Springs Valley Community High School

The Springs Valley football team fell behind quickly on Friday night as it hosted Eastern Greene in its season opener. After the Blackhawks’ opening drive sputtered, they returned the ball to Eastern Greene and the Thunderbirds didn’t waste time getting on the scoreboard. They drove down the field and punched it in for a touchdown from three yards out and took a 7-0 lead. Then James Walls went to work. Over the course of his career, the explosive junior has proven that he's capable of scoring every time he touches the ball and the Thunderbirds weren't able to contain him. In the closing minutes of the first quarter, Walls sprung loose in the endzone as Springs Valley quarterback Konner Chase rolled to his right. Chase found him for a 16- yard touchdown. Minutes later, Chase found a wide-open Walls in the opposite endzone for the only touchdown of the second quarter, making it 14-7. Then late in the fourth quarter as the Thunderbirds drove down the field to tie the game or take the lead, it was Walls who shut them down. He stepped in front of an Eastern Greene pass attempt and picked it off, getting the Blackhawks the ball back so they could run out the clock and finish off a 20-14 victory. “Jay is a kid that every team has to account for. That's on both sides of the ball and even in the special teams game as well. He's one of the hardest workers we have and he's a great teammate,” Springs Valley coach Jason Lowe said. “He can come out and change a game but he's also happy for another guy when it's their night to step up. He's one of many guys that exemplifies L.E.A.D. for us.” Though Walls provided the Blackhawks’ first two touchdowns, they ended up needing one more to get the job done against Eastern Greene and it came in an unconventional method. Springs Valley running back Larron Childers fumbled a redzone carry and after some bouncing around, the ball ended up in the endzone where Teagun Rominger finally fell on it for the score. Rominger, a lineman, typically isn’t one of the guys scoring touchdowns for the Blackhawks, but is a crucial piece anyways. “Teagun Rominger is a program guy. Throughout his playing career he's been a quarterback, fullback, and now is an offensive lineman that we feel can dominate the line of scrimmage. Just another example of our players living out L.E.A.D. [That was a] Clutch play for sure,” Lowe said. “Maybe a moment like that shines some light on the players like him we have. He's a force on the offensive and defensive lines. Teagun’s play was a big one and shows how hard our guys played on each play.“ Springs Valley also got a strong effort from its defensive line against the Thunderbirds. Childers and Xander Cook, the Blackhawks’ defensive ends, recorded one sack each and were a constant presence in Eastern Greene’s backfield. Cook also recovered a fumble. Between Cook, Childers, Rominger, Kayce Jones, and Ethan Parker, the Blackahwks got 29 of their 59 total tackles as well as 6.5 tackles for a loss. “We expect our defensive line to wreak havoc every Friday night,” Lowe said. “I'm sure we will see some good offensive linemen throughout the season and the Eastern Greene line was improved. However, we feel like the five or six that we put up there as a group are going to be hard for teams to handle.” With the victory, Springs Valley (1-0) opens the season with a win for the third year in a row and the fourth time in the last five years. The Blackhawks will try to carry that momentum into next week’s matchup with Patoka Lake Athletic Conference foe Mitchell. “We were really proud of how our kids fought in that game and especially finished it,” Lowe said. “We have things to clean up offensively for sure. More than anything we need to be the most physical team on the field each night.” BLACKHAWKS 20, THUNDERBIRDS 14 Eastern Greene (0-1);7;0;7;0—14 Springs Valley (1-0);6;8;6;0—20 FIRST QUARTER EG: James Lewis 3 run (Zac West kick), 7:59. EG, 7-0. SV: James Walls 16 reception from Konner Chase (2-point run failed), 1:57. EG, 7-6 SECOND QUARTER SV: Walls 18 reception from Chase (Chase 2-point run), 8:48. SV, 14-7. THIRD QUARTER EG: Lane Stephens 61 reception from Jonas Hawk (West kick), 8:45. 14-14. SV: Teagun Rominger 0 fumble recovery (2-point run failed), 5:09. SV, 20-14. TEAM STATISTICS ;;EG;SV First downs;10;12 Rushes-yards;30-134;35-143 Passing yards;161;78 Total yards;295;221 Passes;11-18-1;4-8-0 Punts;2-45;2-80 Fumbles-lost;1-1;4-1 Penalty yards;100;30 RUSHING Eastern Greene: James Lewis 14-51, Jonas Hawk 7-29, Peyton Lewis 3-8, Evan Ferkingstad 6-46. Springs Valley: Konner Chase 22-96, Larron Childers 6-39, Christian Hamilton 5-8, Augie Purkhiser 2-0. PASSING Eastern Greene: Hawk 11-18-1-161. Springs Valley: Chase 4-8-0-78. RECEIVING Eastern Greene: Ty McKnight 3-61, J. Lewis 3-14, Lane Stephens 2-65, P. Lewis 1-15, Ferkingstad 1-3. Springs Valley: James Walls 3-43, Jaheim Hamilton 1-35.