(Stuart) West Central Valley’s first round playoff foe on Friday will be Woodward-Granger. Both teams are 5-3.
From 0-9 to 1-7 to 4-5 and now 5-3 the West Central Valley program has improved their win total in four straight years. It’s come under the direction of Jim Lindsay. “When we came in here three years ago we saw some talent, but they were young and hadn’t had much direction. We got the buy in from the kids and parents and community. When you have that it’s pretty easy to take care of all the other things.”
He provides a breakdown of Woodward-Granger. “Pretty familiar with them. They are a conference opponent so we see them everywhere but football. We know a lot of the guys that they have. They are pretty big and physical up front. They have some guys that can take the top off of a defense. They are a pretty well coached team. They are going to be a pretty good challenge for us.”
West Central Valley knew they were capable of a breakthrough and with three straight victories their playoff hopes have become a reality. “When we sat down at the end of last fall we saw and talked about all the people we had coming back and what the other teams in our district had. We thought 2nd or 3rd in our district could be a real possibility. We obviously would have rather had 2nd, but we put that out to the guys last spring and summer that these were our goals and what we want to do. That was everything all summer long that we were working towards. The kids didn’t shy away from that. That’s part of this senior class that has a lot of experience and they bought into the goals we set.”
Last week brought a 17-13 win over Interstate-35 to secure the 3rd seen in Class 1A, District 7 behind Van Meter and ACGC. “We got ourselves down into a 13-3 hole to start the 2nd half and our kids didn’t ever quit. The Roadrunners go the ball to start the 2nd half and we got a pretty good stop. We kind of drove down the field with the help of a fake punt and a couple of other big plays. We scored and that made 13-10. Then the guys believed we could do it. We got the ball in the 4th quarter and I didn’t realize it at the time, but it was a 16 play 80 yard drive over 7:30 to score a touchdown with around :25 left. You don’t realize it when you’re in the middle of calling plays, but watching it back on film it was very patient and the boys executed everything, so that was kind of nice.”
Kaedon Lindsay ran for 91 yards and two scores in last week’s comeback win. The team is averaging 218 rushing yards per game with a three-headed approach that includes Kaedon Lindsey, Braiden Beane, and Blaise Beane. The Wildcats are making their 3rd playoff appearance and first since 2012.
West Central Valley coach Jim Lindsay:
