October 27, 2023 West Liberty 47 - 7 Valley

[mattash]

Thoughts?

[packers80]

Close game to the end, or maybe I just want it to be, really pulling for the tribe here. Good luck and continue to buy in and play hard. Never know what the outcome might be.

[coop]

Valley will make the 2 hour drive, they’ll be excited to be there, and they will play hard. Will it be enough? Maybe not… I think WLS has about 60 kids from the video I saw, so they will have the numbers advantage, but Valley is battle tested.

Good luck to Coach Crabtree and the Valley Indians!

[ValleyStrong]

Valley and the adjustments the defensive coach has made since last year should put up a fight. Will it be enough? #'s play a factor. Defensively if our guys were one way could compete now with anyone. The coach has finally adapted to the kids and it now shows on the field. Great growth from game 1 last year to now. KT, and Keller have shown great strides with this young group.

Offensively, we cannot have missed opportunities, penalties, and depend on the same play calls every down. Open the playbook up, the tools(athletes more than 1 or 2) are there! We need to be able to go under center on the short yards, not gun. If we can get the offense clicking and open the playbook up it should be an interesting showing.

We definitely have a good chance of upsetting or playing with this team! Good luck young Indians, and staff!

[Nicknevada86]

Wl 24
Valley 19

[FIDO]

Just compete!!

[Izladoom]

This team has showed a lot of improvement since week 1 but it probably won’t be enough one thing for sure they are battle tested i seriously doubt if wls played a harder schedule than the one valley played

[Dan-The-Man]

I don’t believe I’ve ever seen or thought of Nolan as being conservative. The offense I believe has score 24, 34, 40 in the last 3 games. Are they riding McNeil, yep! But it seems they’ve found something that works in the run game. Sounds like people worried about personal gains and not the team success. Three different guys got in the endzone last week and I think 4 different guys scored against Oak Hill. Comments aren’t adding up.

[transplant]

I agree. Yeah, McNeil is the workhorse, but they have been spreading the ball around this season. Like you said Dan, multiple people have been scoring and making an impact the last few weeks.

[ValleyStrong]

Look at the stats on the year. It is nothing personal for me i have nothing to gain nor do my kids except for the School/team winning. The Rb is a horse for a sophomore, and they have 3 very good recievers, as well.

Who scores has nothing to do with the plays in the drives to get there. It comes down to predictability, and that is what people are saying and seeing. 3rd quarter last week could have been a running clock. Defense performed top notch, offense was extremely predictable as most weeks have been. Some of the offensive series over the season has shown more plays, but not as many as you all are trying to say. So it does add up. Just because multiple kids score doesn't mean the play calling is diverse. The same called plays were just executed and finished. Open the playbook up, one game/one half of it doesn't equal the whole season. Coach Crabtree has an awesome offense but use it all! Good Luck Indians! Fight to the very last whistle!

[Izladoom]

Look at the stats on the year. It is nothing personal for me i have nothing to gain nor do my kids except for the School/team winning. The Rb is a horse for a sophomore, and they have 3 very good recievers, as well.

Who scores has nothing to do with the plays in the drives to get there. It comes down to predictability, and that is what people are saying and seeing. 3rd quarter last week could have been a running clock. Defense performed top notch, offense was extremely predictable as most weeks have been. Some of the offensive series over the season has shown more plays, but not as many as you all are trying to say. So it does add up. Just because multiple kids score doesn't mean the play calling is diverse. The same called plays were just executed and finished. Open the playbook up, one game/one half of it doesn't equal the whole season. Coach Crabtree has an awesome offense but use it all! Good Luck Indians! Fight to the very last whistle!

Crabtree does have a tendency to call the same plays back to back and that’s what upset me so much earlier in the year we have been stopped on 4th down multiple times because they ran the exact same run on 4th down the offense is predictable during a few games the announcers correctly called the play right and knew exactly what we was going to do I love Crabtree as a coach but he still is only in his second year and is learning just like the kids I think we have been spoiled for so long with having a veteran coach like Darren

[Alitown]

Look at the stats on the year. It is nothing personal for me i have nothing to gain nor do my kids except for the School/team winning. The Rb is a horse for a sophomore, and they have 3 very good recievers, as well.

