What We Saw: Spring Valley dominates White Knoll to open season
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Defense was the headliner as Spring Valley opened the 2021 season in dominating fashion. The Vikings limited White Knoll to less than 100 yards of total offense and received three touchdowns from DeQuandre Smith DeQuandre Smith 6'2" | 210 lbs…
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Continue ReadingDefense was the headliner as Spring Valley opened the 2021 season in dominating fashion. The Vikings limited White Knoll to less than 100 yards of total offense and received three touchdowns from DeQuandre Smith DeQuandre Smith 6'2" | 210 lbs | QB Spring Valley | 2022 State SC – two passing and one rushing – in cruising to a 23-0 victory over White Knoll Friday night.
Spring Valley was missing a few starters on both side of the ball, but you could hardly tell. Here is what we observed in the early season match-up.
Spring Valley
The fact White Knoll ended up with close to 100 yards of total offense is surprising given the fact they had 16 yards of total offense at the half. The bulk of their yardage came on the final two drives of the game when both teams had backups in.
Ky Tayo Ky Tayo 6'0" | 280 lbs | DL Spring Valley | 2022 State SC , Jameer Toney, Evan Jarvis and Elijah Stokes were the headliners. Tayo, a Georgia Southern commitment, was almost unblockable. The Timberwolves ran away from him most of the night, but he did record a sack and knocked down a couple of passes.
Toney was the benefactor of White Knoll running away from Tayo. The senior outside linebacker was a force at the line of scrimmage. He had one series where he made three straight open field tackles to force a three-and-out.
Jarvis and Stokes manned the middle and never let the Timberwolves get started offensively.
Smith was quiet most of the night but was still effective. He threw a 6-yard score to Toney, a 32-yarder to Da’shawn Mingo and added a 52-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter.
The senior quarterback finished 20-of-28 for 211 yards.
Mingo, a senior, is only 5-8, 130 pounds but is shifty and can get open.
White Knoll
The Timberwolves started nine sophomores and played a freshman a good bit of the time in the first game under new coach Nick Pelham. The growing pains were evident, but Pelham was proud the way his young team never hung their heads and fought to the end.
Demenico Banks is one of those sophomores and he was a force from his linebacker spot. He’s a compact 5-10, 216 pounds and has a nose for the football. Senior Chase Rivers manned the other linebacker spot, and he also made several plays.
The Timberwolves have two sophomores to keep an eye on offensively. Quarterback Austin Cunningham never seem rattled but could not find time to throw the ball. Cunningham has an impressive looking wide receiver in Hasan Lee. He is 6-1, 210 and could develop into a big-time player.