Spartans prepared for an epic season
INDIAN TRAIL This season, it won't take long for Sun Valley High's passionate football fans to know exactly how good their team is.
The Spartans generated some buzz last season, finishing 10-3 and reaching the second round of the N.C. 4A playoffs. Three stars from that team - quarterback Ryan Smith, running back Jadarrius Williams and receiver Jody Fuller - are all back. The trio accounted for more than 4,700 yards last season and Williams was the Southern Carolina conference offensive player of the year.
But with that kind of success and that kind of talent returning, sometimes scheduling can be a problem. When Spartans coach Scott Stein began calling around for games, he wasn't getting many returned messages.
"What happened to us," he said, "should not happen to anybody. We had six games to fill and all six from last year would not renew. I don't recall that ever happening. At that point it made things difficult for us."
So when state power Richmond Senior called, Stein jumped at the chance, even though it was a road game in Rockingham on Aug. 19, annually one of the toughest sites in North Carolina to win a game. Stein also added nationally ranked Mallard Creek on Aug. 26, and would've had nationally ranked Butler on Sept. 2, but the teams couldn't make it work because both needed a home game.
Playing Richmond and Mallard Creek in back-to-back weeks would've been tough enough, but adding a two-time defending state champion on a 31-game win streak in the third would have been brutal.
Stein said he didn't mind.
"We're not going to hide from an opponent," Stein said, "but that's not to say we're a glutton for punishment. We didn't put Richmond County or Mallard Creek on the schedule to get beat. We feel we're a talented team and that we can play with anybody. We'll get to find out early this year and that's exciting for us. I don't believe you will get anywhere by beating everybody to death and not facing good competition until you get to conference play.
Sun Valley - News
Sun Valley tailback Jadarrius Williams catches a ball during practice. Kevin Ziechmann - kziechmann@charlotteobserver.com Sun Valley quarterback Ryan Smith runs a handoff drill during practice.
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