EAGLES STUMBLE IN DEFENSIVE BOUT
BOARDMAN OH- Valley Christian’s legendary 2022 season came to an end this past Friday night. They took the field for the final time against a familiar postseason opponent in Cuyahoga Heights who eliminated them last season as well. Valley would be without their top running back in Ja’Sean Lindsey and they struggled to move the ball without their workhorse on the field. Phillip Spradley and Jon’Trell Mixon put together the biggest plays of the day, but the offense struggled to find a rhythm throwing the ball on a windy night in Boardman. The normally potent deep ball was nowhere to be found as well as instead of a Gurley touchdown it led to multiple interceptions that forced Valley to run the football for most of the night. The offense got into scoring position on each of their final three drives of the game, but two fumbles and an interception closed their season out.
The defense of Valley Christian would only give up points on two drives and played a phenomenal game. They allowed a Red Wolves touchdown on the first drive of the game as the Heights had a short field and caught the defense off guard with a long play-action pass and then a short yardage run punched the ball in the endzone. Then later in the game the Heights would score again on a long field goal. Maybe the only downside for the defense this week was that they were unable to get a big turnover of their own to flip momentum. But, after the opening drive Cuyahoga Heights could not move the ball against this Valley defense and in the final quarter they played the best they have all season long and gave their offense ample opportunity to find a game winning touchdown.
While Valley’s season came to an end in a 10-6 loss to Cuyahoga Heights, Head Coach Andy Hake was proud of his boys and when I asked him about his final thoughts for the season, he left me with this. “My boys kicked butt to the very end.” The War Eagles may not be playing next week, but this team will never be forgotten. They leave with the first ever undefeated season in school history, the first conference title in over a decade, the first playoff win in a decade, and their first Eastern Ohio Athletic Conference championship ever. This was a season to remember for America’s team. Congratulations to all of the War Eagles that fought to the very end this season!
*Contributed By YSN’s Alek Koberna
