By TIM TAYLORTioga County Sports Report
NEWARK VALLEY — Newark Valley is planning on fielding a JV team this fall after not having one in 2023. However, that means the numbers may be down a little on the varsity squad.
“There's always a little bit of room for improvement, but we're excited because we're going to try to have a JV this year,” coach Ted Hardenstine said. “We haven't had that in a couple years, so because of that, it'll be a little bit tighter at each level, I think we're going to be able to swing it.”
Pre-season practice began Monday with players either lost for the season or sidelined for several days due to injuries, but the coach knows it goes with the territory.
“Injuries are always a part of the game,” he said. “My hope is that we face them all in the off-season this year and that, hopefully, it'll even out and we won't have as many during the year. We're going to have guys step up at a few different positions and probably where we don't have depth, we’ll manufacture it and try to train guys at multiple spots.”
NV’s ground game will get tested out of the gate. All-state running back Dan Truesdail is among the team’s 10 graduates, which includes a couple other RBs, and senior Dylan Iversen is lost for the season due to a non-sports related injury.
“We kind of hang our hat on running the football between the tackles, so we're trying to work on a few things to complement that a little bit to be able to ultimately do what we want to do,”Hardenstine said. “We're trying to work a little bit more, be a little bit more well-rounded.
“The end of the day, it's pretty much we’ve got to be able to do the fundamentals well, so right now at the beginning camp, we’ve got to get guys in good stances, communicating well and playing physica as a unit, so that's what our focus is for right now.”
The Cardinals have some hard-working athletes during the off-season but Hardenstine would like to see that number increase.
“Every year, we have a core of kids and you always hope that it's going to grow and be larger. We're still not where we want to be yet as far as the number of kids doing that, but we have a core of kids that work very hard and then I'm hoping they're going to lead the way here as we continue to do our workouts.
“We always lift during the season as well. We try to get stronger during the season instead of just maintaining and getting everybody here. Peter, our weight room strength and conditioning coach, he does a really good job at being organized and getting the kids working hard in there.”
NV plays 7-on-7 during the summer, playing games in Dryden on Thursdays, and the team also competed in the state tournament in Cortland. Hardenstine finds it beneficial for his players.
“It's just reps experience,” he said. “I'm a big believer in reps, so it's being able to have all those extra reps before the season even starts to be able to have guys out there communicating, making defensive calls, getting lined up correctly, and then from the offensive standpoint, same thing, getting into formations, being able to see routes, being able to coach kids up on how to run those routes better, and getting the quarterbacks to see the field the way you want them to see it.
“Then, just flat out having chances to throw the ball and you hope that it's going to help us be that many more steps ahead of the game when we start throwing the ball around and doing things today.”
Newark Valley will scrimmage Dryden and Union-Endicott on Aug. 30 at U-E, then open against Mount Markham at SUNY Morrisville Sept. 6.
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PHOTOS BY TIM TAYLOR.