Who scores has nothing to do with the plays in the drives to get there. It comes down to predictability, and that is what people are saying and seeing. 3rd quarter last week could have been a running clock. Defense performed top notch, offense was extremely predictable as most weeks have been. Some of the offensive series over the season has shown more plays, but not as many as you all are trying to say. So it does add up. Just because multiple kids score doesn't mean the play calling is diverse. The same called plays were just executed and finished. Open the playbook up, one game/one half of it doesn't equal the whole season. Coach Crabtree has an awesome offense but use it all! Good Luck Indians! Fight to the very last whistle!

Crabtree does have a tendency to call the same plays back to back and that’s what upset me so much earlier in the year we have been stopped on 4th down multiple times because they ran the exact same run on 4th down the offense is predictable during a few games the announcers correctly called the play right and knew exactly what we was going to do I love Crabtree as a coach but he still is only in his second year and is learning just like the kids I think we have been spoiled for so long with having a veteran coach like Darren

Darren was a great coach, but he was not an offensive coordinator. He had the benefit of having Scott Rolfe and Andy Hall for their playoff years. I can’t even think of a year Valley made the playoffs with Darren calling the plays.

Nolan has been conservative this year. When you have a young team, it’s hard to just open the play book. Big plays are hard to come by with an inexperienced quarterback. You don’t want to waste a play and kill a drive. Heck I’d call the hitch to Waughtel every play if I was Nolan. I don’t think it’s been stopped yet! No one thought this team would be where they are today. I think it’s time we stop questioning the coaches, and just trust they are putting our kids in the best position to win games.

[purplegold]

All I see from this team has been improvement since day one. This team is so young that it is/was basically a JV team. I understand the frustration in watching the ups and downs this season, but everyone needs to have a future mindset with this group and also understand that their schedule this year was ridiculously tough for a young team. The quarterback is night and day compared to where he was at the beginning of the season. It's the first year he's ever played the position. The line is starting to figure it out. Can't open the playbook up until we have some experience. I personally thought that the Minford game was the first game where QB looked very confident and wish that we would've passed the ball more. I understand it was raining and such but Minford couldn't hang in the secondary. This team never gives up and that's what I expect from them during the upcoming game Friday. It's all about the future. We return all but 1 next year and the experience they've gotten this year will prove to be valuable. You also have a couple lineman transfers that will be available next year and a freshman this year that didn't play due to recovering from an acl surgery that will provide a huge boost both offensively and defensively. The thing that has impressed me about these boys is the never give up attitude. That will pay off huge in the coming years. I see the culture changing for the better with Nolan.

[Izladoom]

All I see from this team has been improvement since day one. This team is so young that it is/was basically a JV team. I understand the frustration in watching the ups and downs this season, but everyone needs to have a future mindset with this group and also understand that their schedule this year was ridiculously tough for a young team. The quarterback is night and day compared to where he was at the beginning of the season. It's the first year he's ever played the position. The line is starting to figure it out. Can't open the playbook up until we have some experience. I personally thought that the Minford game was the first game where QB looked very confident and wish that we would've passed the ball more. I understand it was raining and such but Minford couldn't hang in the secondary. This team never gives up and that's what I expect from them during the upcoming game Friday. It's all about the future. We return all but 1 next year and the experience they've gotten this year will prove to be valuable. You also have a couple lineman transfers that will be available next year and a freshman this year that didn't play due to recovering from an acl surgery that will provide a huge boost both offensively and defensively. The thing that has impressed me about these boys is the never give up attitude. That will pay off huge in the coming years. I see the culture changing for the better with Nolan.

You are 100% right about the attitude of the kids. They was having a running clock put on them every game to start the season. Most kids would have folded but they kept fighting on. They are not the same team that started the season.

[transplant]

What type of team is West Liberty Salem? I have not seen any film on them. Run heavy? pass heavy? Big line? If Valley can control the LOS and take care of the ball, we will compete.

[Crab's Brother]

I am going to keep my mouth shut as I have for most of the last 2 years on here because if I speak, some people on here are going to get their feelings hurt and not like what I have to say.....

