NEW BETHLEHEM, Pa. (EYT/D9) — Five points.
That was all that separated the Redbank Valley football team from possible Region 2 and District 9 titles.
The Bulldogs lost to Port Allegeny, 8-7, the day after losing key players to disciplinary action by the school. In the District 9 semifinals, Redbank Valley was knocking on the door against Brockway, but couldn’t get in the end zone in a 7-3 loss.
Redbank is determined to not allow those things to upend its season again this year.
(Pictured above, running back Drew Byers gets set to make a move into the open field for Redbank Valley last season/photo by Madison McFarland)
“We were a young football team last year that was trying to find a way to win games,” said Redbank Valley coach Blane Gold. “The two most important games we played last year, we couldn’t find a way to win. We’re hoping that with the 16 starters that we return and the lessons they learned last year, they can parlay that into winning those games this year.”
To win them, the Bulldogs will be relying again on a young quarterback with a wealth of talent.
Redbank Valley, Keystone, and Union/A-C Valley sports coverage on Explore and D9Sports.com is brought to you by Heeter Lumber.
Braylon Wagner stepped in at QB as a freshman in Week 8 against Port and acquitted himself well, throwing for 804 yards and eight touchdowns over the final four games of the season.
Now a year older as a sophomore and with an entire offseason under his belt as the incumbent, Wagner is poised to elevate his game even more.
Last year, Wagner was the only QB on the roster after Week 8. That limited what he could do in the Bulldogs’ offense.
“The training wheels were off as far as him throwing the football,” Gold said. “When it came to running the ball in our option game, he had a block on the tire.”
If Gold could have encased Wagner in bubble wrap, he would have.
The coaching staff even went as far as dedicating part of practice to teach Wagner the art if sliding to avoid contact.
“I’ve never spent so much time trying not to get a player hurt,” Gold said. “We couldn’t risk him running the ball last year. With one suspension, we lost our starting quarterback, but the other was our emergency quarterback, so we had no other options behind him.
“Nothing changed with him throwing the ball. We turned him loose,” Gold added. “We didn’t simplify the playbook.”
Gold hopes he doesn’t have to deal with a situation like that again.
To that end, there’s a big mantra for the Redbank Valley program this season.
Accountability.
“We’ve been preaching (that),” Gold said. “Seven games into the year, we lost two guys to disciplinary actions who accounted for 37 touchdowns in the first seven games of the year. That’s almost 30 points per game if you look at the numbers and do the math.
“We’ve had two years in a row where we’ve lost starters to disciplinary actions, so we have to snap that streak,” he added. “One of the biggest things we need to make sure we’re doing is making good decisions off the field so we don’t find ourselves in a situation where we have to go into a region championship game, and a playoff game, without 37 touchdowns. That’s what we’ve been preaching. And that’s been our motivation. It’s a lot of, ‘What are we doing? What decisions are we making?’ How do our individual actions impact the team?’ That’s what we’ve been focusing on the most.”
On the field, the Bulldogs — just a season removed from a trip to the PIAA Class A championship game — are as talented as ever.
Junior Drew Byers returns at running back after rushing for 754 yards and five touchdowns last season. Three dangerous wide receivers are also back in Mason Clouse, Ashton Kahle and Rylan Rupp. And the defense, often overlooked because of the potent offense, is largely intact with eight returning starters, including tackling machines Caden Adams and Brandon Ross.
“You know, it’s kind of an odd paradox because of our four wideouts we graduated two of them, but we have three starters back,” Gold said. “Mason Clouse is back. Ashton Kahle started seven games for us last year and was leading the team in touchdowns and was an all-state performer as a sophomore and Rylan started for Ashton the last four games that he missed. So with that, even though we graduated some speed and some numbers, we have a lot of other guys we are working with right now.”
Two intriguing players to watch are Ashton George and Owen Clouse.
George is a 6-foot-1 senior who transferred from Mount Lebanon.
Clouse gave up football for soccer after a series of concussions and has become the school’s all-time leading goal scorer. But he returned to the football field last season as a place kicker. This year, his role will expand and will play wide receiver and defensive back, too.
“(George) brings some height and speed and he’s able to do some things similar to what Mason Clouse does,” Gold said. “We have the prototypical big bodies on the outside and some speed guys in the middle and our entire backfield and four offensive linemen are back.”
Redbank Valley is going to need all hands on deck in a very tough region and an equally difficult non-conference schedule.
“I believe Port (Allegany) is the favorite in the region again, just because they have that entire offensive line back,” Gold said. “We’ve never been dominated like we were dominated by that offensive line. If they have a quarterback who can catch a snap and run, they are going to be good.
“The schedule is extremely challenging. It’s a tremendously challenging region to play in, and we scheduled the hardest non-conference games we could with Karns City and Punxsutawney and Central Clarion. There aren’t any freebies in there at all.”
Redbank Valley, Keystone, and Union/A-C Valley sports coverage on Explore and D9Sports.com is brought to you by Heeter Lumber.
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