zack Cline, Brandon Storer, and Bolen, along with Clint Hannahan, cornerback Michael Whaley, end Danny King; and tackle Luke Shear. Shear earned All Mid-Miami League honors at Fenwick last season.
The Spartans open the season at home Friday, Aug. 24 against the Franklin Wildcats. The Cats will be looking to avenge a 57-13 loss in last year's opener to Valley View. Franklin ended the season 4-6, a large improvement over a winless 1999.
The Wildcats boast returner Ronnie Longworth who rushed for 608 yards and 7.8 per carry in last seasons efforts. Longworth, along with QB Matt Young and TE Andrew Noble will be the players to watch offensively. The key to stopping the offense will be shutting down the QB.
On defense, Matt Jenning returns to the inside linebacker position as the team's second leading tackler. The Spartan offense might be too much for the Wildcat D to contain.
It's difficult to predict from just 2 scrimmage games the outcome of this week's game. If we compare Franklin's 4-6 to Beavercreek's 4-6 then the outcome doesn't look to favorable for the Wildcats. But's then it's a new season. Anything can happen.
We'll go out on a limb anyhow. Valley View 48, Franklin 7.
