Sun Valley moving on from historic loss
ASTON — Standing in a semicircle, Sun Valley’s six leaders presented a united front Tuesday, in their demeanor and in their words.
They know – they’ve lived through – what everyone wants to ask them about: a 101-6 loss last Friday to Massillon Washington High in Ohio. The triple-digit cachet will follow them for a while. But for the Vanguards’ elder statesmen and the few dozen others on the varsity squad, the past is just that.
“Everybody knows what happened last week,” quarterback Anthony Ellis said. “It’s done, it’s over with. That was a great team, so we’re just moving on, getting ready for Rustin. Hopefully getting a W and then looking for the playoffs. We’re just keeping focused on this week and not letting anything else get in our head.”
There are two questions that such a score line inspires: How does a matchup like that happen? And how does a team rebound? Of the pair, coach Greg “Bubba” Bernhardt is more interested in the latter. And he’s pleased with the fact that convincing his team to leave the game in the past has been an easy task.
“The kids are doing great with it,” Bernhardt said. “There’s no other choice, and I thought we were going to have to try to get the kids through it, but they’re great. They’re like, ‘It is what it is; let’s move on.’”
Anything that wasn’t resolved in the locker room at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium Friday night was certainly processed on the seven-hour bus ride back from the suburbs of Akron.
“Whatever happened, happened,” receiver Dayon Belgrave said. “We’ve just got to stop thinking about it and be ready for the next week. … Sometimes you have to just be quiet and think. That was a good learning point for us. This week, it’s ready to face Rustin.”
“We left from the Ohio game right after the game was over. So we had basically the whole bus ride to think about it, sleep, do whatever,” Ellis said. “And when we got back, it was over. It was done with for us.”
Massillon Washington stumbled onto Sun Valley’s schedule thanks to the departure of Octorara from the Ches-Mont League for District 3’s Lancaster-Lebanon League. That left the Vanguards with a hole to fill in Week 8, deep in most teams’ league slates. When Massillon offered a matching open date, Bernhardt thought it over before accepting. Though the Massillon program has grown recently, the 2015 team had been 4-7, its glory days were long in the past. Even last year, few had an inkling that a 7-3 regular season and berth in the Ohio District II semifinals would blossom into the nationally ranked behemoth of 2018.
There was the added allure of playing in a stadium built in 1938 and seating 16,392 fans, something no Southeastern Pa. team could match.
The gory details of last Friday have been shared before. A game that was 17-0 after one quarter ballooned when the Tigers rattled off 56 points in the second, despite possessing the ball for barely three minutes in the frame. The Tigers returned two interceptions and a punt for touchdowns in the period around Sun Valley’s only score, an 81-yard pass from Ellis to Julz Kelly, who left the game injured soon thereafter, part of a “perfect storm,” as Bernhardt described it.
Until that onslaught, the game was competitive, with the Vanguards forcing a field goal in the first half on Massillon’s longest drive. The Tigers scored 10 offensive touchdowns on just 32 snaps, holding the ball for 10 minutes, 43 seconds to Sun Valley’s 37:17.
As for the question about running up the score, Bernhardt is reticent to delve too deeply, in the name of moving on. But he did raise an eyebrow about Massillon gaining a first down on its final drive with two minutes to play and a running clock, yet continuing to run offense, which turned into Raekwon Venson’s 77-yard rushing touchdown to hit the century mark.
“This is my 21st year coaching, and before that, I played for 10 years,” Bernhardt said. “And I’ve never been a part, nor seen anyone score a hundred points. Therefore it is very, very difficult to do.”
Perhaps with an eye toward the condemnation the score has encountered in some circles, when contacted by phone, Massillon football coach and athletic director Nate Moore tersely referred all inquiries to superintendent of schools Paul Salvino’s office, where messages were not returned.
While Bernhardt took the more gracious tack, he too has tried to limit how much one game dogs the Vanguards. Save for those last three quarters, Bernhardt felt his team made the most of the experience, visiting the Pro Football Hall of Fame in nearby Canton. Even if the game film falls into the “burn the tapes” category, Bernhardt isn’t urging his players to purge the whole trip from their memories.
“Win or lose, we always try to take something out of it, we try to learn something from it,” Bernhardt said. “Our kids are learning that no matter what we go through, we’re still here and we’re still upright and ready to roll. We have practice on Monday and a game the next Friday night. So it’s never as bad as it seems, and it’s never as great as it seems. … That’s how football goes, and that’s how life goes.”
Sun Valley went to Ohio on the back of two high-scoring, one-possession losses – 50-49 to Oxford and 49-41 at Great Valley. Ahead of the 3-5 squad are matchups with Ches-Mont and District 1 Class 5A foes Rustin (5-2) and Unionville (3-5), upon which the Vanguards’ postseason fate hinges. They sit 17th in the Class 5A standings, just outside the 16-team field.
There’s work to do, and last week’s result – losing by nine or 95 – doesn’t alter that. And one piece of better news is that Bernhardt said Julz Kelly is fine and is optimistic he’ll suit up Friday. Consider that to be part of the plan to look ahead.
“To me, that game never happened,” linebacker Rocky Albano said. “I’m already ready for next week.”
“At the end of the day, we have two games left, we have a chance to get to .500 with two league games, and then it’s playoff time,” Bernhardt said. “If we can focus on these next two games and get ourselves in the playoffs, then it’s a whole new ballgame and who knows what can happen?”
