Each time Valley View players enter the locker room or take the field at John Henzes\/Veterans Memorial Stadium, they are reminded of the past.<\/p>\n
The program is one of the most successful in Northeast Pennsylvania history, and owns one of only two PIAA championships by Lackawanna Football Conference teams.<\/p>\n
Last season started with high expectations, and the Cougars had a fast start. It ended with a 17-0 loss to Dallas in the District 2 Class 4A semifinals.<\/p>\n
That finish, one game short of having a chance to defend their district title, hasn\u2019t sat well with the returning players. It\u2019s motivation for a group determined to return to a championship level.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe really have to bond as one team,\u201d said Valley View H-Back\/defensive end Brady Cunningham, who had 49 yards rushing and 64 tackles last season. \u201cEveryone is fighting for each other. It is an honor to play for Valley View. We have to live up to the expectations of this program and play to the level of the teams that I looked up to when I was younger.\u201d<\/p>\n
Valley View has a plethora of talent returning on both sides of the ball.<\/p>\n
Quarterback Caleb Brown completed 30 of 70 passes for 363 yards and two touchdowns, and sophomore Colin Dempsey provides depth. They will have senior Ben Evans, a speedster who had 11 catches for 170 yards, and Colin Witkowski, who had eight catches for 97 yards and a touchdown, as experienced targets. Cash Roe, Maddox Carey and Luke Evans add depth in the receiving corps.<\/p>\n
Tailback Tyler Muchal ran for 411 yards and four touchdowns, and fullback Jeffrey Wasilchak added 365 yards and four touchdowns while punishing would-be tacklers with his physical running style. Shamus Sprague, Janzier Rivera, Brady Bachman and Nico Castellani are also solid running backs.<\/p>\n
The Cougars have size and experience up front. Junior Brody Call returns at tackle, and Cameron Malsburger, who started as a freshman, is back at center. Tackles Jackson Siekierka and Maddox Krupovich, guards Ryan Sweeney, Jeffrey Ashby and freshman Luke Fiorelli, and center Alan Buckland add depth on the offensive line.<\/p>\n
Valley View\u2019s defense is expected to be strong. Wasilchak, a returning All-Region linebacker, headlines the unit that returns its top seven tacklers.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can\u2019t sleepwalk through games,\u201d Wasilchak said. \u201cYou have to play your hardest on every single play. The biggest key for us is to have fun. Having fun has a lot to do with wins and losses, so you have to work hard, but the key is to run around and have fun playing the game that you love.\u201d<\/p>\n
Last season, Wasilchak had 107 total tackles, giving him 214 stops in 24 career starts.<\/p>\n
Also at linebacker, Bachman was the team\u2019s second-leading tackler with 80, and Muchal added 78, while Jeffrey Ashby had 42.<\/p>\n
In addition to Cunningham at the end, the Cougars return Call and Mason Mitchell at defensive tackle. That group combined for 158 tackles and 25 for loss.<\/p>\n
Valley View also has an experienced secondary with four starters returning.<\/p>\n
Tristan Smith and Ruby each had 20 tackles, Evans had 43 and All-Region sprinter Gavin Orpishko added 15 tackles. Smith led the team with three interceptions, while Ashby, Evans, and Orpishko each had one.<\/p>\n
Valley View also has one of the top kickers in the LFC. Braden Loff has a powerful leg and made 29 of 30 extra points and three of four field goals.<\/p>\n
FAST FACTS
\n\u25a0 Head coach: Scot Wasilchak (4th season, 27-10)<\/p>\n
\u25a0 Division: LFC I<\/p>\n
\u25a0 Last season: 6-5 overall; 3-3 (Tied for fourth in LFC I).<\/p>\n
\u25a0 Male enrollment: 295; Class 4A<\/p>\n
\u25a0 Home field: John Henzes\/Veterans Memorial Stadium<\/p>\n
CHAMPIONSHIP HISTORY<\/p>\n
\u25a0 Overall record: 460-185-8<\/p>\n
\u25a0 PIAA Class 2A: 1992<\/p>\n
\u25a0 District 2: (Class 3A)\u00a02011; (Class 4A) 2017, 2018, 2021, 2024.<\/p>\n
\u25a0 LFC: (Division I) 2011, 2022; (Division II) 2018, 2019, 2020.<\/p>\n
\u25a0 Big 11: 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1977, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1986, 1992, 1994, 1995.<\/p>\n
\u25a0 Eastern Conference: (A) 1970, 1971, 1982, 1984; (II) 1992; (3A) 2010.<\/p>\n
SCHEDULE<\/p>\n
Aug. 28: Northwestern Lehigh (3A), 7<\/p>\n
Sept. 4: at Crestwood (4A), 7<\/p>\n
Sept. 11: at Wilkes-Barre\u00a0 (6A), 7<\/p>\n
Sept. 18: North Pocono (4A), 7<\/p>\n
Sept. 25: at Scranton (6A), 7<\/p>\n
Oct. 2: Delaware Valley (5A), 7<\/p>\n
Oct. 9: at West Scranton (6A), 7<\/p>\n
Oct. 16: Abington Heights (5A), 7<\/p>\n
Oct. 23: at Scranton Prep (3A), 7<\/p>\n
Oct. 30: Wallenpaupack (4A), 7<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Each time Valley View players enter the locker room or take the field at John Henzes\/Veterans Memorial Stadium,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":272448,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[4855,305,178,180,179,726],"class_list":["post-272447","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-gameface","tag-high-school-sports","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272447","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=272447"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272447\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/272448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=272447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=272447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=272447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}