(Greenfield) A lot rides on the line when Nodaway Valley/O-M travels to Panorama in Week 8. A win for the Wolverines would seal a playoff spot.
Nodaway Valley/O-M stayed in the playoff hunt with a 14-6 win over West Central Valley last week. Coach Seth Comly says they got back to some of the things they were doing during their 2-1 start. “We got back to our basics, focusing on what we do best. Playing good defense, playing good offense, and being sound special teams wise.”
The West Central Valley win ended a three game losing stretch in which they’d been outscored 143-6. “It built a lot of confidence in these guys. You could feel it in the guys, they got a new life to them almost like it’s a new season. We are heading like we were before we hit that skid.”
Coach Comly on the keys against Panorama. “We have to be sound offensively up front. We have to be able to lock in and not let them lull us to sleep. We had a couple plays last week where we got caught sleeping and luckily it didn’t hurt us too much, but we watched film and these guys noticed those things.”
The Panthers are 1-6 on the season. “Offensively it seems like they like to run a lot of the stuff we do. Defensively they have some size up front. We have to make sure there big guys don’t cause us too many fits so we can keep up the success we had on the ground and in the air.”
Comly says they don’t talk a lot about what’s at stake, but it has come up. “It’s been mentioned here and there. I know the guys kind of know and I don’t mention it a lot because I don’t want to add to that pressure. This game is kind of a big one. If we win we are in. If we don’t win it is kind of leaving it up to chance.”
Coach Comly on what a playoff appearance would mean. “It would be special. It would be nice with the way we are building it to start off with that in the first year especially with this group of guys. It would be something special that I would remember for the rest of my life.”
Nathan Russell passed for 227 yards in last week’s win. Adam Ayase posted 124 rushing yards on 19 attempts. Caelen DeVault caught six passes for 75 yards.
Nodaway Valley/O-M coach Seth Comly:
