Warriors’ Football Aims for Stronger Start, Another Solid Finish in 2016
Last year could have been a rebuilding season for the Valley Regional-Old Lyme football team after the Warriors graduated numerous key players from the squad that won the Class S Large Division state title in 2014. Things played out that way through the first half of the campaign as Valley-Old Lyme lost its first two contests, struggled to build momentum, and sat at 2-4 entering the home stretch. However, the Warriors proved that they were still a force to be reckoned with by jelling just in time to win their final four games, finish at 6-4, and take second place in the Pequot Conference South Division. Head Coach Tim King is hoping that this year’s edition of the Warriors gets out to a stronger start and once again finishes with a flourish, so they can have an even better record in 2016.
“We had a lot of injuries early in the year and we finally got healthy towards the end, which helped. The last few games, the kids also came together and played really good football—team football,” said Coach King, whose squad opens the season by hosting Ellington at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 9. “We got [quarterback Matt Sapere] back after an injury and he was able to start seven games and get that experience under his belt and he looks great this year. Pound for pound, he’s one of the strongest kids on the team and squatted 425 this offseason. He knows our offense better had some great games for us last year, which was a good confidence builder for him.”
The Warriors look primed for success this year as, in addition to Sapere at the quarterback position, they return a group of skill-position players who have an abundance of talent and gained valuable experience last season.
“Our skill positions are really good and really big. All our receivers are over six foot—Garrett [Burdick], Ernest [Jean-Pierre], Jason O’Brien—and we have a new guy this year, Ian Humphries, who will play tight end and receiver and he’s about [6-foot-3] and around [205 pounds] with great hands, so they will be tough for other teams to deal with and great for Matt to throw to.”
Valley’s senior captains this year are Sapere, Burdick, Daniel Stecher, and Mitch Conard, the latter who will be in his second season holding that role. Sapere threw for 1,329 yards with 13 touchdowns and just six interceptions last fall, while also rushing for four TDs. Stecher was the team’s leading rusher who averaged 6.1 yards per carry en route to totaling 793 yards with 11 TDs on the ground. Burdick caught three touchdown passes and led the Warriors with four interceptions on defense from his defensive back position. Fellow receiver Jean-Pierre, a junior, also grabbed three TD receptions last season. O’Brien is back for his sophomore year after seeing varsity time during a freshman campaign in which he made 57 tackles.
Elsewhere on defense, the loss of three-time All-Pequot selection Jack Giaconia will be a big one, but Coach King believes he has the horses in place to fill that massive void in the middle.
“You can’t replace Jack. He’s 320 pounds and a beast, so we will be using a rotation and should be quicker. We want the guys to stay low on the line. We aren’t the biggest, but we’ve been stressing to the guys all camp about everybody getting to the ball, which is one of our philosophies,” King says. “[Inside linebacker] Stecher is all over the place on defense and [defensive end] Conrad is just a blue-collar, hard-working son of a gun who will give you everything he has. [Senior] Cody Stalls will also play a big role for us at defensive end and outside linebacker.”
Coach King concluded by detailing the goals for the Warriors as they get set to kick off the 2016 campaign.
“We want to be competitive and get back to being one of the teams in the league people look out for,” King said. “Last year was a little bit of a down year for us at 6-4. We finished strong, which was great, but we are looking to bounce back and have a strong season.”
2016 Valley Regional-Old Lyme Warriors Football Schedule
Friday, Sept. 9: vs. Ellington at 6:30 p.m.
Saturday, Sept. 17: vs. Old Saybrook-Westbrook at 1 p.m.
Friday, Sept. 23: at Morgan at 6:30 p.m.
Friday, Sept. 30: vs. Cromwell-Portland at 6:30 p.m.
Friday, Oct. 14: vs. North Branford at 6:30 p.m.
Friday, Oct. 21: vs. Prince Tech at 6:30 p.m.
Friday, Oct. 28: at Granby Memorial at 7 p.m.
Friday, Nov. 4: vs. Lewis Mills at 6:30 p.m.
Saturday, Nov. 12: at Canton at 1 p.m.
Tuesday, Nov. 22: vs. Haddam-Killingworth at 6:30 p.m.