HS FOOTBALL: Heat acclimation practices begin; Devils new head coach ‘excited’ to start season

SHENANDOAH – Monday marked the start of heat acclimation practices for area football teams.

Shenandoah Valley, with a new head coach, is looking to turn around a decade-long skid and one of the longest streaks without a winning season.

“I’m excited,” Head Coach Dave Bench told the Sentinel Monday morning. “I’ve been with a lot of these boys since Kindergarten. We’re very optimistic about our core group, we’re expecting some of the seniors and juniors to step up this year.”

Bench has been a youth sports coach in the Shenandoah area for the better part of the past decade and was an assistant coach under previous Head Coach Ed Moran.

“A lot of the coaches I brought in are from the area or played here before, so we’re trying to do the ‘town’ mentality, getting out kids together and interacting with the town more so there’s buy-in for the team and get more kids to come out for the team,” Bench said. “That’s how we’re trying to rebuild here.”

“We have to be an aggressive, scrappy team,” Bench said regarding the season’s outlook. “We have to be creative as coaches, where we put the kids and come up with different schemes every week.”

Shenandoah Valley’s schedule this year has been shuffled slightly as the Schuylkill-Colonial co-op went from four divisions to three in an effort to better balance the league.

The Devils are in Division C, grouped with the Schuylkill County small schools. Re-alignment also means the elimination of a non-league game. The Mason-Dixon Trophy game against Hancock, Maryland is not on the schedule this year and the only non-league game this year is the season opener at Columbia-Montour Vo-Tech.

The rest are against Schuylkill County schools, including Minersville, Pine Grove, and Williams Valley.

“It’s basically what traditional Schuylkill County football was like, so I kinda like it,” Bench said. “We’re playing all the towns that are near us so it brings more of the rivalry back.”

The Devils open their season at 1pm on August 24 at Columbia-Montour Vo-Tech.

Shenandoah Valley Football Schedule

7pm start unless otherwise noted | *denotes league

August 24 – @ Columbia Montour Vo-Tech – 1pm
August 30 – Minersville*
Sept. 6 – @ Schuylkill Haven*
Sept. 13 – Marian Catholic*
Sept. 21 – @ Pine Grove*
Sept. 27 – @ Nativity*
Oct. 4 – Tri-Valley*
Oct. 11 – Panther Valley*
Oct. 18 – @ Williams Valley*
Oct. 25 – @ Mahanoy Area*

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