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All things considered, the first decade of Spring Valley football has gone rather smoothly.
Not including the school’s opening year, when sports teams are almost always hamstrung to compete, Spring Valley has posted winning seasons in five of 10 campaigns with an overall record just below .500 at 51-52. But the one accomplishment that’s eluded the Grizzlies has become their obsession — a playoff victory.
“It’s just a dream, man,” senior lineman Cesar Colin said before correcting himself. “It’s not just a dream. It’s a dream that’s going to come true.”
Confidence brims that Spring Valley’s second season in the Division 1A could be the one to deliver something the program has sought dating back to the days that Bishop Gorman lost to local opposition. Spring Valley handed six-time defending Division 1 champions Bishop Gorman its last defeat in league play nine years ago in perhaps the team’s all-time high watermark.
That might have been the last time the Grizzlies were as strong upfront as they will be this season. They won’t have the concern of being undersized like in past years.
Most of the offensive line returns including Colin, senior Taevian Jacobs and junior Nathan Hunt.
“It all begins in the trenches,” Jacobs said. “Linemen have to basically help the skill players do what they do. That’s why I feel like linemen get brought up because it all starts with the linemen.”
The Grizzlies aren’t inexperienced in the skill positions either. Senior Anthony Vazquez has spent time at both quarterback and wide receiver on the varsity level since he was a sophomore, and could play both again this year.
Senior Marcus Dawson is listed as an athlete after logging both carries and catches in the past. Spring Valley had a chance at winning the Division 1A Sunset regular-season title in the final week last year, but fell in a close game at Faith Lutheran.
Coach Marcus Teal believes the near miss can be used as a learning opportunity.
“We had our chances and just weren’t prepared for it,” Teal said. “I think letting the kids know and putting an emphasis on being better is going to help us.”
The Grizzlies instead slipped to the No. 4 seed and faced eventual state champion Moapa Valley in the opening round, losing 41-15. The final score was not indicative to how the rest of the season went.
Spring Valley played strong defense, not giving up more than 12 points in any of its first seven games. Senior linebacker Raheem Edmonds must lead the charge in getting the defense back to its standard in 2015.
A couple minor fixes might be all it takes for Spring Valley to play into the second week of November.
“We use it as a little bit of motivation for our returning guys to understand how close we were to being successful and finally getting our first playoff win,” Teal said. “We ran up against a very good, very tough Moapa Valley team and they just outplayed us in the second half. We’ve got to remember to finish people and be more up for the big game instead of waiting around for the game we think we should win and know we should win.”
Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.
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