That said, I am going to trust the guys that spend hours watching film and hours with their players. Hours spent learning what those freshmen and sophomores can and cannot do on Friday nights. It is amazing to me that people come onto a message board after watching the game and say "open up the playbook". They haven't watched a darn minute of film or spent a minute in practice seeing what people are capable of. No....They play a video game or watch college football and see athletes running all kinds of sets and think "you know what.....That 2-7 DVI high school team that I am going to watch tonight should run that". STFU!

There isn't a team that has improved more from week 1 to week 10 in the state of Ohio than Valley. Some people need to step back and look at that and just be happy for the kids that have grinded and grinded and are now being rewarded with wins.

Go Indians.

[purplegold]

I am going to keep my mouth shut as I have for most of the last 2 years on here because if I speak, some people on here are going to get their feelings hurt and not like what I have to say.....

That said, I am going to trust the guys that spend hours watching film and hours with their players. Hours spent learning what those freshmen and sophomores can and cannot do on Friday nights. It is amazing to me that people come onto a message board after watching the game and say "open up the playbook". They haven't watched a darn minute of film or spent a minute in practice seeing what people are capable of. No....They play a video game or watch college football and see athletes running all kinds of sets and think "you know what.....That 2-7 DVI high school team that I am going to watch tonight should run that". STFU!

There isn't a team that has improved more from week 1 to week 10 in the state of Ohio than Valley. Some people need to step back and look at that and just be happy for the kids that have grinded and grinded and are now being rewarded with wins.

Go Indians.

Excellent post! Majority of these kids have 2+ years of high school football left. They have been learning to adjust to the speed of a Varsity football game at a really young age. (Which if you played football, you understand that it is a crazy adjustment). You can see the improvement big time from week 1 to now. The fact that they continued to show up week after week with a never give up mentality is a testament to the attitudes of these young men. They are willing to put in the work and the culture is changing. Again, no matter what happens in the playoffs, this is a special group that will be around for a while.

[transplant]

Well said Crab's brother, I know you have been a diehard for Valley for many many years. Wish others saw your value and put their personal emotions aside, but maybe that will change in November. But you are right, this Valley team has improved each week and I truly believe we have a chance to win this weekend. The players and coach staff have worked very hard to be where they are.

[ValleyStrong]

I am going to keep my mouth shut as I have for most of the last 2 years on here because if I speak, some people on here are going to get their feelings hurt and not like what I have to say.....

That said, I am going to trust the guys that spend hours watching film and hours with their players. Hours spent learning what those freshmen and sophomores can and cannot do on Friday nights. It is amazing to me that people come onto a message board after watching the game and say "open up the playbook". They haven't watched a darn minute of film or spent a minute in practice seeing what people are capable of. No....They play a video game or watch college football and see athletes running all kinds of sets and think "you know what.....That 2-7 DVI high school team that I am going to watch tonight should run that". STFU!

There isn't a team that has improved more from week 1 to week 10 in the state of Ohio than Valley. Some people need to step back and look at that and just be happy for the kids that have grinded and grinded and are now being rewarded with wins.

Go Indians.

I wasn't gong to respond to you until you said to ST*U!


Bottom line, most things being said good, and bad are true to a certain degree. Some people may know a little more than you think they do, and some may not. Just like you exaggerating what most know is meant by "open the playbook" to a ridiculous gamer, pro ball, college ball viewer expecting that level of play. Not once did the expectation of being able to run a 100 plays out of multiple formations get said, but running some more variety, and not repetitive, and predictable did. . You made an assumption of what was meant, and the type of person saying it. Not everyone is the stereotype that you want to portray, or has anything to gain, from discussing the good and the bad that is going on.

We all want the Valley programs from boy sports to girl sports to thrive. Having a difference of opinion is ok, and should be allowed. This is an open forum discussion board, at least I thought. If things being said hit a nerve, I apologize out of respect for who you are, and what your family has done for Valley. But profanity is not needed, Sir!

Go Valley!

[coop]

I think what Nolan and his staff is doing will pay dividends down the road. IMO….mastering the “basics” while throwing in some razzle dazzle when needed.