Springs Valley Community High School

As the seconds ticked off the clock counting down toward the Springs Valley football team’s season-opening game at Eastern Greene, head coach Jason Lowe addressed his squad. A lot had been made of who wasn’t playing for the Blackhawks — stars like Kannon Chase, Conner Grimes, Travis Bell and Mason Chaplin had graduated during the offseason — but Lowe wanted to remind them that there were still “dudes” on the roster and made sure he did so. When the game began, his players vindicated him. Quickly. Jaheim Hamilton intercepted a pass on the opening drive, then Mavrick Land hit James Walls for a 36-yard touchdown pass. On the next drive Jack Dalton recovered a fumble, then Land found Walls for a 51-yard touchdown pass. In all of 10 minutes, the Blackhawks had taken a 13-0 lead and they weren’t close to being done. By the time the final horn sounded, they had won 43-6. “It means everything to me. I’ve been thinking about that a lot. I’ve been hearing about (the guys who are gone) a lot,” Springs Valley senior Ezra Mills said. “It means a lot to go out there and prove to everyone that we’ve still got some dudes.” For Lowe, it was heartening to see his players get the job done in a place that Springs Valley had never won beforehand, making history in the first week of the regular season. “We’ve spent a lot of time pouring into these guys with our four core values of love, effort, attitude and discipline,” Lowe said. “They bought into all of that stuff and they play well together, they get after it. I’m just thankful that everybody else got to see what we get to see basically on a daily basis.” One of the driving factors in the Blackhawks’ victory was the play of their defensive front. Larron Childers and Xander Cook were frequently disruptive from their defensive end spots while Kayce Jones and Jake Hammond were rock solid in the middle. Around them, guys like Teagun Rominger, Jonas Hammond and Tristen Edwards were able to play their roles and veteran linebackers Ezra Mills and Jack Dalton flew around the field to make plays. That group’s presence was a big part of the reason why the Thunderbirds didn’t score a single offensive touchdown in the game. “They’re huge up front,” Lowe said. “It goes back to guys like Teagun and Tristen, young guys, even Jonas is an inexperienced guy, believing in what we do, getting after it in practice and then when it’s time to go they get there and you see the results.” When it was time to close the game out, the Blackhawks turned to Mills. The senior finished the game with 18 carries for 124 yards and three touchdowns, two of which came in the third quarter to start the running clock. Mills relished the opportunity to slam the door shut on his team’s first win. “It felt great. I was too tired to get really hyped, but inside I was just overjoyed,” Mills said. “It was an awesome feeling.” Springs Valley (1-0, 0-0 PLAC) will return home next week to host the Mitchell Bluejackets in both its home and Patoka Lake Athletic Conference openers. The Blackhawks are amped up to play in front of their home crowd and are calling for a blackout, encouraging fans to wear black to the game to match their home uniforms. “I love getting to watch them play at home. We talk a lot about getting all the black drip and just being there. We’re going to play it up this week,” Lowe said. “We’ve got to have a great week of practice, Mitchell is going to be better. It’s another week with a team putting the bullseye on our back to get back at us from last year. “It’s not going to take very long for people to figure out that we’ve still got some dudes here. These guys will get back after it this week, have a great week of practice, and they’ll be ready to go.” BLACKHAWKS 43, THUNDERBIRDS 6 Springs Valley (1-0);13;17;13;0—43 Eastern Greene (0-1);0;6;0;0—6 FIRST QUARTER SV: James Walls 36 reception from Mavrick Land (McGee kick), 8:36. SV, 7-0 SV: Walls 51 reception from Land (McGee kick blocked), 2:27. SV, 13-0. SECOND QUARTER SV: McGee 37 field goal, 8:40. SV, 16-0. SV, 16-0. SV: Ezra Mills 4 run (McGee kick), 2:21. SV, 23-0. SV: Keaton Pritchett 15 reception from Land (McGee kick), 0:34. SV, 30-0. EG: Jedd Cummings 97 kick return (Run failed), 0:18. SV, 30-6. THIRD QUARTER SV: Mills 15 run (McGee kick failed), 7:37. SV, 36-6. SV: Mills 20 run (McGee kick), 1:47. SV, 43-6. TEAM STATISTICS ;;Springs Valley;Eastern Greene First downs;17;5 Rushes-yards;48-283;36-82 Passing yards;154;54 Total yards;442;136 Passes;8-10-0;5-10-1 Fumbles-lost;3-1;1-1 Penalty yards;3-25;2-15 RUSHING Springs Valley: Mills 18-124, Larron Childers 8-94, Konner Chase 9-44, Jack Dalton 5-30, Land 6-(-7), Christian Hamilton 2-(-7). Eastern Greene: James Lewis IV 7-64, Evan Ferkingstad 12-38, Peyton Lewis 5-5, Cummings 2-(-5), Jonas Hawk 9-(-9). PASSING Springs Valley: Land 8-10-0-159. Eastern Greene: Hawk 5-10-1-54. RECEIVING Springs Valley: Walls 4-108, Chase 2-27, Pritchett 1-15, Jaheim Hamilton 1-9. Eastern Greene: Cummings 2-51, Lane Stephens 1-15, Lewis IV 2-(-10).