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11/27/2016 11:00 PMOne of the main goals for the Valley Regional-Old Lyme football team this year was getting back into the playoffs. After claiming their first state title in program history with a perfect record in 2014, the Warriors went 6-4 and missed out on a postseason bid last fall. This year, Valley clinched its spot in the Class M State Playoffs by defeating Canton a few weeks ago and is now bringing a head of steam into the postseason after posting a 31-0 home win versus Haddam-Killingworth in the battle for the Principal’s Cup on Nov. 22.
The victory improved the Warriors’ overall record to 9-1 and put them at 3-0 in the Pequot Conference Sassacus South Division, which they had won earlier in the season. With St. Joseph’s 39-7 loss to Trumbull on Thanksgiving, Valley-Old Lyme earned the No. 1 seed in the Class M state bracket and will host No. 8 Berlin (8-2) in Deep River at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 29. With a victory, the Warriors would host the winner of No. 4 Wolcott and No. 5 St. Joseph in a semifinal contest on Monday, Dec. 5. The final takes place on Saturday, Dec. 10. On the other side of the bracket, No. 2 seed Hillhouse plays No. 7 New Fairfield in one quarterfinal contest, while No. 3 Killingly faces No. 6 seed Bunnell in the other.
The Warriors will be competing in the postseason for the fifth time in seven years and, while he’s certainly happy that his team has made it this far, Head Coach Tim King knows that the playoff berth is just one rung on the ladder of his team’s climb to the top of the mountain in Class M.
“You always want home-field advantage,” Coach King said. “Every year we do our ladder: be competitive, have a winning season, win the conference, make the playoffs, get home-field advantage, and finish with a state title.”
Valley’s win against division foe H-K (4-6, 0-3) gave the Warriors their fifth-straight victory in the 30th edition of the Principal’s Cup matchup and extended their lead in the series to 23-7. On Valley’s first offensive play of the game, quarterback Matt Sapere threw a 50-yard touchdown pass to sophomore Jason O’Brien and the Warriors led 7-0 after Garrett Burdick’s extra point. Later in the frame, Sapere connected with fellow senior Burdick on a 12-yard TD strike to make it 14-0 through one. The only points of the second quarter came off the foot of Burdick, who nailed a 26-yard field goal as time expired in the opening half.
Sapere’s 7-yard touchdown run made it 24-0 in the third quarter and then Daniel Stecher broke off a 62-yard TD rush in the fourth for the 31-0 final following Burdick’s fourth extra point
The Warriors achieved a few impressive milestones in the victory, as well. Burdick, a defensive back, broke a school record with his 10th interception of the season, while junior linebacker Roan Sullivan surpassed the 100-tackle plateau by recording 12. Stecher, who had already eclipsed 100 tackles on the season, had 11 in this game, including three for a loss. The senior captain also topped the 1,000-yard mark by gaining 207 yards on the ground and finished the regular season with 12 rushing TDs. Sapere was 7-of-11 for 166 yards with two touchdowns through the air and he also ran for a score. With those stats, Sapere, a senior captain, has passed for 1,482 yards and 21 touchdowns thus far this season.
The Warriors struggled to points on the board early last year when Sapere was recovering from surgery, but then scored 147 points in their final four games, which were all victories. The strong home stretch gave Coach King and his Warriors a lot to look forward to heading into this season.
“We won the last four games with Matt, so we knew this season was going to be good,” he said. “Our skill players were pretty darn good and we were just hoping the offensive line could jell.”
The offensive line was a big question mark for the Warriors heading into the campaign after they graduated everyone except returning senior captain Mitch Conrad. However, the unit has meshed together well this season, along with Valley’s linemen on the defensive side of the ball.
“The jell of our offensive line and the defensive line, those kids really did a great job. They stepped up and worked hard,” said Coach King. “The defensive front is something important and they’ve really done a great job this year. And we talked all year how great our athletes are, but you don’t have the run game—1,000-yard guy and over 1,800 rush yards—and a 1,400-yard passer without something like we have up front.”
The Warriors received a little wakeup call this season when they took a 48-26 home loss to Cromwell-Portland on Sept. 30. Coach King said his team “realized our backs were against the wall and we couldn’t afford another loss anywhere down the road,” and Valley dominated the opposition in its six remaining games by only allowing 20 combined points while posting five shutouts. King credited Warriors’ defensive coordinator Bobby Sanchez for rallying his troops in a major way. Valley-Old Lyme has allowed just 103 points and scored 332 on the season. Against H-K, Valley’s defense was further aided by Cody Stalls, who had 12 tackles, including five for a loss, with a fumble recovery; as well as fellow junior linebacker Mike Cullina (9 tackles) and junior defensive back Jacob Kruszewski (8 tackles).
“Bobby puts pride in the product that he puts on the field,” King said of Sanchez.
As the Warriors get ready to face Berlin in their playoff opener, Coach King described the Redcoats as a physical team that has a great running game. Valley-Old Lyme has had some chances to prepare for that style by facing teams that all “smash it in up front” in their final five regular season contests. The coach concluded by discussing what his club needs to do to emerge victorious versus Berlin.
“Play a perfect game,” he said. “Penalty free. Mistake free. And shut down their run game.”