2011 Football Preview: Valley View Spartans

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By Skip Weaver, Staff Writer 1:57 AM Sunday, August 21, 2011

GERMANTOWN — Valley View is going with a more retro look this year, but not in terms of its uniforms.

Veteran coach Jay Niswonger, who is entering his 28th season of leading the Spartans, is taking his offensive and defensive schemes back to his first days at Valley View.

“We’re going back to the basic stuff,” Niswonger said. “What we’re trying to do is not have a variety of things, but just get good at a few things. We can add as the season goes on.”

Offense

The Spartans have an almost entirely new set of personnel on offense, including quarterback Patrick Boyle, who replaces two-year starter Kyle Pohl.

Boyle has performed well this offseason, Niswonger said.

“He’s a smart kid on and off the field,” Niswonger said. “That helps out a lot, but we just want to do less with the passing game, because you all these little nuances and the concepts are hard to grasp, not to mention defenses have caught up with a lot of things.

“Patrick throws a very accurate pass, but we have to get some people around him, too,” he continued. “That’s why we’ve been up in the air some trying to find guys who can make some plays.”

Boyle will have returning running back Tyler Schenck to get the ball too. Schenck had 163 rushing yards with four touchdowns, while also collecting 382 receiving yards and four touchdowns.

Valley View also has two returning starters on the offensive line in center Brian Day and tackle Chris Allen.

“Tyler has been solid his whole career here,” Niswonger said. “And any time you have your center back, that’s a good thing.”

Defense

The defense is going back to the basics too, even though there are six returning starters on that side of the ball.

“We have some youth mixed in, so it’s not going to be too bad,” Niswonger said. “The big thing is we just have to improve. We weren’t very strong last year, so we are trying to simplify things so we can get kids in the right positions and to play fast and hard.

“We did that at times last year,” he continued. “But we have to be more consistent at it. We’ve got to get down to what football really is.”

The experienced players the Spartans have back are mainly up front and in the secondary. The youth of the defense will be noticeable in the middle, where only senior Kalab McGinnis returns.

“What we are trying to do is get as much speed there as we can,” Niswonger said. “We’re going back to some stuff that set the tone for us many years ago, and that was just being able to play fast and hard. We want to fly around, get people to the ball and get off the field. We didn’t do that very well last year.”

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