Springs Valley Community High School

The 2021 season was a special one for the Springs Valley football program. In their first season under head coach Jason Lowe, the Blackhawks romped their way to a 9-2 record, a 3-0 conference record and a sectional title game berth, all feats that broke long droughts. Many of the leaders from that squad have moved on, with an historically good senior class having graduated. Indiana Football Coaches Association All-State selections Kannon Chase and Travis Bell won’t be suiting up for the Blackhawks this fall, nor will dynamic playmaker Conner Grimes, line stalwart Mason Chaplin or any of the other members of the Class of 2022. Their effect on the program remains, however, as the Blackhawks have a whopping 43 players on their roster and a ton of excitement heading into the new season. “It’s very important to build on that while also keeping in mind that this is a new year. Some of these teams have put a big bullseye on our back now and from the standpoint of standings or record, we’re starting from scratch,” Lowe said. “Having 43 kids on the roster and having guys excited to come in here every day, I think that’s the momentum coming from last season.” Without leaders like Chase, Grimes and company in tow, Springs Valley has looked to some old faces like seniors Jake Hammond, Jack Dalton, Ezra Mills and Griffin McGee to lead the way, but there’s a new class of regulars who have stepped up as well to become important pieces for the Blackhawks. “Jonas Hammond’s a guy who comes to mind. He’s completely bought-in and understands his role and how important he’s going to be for us. Teagan Rominger, Jaheim Hamilton, Kaden Dunn, Keaton Pritchett’s a new guy who’s come in and been in the mix,” Lowe said. “We have a lot of guys who have really stepped up this summer and especially these first few days of practice.” While it’s easy to point to the quarterback and running back positions as ones needing to be filled heading into the 2022 season, there were also holes left along the offensive line where Bell, Chaplin, Landen Ball, Brandtly Cooper, Chris Houchins, and Hayden Lynch were all contributors last season. With them all graduated, the Blackhawks will rely on Jake Hammond, their veteran center, and their potent tight end/wingback tandem of Xander Cook and Dalton to anchor the line. “We’re extremely lucky that we have Jack Dalton and Xander Cook, who I consider to be a part of that offensive line,” Lowe said. “Those guys anchor it from the edge, then we still have Jake Hammond in the middle. That’s big for us. We’re trying to piece together guys to fill in those tackle spots and guard spots and lucky for us, we have kids who are really good athletes and are really physical on the field.” When it comes to the skill positions, the Blackhawks feature quite a bit of depth. Mills, Dalton and Larron Childers are all back after having more than 39 carries apiece last year and Cook, Konner Chase, and James Walls all caught at least a couple of passes in 2022. Pritchett, a transfer addition from Mitchell, immediately bolsters that group. Hamilton and Dunn should be useful weapons as well. That group gives junior quarterback Mavrick Land a lot of promising options and provides Springs Valley’s coaching staff with quite the conundrum as it tries to figure out who to get the ball to when and how to do it. “There are so many different pieces there. You look at Ezra and Konner Chase and Jack and they’re totally different from Larron who’s completely different from James and Keaton and Jaheim and Kaden Dunn and guys like that. There’s just so many different things that they can do,” Lowe said. “It’s a blessing and a curse because it makes it hard on us to figure out who to get the ball to and how to get them the ball, but that’s a good problem to have.” Defensively the Blackhawks expect to be stout. Those same athletes who will make up the receiving corps could make for a smothering secondary as well. Mills and Dalton will hold things down in the middle of the defense at linebacker and Childers will lead the defensive line as one of the more disruptive edge players around. The Blackhawks will give fans a taste of what’s to come on Friday when they travel to Eastern (Pekin) for a scrimmage, then they’ll officially open their season a week later with a trip to Eastern Greene. As they prepare to take the field for the first time, the Blackhawks are zoned in on doing what they can to better both their understanding and execution of the schemes they run as well as getting into an attacking mindset. “Just our scheme offensively and defensively, understanding assignments, especially on the offensive side, and then defensively alignments is a big one,” Lowe said. “From this point on it’s the physicality standpoint of are we going to hit, are we going to be physical at the point of attack and at the line of scrimmage, so the nice thing right now is that we can just focus on ourselves and what we do.”