D’Anne Kroemer

Pleasant Valley student section celebrates the start of the football season during week one against Prairie

For the past two years, the Pleasant Valley Spartans have made it to the first round of the state football tournament and made it to the final round of the substate final. This year, the Spartans are hoping to do even better. 

The Spartans went into the season ranked 4th in preseason rankings and opened against a tough opponent: Cedar Rapids Prairie. Prairie, another team in the top 10 preseason rankings, was a highly anticipated match for PV. Yet, the Spartans prevailed destroying the Hawks with a final score of 36-7.

Caden McDermott, the starting Quarterback for the Spartans, led his team to victory with an impressive stat line, throwing two touchdowns, rushing for another, and close to 200 yards of offense. McDermott also leads the state in quarterback passer rating as he continues to work on bringing a championship to PV. “My goal is to lead my team back to the dome and compete against the Des Moines team for a championship,” senior McDermott said. 

As the team continues to look forward to the rest of the season, the offense isn’t the only dominant part of the team. The Spartans defense held the Hawks to just 6 points from a late touchdown run by Prairie’s Makelle Taylor. 

However, it was in the second quarter cornerback, Ryan Doyle, on defense that helped the Spartans dominate, recording two tackles and an interception which he returned for a 46 yard touchdown. “As soon as the Prairie kid dropped the ball, I got it. All I thought about was scoring,” Doyle shared.

The defensive coordinator for the Spartans, Joe Youngbauer, has been very impressed with the team,especially its defense in the first game. Youngbauer talked about the work the team put in over the summer. In the weight room and on the field to become better athletes and teammates. It was on full display during the first week. 

“My goal is to get the best eleven guys out there who can believe in each other and trust one another, ” said Youngbauer.

What does this mean for the rest of the season? The Spartans came up short last year making it to the final substate game before finally losing. “It definity hurt last year,” Youngbauer said. “But we will use it this season as motivation.”As the Spartans look ahead to the rest of the season, they will look to finish it at the dome in possession of a championship title.