HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Spring Valley has produced a string of Division I linemen in recent years and in fourteen seasons under head coach Brad Dingess, the Timberwolves have qualified for postseason play each year. Spring Valley is the only team to defeat Class AAA power Martinsburg since 2016. The Timberwolves beat the Bulldogs in consecutive regular seasons before falling at Martinsburg in the quarterfinal round last November.
“That game is a game that we’ll remember forever. It was a great game,” said Spring Valley senior running back/linebacker Cody Shy of the Timberwolves’ 35-30 win in October. “But we weren’t pleased with the playoff game. We always remember that. We didn’t like the way it ended.”
Last fall, Spring Valley combined their traditional run-dominated offense with an effective passing game. The Wolves took to the air on 41 percent of their snaps. Dalton Fouch passed for 2,255 yards with 33 touchdowns and just 6 interceptions. Fouch is back for his second season leading the Spring Valley offense.
“I feel like we are going to kind of mix it up a little bit this year,” Fouch said. “We’ll kind of run and throw the ball still a little bit.”
The Timberwolves must replace their leading rusher and top four receivers from a year ago.
“Coming together is going to be a very big part of it,” Fouch said. “There’s going to be a lot of big positions to fill. When everybody gets comfortable together, we are going to be a really good team.”
“We definitely did lose a few players,” Shy said. “That was a good senior class. We’ve got a lot of speed this year. We’ve got a lot of good players that people don’t really expect to come from us. They’ll fill in the spots pretty good.”
Spring Valley welcomes back their leading tackler in Cody Shy. The senior linebacker made 118 stops in 12 games last season.
“He is an animal,” Fouch said. “It is really great to watch him play and sack all the quarterbacks and make fifteen tackles a game. It is really fun to watch.”
The starting lines on both sides of the ball remain mostly intact from 2021.
“We had a young line last year. And they are all coming back this year. We’ve got an experienced line. We all work well together,” Shy said.