2024 Prep Football Previews: New coach considers Walton-Verona team ahead of learning curve during summer transition

By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter

On June 4, Walton-Verona High School scheduled a meet-and-greet for newly hired head football coach Gary Pence. That’s when the race against the clock began. He had 79 days to mold players he had never seen into a team before the start of the 2024 season.

With 16 days remaining, Pence said the players have done “an amazing job” adjusting to a new coaching staff and learning new offensive and defensive schemes they have introduced.

“We will have a lot of young guys starting, but our upperclassmen have been great so far in leading them and adjusting to the change,” said Pence, an assistant coach at Cooper the last nine years. “We expect big things from our few seniors in continuing to build on the strong foundation that was laid before them.”

One of those seniors is Ben Walton, a starter on the offensive and defensive lines last season when the Bearcats finished 4-6 and failed to make the Class 2A playoffs under Jeff Barth, the football program’s most successful head coach who resigned in May.

This season, Walton will be playing two new positions — running back and linebacker — in the team’s new schemes. He’s working hard to master both of them and set a positive tone for his teammates during the coaching transition.

“He (Pence) asked the seniors to do a good portion in terms of motivation and letting our younger guys know, ‘Hey, as long as you buy in it’s going to be slow at first but it’ll hit you like a wall once it all finally clicks,’” Walton said.

Last year, the Bearcats averaged 142 yards rushing and 86 yards passing per game. The top four running backs graduated, but junior quarterback Avery Howe and senior pass receivers Trace Dalton and Jonathan Strunk are back in the lineup.

After an injury sidelined Walton-Verona senior quarterback Jackson Smith last season, Howe replaced him and completed 26 of 54 passes for 485 yards and six touchdowns in the team’s last four games that included two victories.

“He stepped up and really accepted the challenge,” Walton said of Howe. “He’s got some tools in his belt already.”

Coach Pence said Strunk is a wide receiver in a tight end’s body and expects him to cause mismatches against smaller defensive backs. Dalton is one of the team’s best athletes who also returns kickoffs and punts.

The Bearcats’ offensive line will consist of first-year starters. Walton said they’re coming along well in practice, but their first real test will be in preseason scrimmage games at Campbell County on Friday and Ludlow on Aug. 16.

“Right now, I think we’re looking to pass a lot, but I think our coach is looking for the upcoming scrimmages to really get his mind set,” Walton said. “I think he really wants to see who handles the adversity and intensity and what really fits us the best.”

The scrimmage games will also be a proving ground for Walton-Verona’s defensive unit. Dalton is a returning starter in the secondary and Walton will be joining Strunk and sophomore Alexander Yutze as linebackers. Up front, the team will be relying on younger players as well.

“While there may only be four returning starters on both sides of the ball,” coach Pence said, “there are a lot of sophomores that got varsity experience as freshman last year due to the amount of injuries that occurred. So that experience should help those players now as sophomores.”

WALTON-VERONA BEARCATS
2023 SEASON: 4-6 record, did not qualify for Class 2A playoffs.
STARTERS RETURNING: 4 offense, 4 defense.
DISTRICT: Class 2A, District 5 with Beechwood, Bracken County, Carroll County, Gallatin County, Owen County.
HEAD COACH: Gary Pence (first season as head coach).

2024 SCHEDULE
Aug. 23 – BROSSART, 7:30 p.m.
Aug. 30 – NEWPORT CENTRAL CATHOLIC, 7:30 p.m.
Sept. 13 – KENTUCKY COUNTRY DAY, 7:30 p.m.
Sept. 20 – at Holmes, 7 p.m.
Sept. 27 – BRACKEN COUNTY, 7:30 p.m.
Oct. 4 – BEECHWOOD, 7:30 p.m.
Oct. 11 – at Carroll County, 7:30 p.m.
Oct. 18 – at Gallatin County, 7:30 p.m.
Oct. 25 – at Owen County, 7:30 p.m.
Nov. 1 – at Boone County, 7 p.m.

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