By TIM TAYLORTioga County Sports Report
SPENCER — Jared Wayman has a saying. The rearview mirror is smaller than the windshield for a reason. He’s brought that to Spencer-Van Etten/Candor where he takes over as the new head coach.
Focusing on 2024 and not looking back at a season in which the Eagles saw a potential postseason berth slip away down the stretch, the 2016 Athens graduate believes his players are ready to prove themselves.
SVEC may not have the big numbers like rival powerhouse Tioga and a couple other Class D teams, but he has confidence in what he does have.
“We got about 25 today,” he said during Monday’s opening day of preseason, noting some kids are taking state tests, and said he hopes to have about 30 on the roster.
“We have a team full of warriors,” he added. “These kids have all heart, and they're smart kids. They're flying around on the ball on defense and we're just excited.
“We just talked about we’ve got a good problem to have where we’ve got too many good kids and not enough spots. We’re definitely going to have good rotation.”
Wayman doesn’t consider this a rebuilding year, despite the fact all-state defensive back Jacek Teribury (who also ran the offense) and a few others are gone, because he feels he has several leaders and experienced athletes returning.
“I think we have a lot more guys who are experienced, but I can see that the younger guys are just soaking up the knowledge,” he said. “It's only the first day, and we had a couple groups coming in here, and it kind of went off without a hitch, so it's pretty good.”
Off-season work and 7-on-7 action over the summer was a plus. The Eagles showed improvement at a tournament in Sayre and a scrimmage with defending Class C champion Waverly.
Wayman said the repetition involved in playing 7-on-7 is an advantage.
The start of preseason has the coaching staff, which returns Craig Bennett, Mike Klym and Gino Martone, working to ensure the players know their jobs.
“We’re just trying to tighten up our assignments,” Wayman said. “The first two days are big instructional days, offense and defense, because we don't have pads. It's mostly all mental reps, making sure we understand our assignments and know what we're doing.”
Wayman noted they’ve revamped a lot of the playbook, so there will be a lot of new terminology.
SVEC had been coached by Mike Chaffee the past six years, with the Eagles competing in the 8-man ranks and going undefeated during two of those seasons.
The team finished 5-5 in 11-man last season after a 4-1 start.
SVEC opens the regular season with a 7 p.m. contest Sept. 6 at Lansing.
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PHOTOS BY TIM TAYLOR.
