Bolen, Bolen, More Bolen
Dayton, OH (Welcome Stadium) The Valley View Spartans rallied from a 20-6 deficit to roll past the Urbana Hillclimbers 55-20 in Regional Final action Saturday. The win moves the Spartans to the state semi-final game against Bishop Watterson (subject to OHSAA bracketing) for the seventh time in the last 11 seasons.
The Spartans gained momentum on a 78-yard kickoff return for a touchdown with 1:20 to go in the first half. The Hillclimbers had just scored to take a 20-6 lead when Brock Bolen took the ensuing kickoff to pull the Spartans within a touchdown.
Bolen also had a 62-yard punt return for a touchdown, 242 yards rushing, and caught a 48 yard pass to add to his 430 yard performance breaking the Spartan record of 421 yards set in 1978 by Alan Jarvis.
It was the Spartan offensive line of Jeff Moler, Chad Burton, Luke Casto, Brad Osborn, Drew Karacia, and Nick Burns that actually had a remarkable second half ultimately wearing down the Hillclimbers and giving Bolen and QB Teddy Buehner the room to work their magic.
With those kinds of holes and up-front blocking, Buehner, who ran for 113 yards, found it unnecessary to throw the ball the entire second half. And why not? The Hillclimbers, who shut down the Spartan ground game to 83 yards in the first half, couldn't keep up with the much smaller and quicker Valley View line.
Let's not forget the Spartan defense. Swanson, King, Hanahan, Kozusek, and company completely shutdown an Urbana offense that averaged almost 46 points per game in the regular season. But it was the defensive secondary that surprised fans on both sides of the field.
The loss of starting DBs Stephen Moyer and Ryan Clark to injuries allowed the critics to malign the Spartan secondary and the Hillclimbers tried to leverage that perceived weakness.
Trey Weidle (so. 5-11, 160), Keith Burnett, Brandon Wilson, et. al. limited Urbana's QB Geron Stokes to a .397 passing percentage for 151 yards, to effectively shutdown the Hillclimbers passing game that regularly aired the ball during their second half bid to come back. Stokes lone interception came from a tipped pass to Brandon Wilson to stop Urbana's last possession.
It was special teams play that turned the tide and pointed momentum the Spartans way. After Bolen's return to end the first half, Valley View started the second half with a squib kick that was recovered by Brandon Wilson. The Spartans tied the score 24 seconds later.
The Spartan defensed held the Hillclimbers on their next possession and it was then that Bolen took Joe Kremer's best punt of the night, 61 yards for his third score of the evening. The two-point conversion gave Valley View a 28-20 lead with 9:48 left in the third.
The Spartan comeback was their fourth in a row and reminiscent of prior championship teams that realize the benefit of playing the entire 48 minutes. Anything can happen in high school football...and it usually does.
