(Greenfield) It’s been a sprint to get ready for the season for Nodaway Valley. Not only do the Wolverines get started a week earlier than most schools by travelling to SW Valley in Week 0, but they are tasked with getting up to speed under the direction of a new head coach.
Former Clarke coach Duane Matthess was hired this offseason, making him Nodaway Valley’s fourth different head coach in as many years. “Things have really flown by to be honest with you. Kids are working really hard. I’m really fired up about how adaptive the kids have been in a new world with COVID. They’ve done a really amazing job.”
Players are picking up quickly on the new system. “We aren’t trying to re-invent the wheel. They ran a pretty complicated offense last year. I’ve tried to keep things as simple as possible for them. They haven’t struggled one bit with picking things up. I’m really impressed with our football IQ.”
Last year Nodaway Valley finished in the top five of Class A in passing yards while coach Matthess at Clarke had a team with the 7th most rushing attempts in Class 2A. “We are certainly going to run the ball, but we aren’t going to be how we were at Clarke where it was more of a 95% running attack. Nathan Russell is too talented of a quarterback and we have some really talented receivers in Boston DeVault, Caelen DeVault, our tight end Michael Britten, Avery Phillipi, and not to mention the Ayase brothers.”
Tony Ayase led the team in rushing last year with 623 yards as a junior. Coach Matthess believes his team’s depth of skill players will present a big challenge for other teams. He admits the team has some spots to fill on the line. “We have some size, obviously we have some holes to fill with the departing seniors. Kids have stepped up with Carter Holder, Evan Forcht, and Colbin Funke. Kids that have stepped into those roles are going to do really well.”
Coach Matthess identifies Tallen Myers and Brendan Knapp as two strong players to contend with for SW Valley. The absence of Woodward Academy on Nodaway Valley’s schedule allowed this originally scheduled non-district game with SW Valley to still happen despite the shortened regular season schedule. “I feel it’s a win-win for us. Everyone makes the players so not only do we get a jump start on the season, but we get a bye week going into the playoffs to rest those bumps and bruises.”
Nodaway Valley went from being winless in 2018 to three victories in 2019 and hopes to take another step forward this year. We’ll air their season opener at SW Valley on Friday with pregame coverage getting underway at around 6:30 p.m.
