Nodaway Valley/O-M looks to ride senior leadership to good football season

Nodaway Valley/O-M football enters the season with approximately 35 players, 13 of them seniors. The Wolverines hope that hard work, a good mentality and senior leadership will pay dividends as the season begins.

Mount Ayr visits NV/O-M for a week 1 non-district contest known as The Battle for the Rock, which pays homage to longtime coaches at their respective schools, Bob Daut and Dave Still. Kickoff is at 7 p.m.

A Greenfield Lions Club tailgate meal starts at 5 p.m. in the south parking lot of the high school, the meal costing $5. A bounce house will be set up for kids to play.

Nodaway Valley had a 4-6 season a year ago, winning two shutout games in what was called postseason pod play, then playing a playoff game at North Mahaska, New Sharon.

Practice going well

New head coach Seth Comly, an assistant coach last year for the Wolverines, said his players have picked up on any new schemes presented fairly quickly in the preseason.

It’s that adaptability that Comly predicts will be a strength of his team. He is not unaware that he’s the fifth head coach the program has had in five years. He’s also installing a new, more throw-oriented offense.

“The guys have done really well. They’ve worked their butts off, have picked up on things really fast, and they’ve been really open to a lot of things,” Comly said.

Offense

Though he was defensive coordinator last year, Comly is excited to try to utilize as many offensive weapons as possible this season, and he’s switching up the look a little bit in the backfield.

Instead of lining up in a shotgun and running option-based plays, the Wolverines may be more likely at times to go to a pistol look and spread the ball out through the air.

“Something I’ve stuck to as a coach, and I’ve heard it’s been true at Nodaway Valley, is that our linemen aren’t going to be the biggest, but we’re going to have tough guys who are wanting to get after it,” Comly said. “We’re going to get the ball in athletes’ hands the way we know best so they can make plays. We’re leaning on getting the ball out quick, getting a solid run game going, and getting the ball in space so they can do what they do best.”

Comly said that a rough look at projected starters on offense include Nathan Russell at quarterback; Elliott Cooney at running back; Caelen DeVault, Boston DeVault, Anthony Shaw and Tyson Ross as receivers; Dax Kintigh at tight end and backup quarterback; and eight linemen still vying for starting spots are Avery Phillipi, Adam Ayase, Kaden Herr, Brandon Raasch, Carter Holder, Jackson Kerr, Parker Foster and Tristan Randol.

Defense

Comly said that the most important thing for the Wolverines on the defensive side will be the intensity that they intend to play with. They have a rule they call “9-5-9,” which means there are nine players within five yards of the ball 90% of the time.

“When we get there, it’s going to be in an aggressive manner, I’d say, to put it nicely,” Comly said. “We’re going to run similar stuff to last year but will add a few wrinkles to make us more dynamic and be able to adapt more to the offenses we’re going to see. We bring a lot of guys back but have a lot of shoes to fill with the guys who did leave.”

The Wolverines bring two of their three top tacklers back from last year in now-senior Caelen DeVault (66 total in 2020) and Adam Ayase (54.5). Senior Jon Gebbie had four interceptions on defense as a junior. Six players who return had at least one fumble recovery last year.

Projected starters on defense include Ayase at defensive end; Holder, Kerr and others on the defensive interior; Kintigh at middle linebacker; Matthew Weber and Anthony Shaw at linebackers; and defensive backs Elliot Cooney, Boston DeVault, Jon Gebbie, Ross, Russell and Caelen DeVault.

Short and long-term goals

Short-term goals as the first game approaches are that the team gets better with every repetition, every period and every practice, Comly said. That will lead to getting better each day and each game, going 1-0 each week.

Nodaway Valley/O-M is in Class 1A this year. With them in Class 1A, District 7 are talent-laden, perennially strong programs like Panorama, defending state runner-up Van Meter, and Adair-Casey/Guthrie Center.

After Mount Ayr, non-district games at home with Shenandoah and at Red Oak follow. A road game at Interstate 35 kicks off district play Sept. 17, while Homecoming is the following week against AC/GC.

“We do have a tall district with some power hitters. There will be some good games for us. I think that some people probably have low expectations, but I feel that we can, if not match last year’s win total, exceed it,” Comly said. “I look at it week by week. We just want to get better each week and always put ourselves in the best position to win.”