RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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See the full story · 1 sourcesGetting the proper buy-in to occur in any football program takes time and a great deal of patience to cultivate the development of any program in the right ways.
Additionally, continuity in a program is vital to the above.
In terms of building up numbers for a football program, the Valley Indians have executed the above blueprint to a tee.
The results have shown themselves as well.
Last season, Valley enjoyed its best year in a decade, finishing 8-3 overall and hosting a home playoff game while having three seniors — Jaylen Bender (Drake), Anthony Aaron (Rio Grande) and Nolan Barnett (Rio Grande baseball) continue their athletic careers at the collegiate level.
And to start the 2026 campaign, the Indians have a healthy number of bodies on its roster. Official numbers provided by the Valley football staff have the Indians, who will be an OHSAA Division VI program in terms of classification this season, with nearly 45 players in uniform as of July 31, one day prior to the official mandatory commencement of fall practice.
With the amount of depth, and quality depth at that, both trending upward, and positive gains at the 7-on-7s behind an experienced group that includes 14 seniors, the excitement within the Valley camp is certainly noticeable.
This includes both Isaiah Clark and Eli Clark, who are each looking to make their own impacts to the 2026 version of the Valley roster.
“I believe that we have a really good chance at contending for the league title,” Isaiah Clark said. “I believe we have a really good shot at it. Our 7-on-7s have looked really good, I believe, and our line’s looked really good, too. I believe we can put it all together this season and do really well.”
“We’re continuing to improve,” Eli Clark said. “That’s our goal every time out. We’re hoping for a perfect season, but we know that we have to take it week by week first. We’re looking really good.”
Part of that is due to the continuity of the Valley football staff in general.
The staff, which has seen nearly zero turnover over the past five seasons since Nolan Crabtree was hired to replace longtime Valley head coach and Valley Local Schools Hall of Famer Darren Crabtree in 2022, continues to be led by not only Crabtree, but former Morehead State University linebacker and All-Pioneer Football League standout Luke Keller as the team’s defensive coordinator and linebackers coach, and former Cincinnati defensive lineman Kirk Thompson, who was a multi-year starter on the D-line with the Bearcats.
Along with them, wide receiver and defensive backs coach Blake Howard, special teams coach Evan Richard, quarterbacks and defensive backs coach Chris Lundy, strength and conditioning coach Bryce Romanello and Valley offensive and defensive line coaches Scott Spriggs and Bill Berry are all on staff. Richard played a major part in Bender’s development as an All-Ohio kicker while Romanello was an outstanding athlete in his own high school days who played football and soccer simultaneously for multiple seasons and ultimately earned his own college opportunity at Shawnee State inside the men’s soccer program there, starting as a defensive back.
All of the above coaches are Valley graduates with the exception of Thompson, who played at Portsmouth. His daughter, Ella, is an upcoming senior who has been a star on the girls basketball team at Valley and is presently recovering from an upcoming injury, while his son, Kru, is coming up through the Valley Local Schools ranks as well.
The staff’s consistency, Isaiah and Eli said, have been critical in their own development as players.
“We’ve had the coaching staff in place for all four years, and some of them in junior high even, so we’ve gotten to know them really well over the past six years, I think,” Isaiah Clark said. “Just having that relationship with them makes it easier as opposed to having a new coach with new formations and plays that we haven’t learned or the language that goes with learning new plays. It gives us better chemistry.”
“Staying consistent and building relationships is really strong and really important,” Eli Clark said. “We’ve done that pretty well.”
It’s led to a roster that not only has a great deal of depth, but good size to build off of as well.
Of the present player count, 24 Valley football players, or over half of the team, are at least six feet or taller with five additional players at least 5-11. While certainly not an indicator of a team’s success on its own, the length that the Indians do sport gives Valley additional ways to experiment, project and develop.
The roster is also relatively balanced in terms of class size, particularly in arguably the most important facet of the game — the offensive and defensive trenches. Based on the roster, six players are seniors on the offensive and defensive lines, but that’s followed up by three juniors, four sophomores and six freshmen.
The additional depth has both Isaiah Clark and Eli Clark excited about what Valley can do.
“We’re just going to have to be more physical as a team and as a whole,” Isaiah Clark said. “We just need to rally around each other. If someone gets knocked down, we need to get back up and rally to them.”
“Playing with more grit and showing up for our teammates is always going to be huge,” Eli Clark said. “We have each other’s backs.”
This only adds to the point regarding depth, where the Indians, who have 14 seniors, can’t slack with more positions up for grabs than in seasons past.
“It definitely makes a big difference having that many seniors as opposed to my freshman year, where we only had one senior that played,” Isaiah Clark said. “I believe more juniors and sophomores will make a big difference this year.. There’s more depth across the board. If one of us gets tired, we can put them in and know that we can trust them.”
Along with Isaiah Clark, Eli Clark’s certainly taken notice himself. On the depth chart at wide receiver, there are as many as 15 different play...
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