Jenkins loaded up his schedule this year, starting with defending Miami Valley League Miami Division champion Tippecanoe then a trip to Bellefontaine, home of future Ohio State quarterback Tavien St. Clair.
Perennial powerhouse Alter is on the slate, too, but first there is a foe that needs no introduction: Valley View.
The Golden Eagles and Spartans have met every season since 1975, and Valley View has won two in a row in the series after losing four straight.
This season the matchup is technically nonconference for the second time as the two long-time foes reside in different divisions of the Southwestern Buckeye League, but it promises to maintain the same intensity of years past despite being played in early September instead of late October.
“Valley View-Bellbrook does have special meaning, and I think our that’s just something that’s understood when players arrive here at Bellbrook,” said Jenkins, a Bellbrook alumnus. “It’s been a rivalry for as long as I can remember, certainly going back to my playing days in the late 90s-early 2000s there, and it’s always a great game.
“Valley View’s got it rolling right now. They’ve had some really good years put together, so they certainly kind of got that culture going where they’re winning a lot of football games and they’re competitive, the Valley View that we all know and respect.”
Bellbrook failed its first test, getting handled 28-7 by Tipp in the season-opener, but the Eagles rebounded to knock off Bellefontaine last week 35-14.
St. Clair threw for 302 yards, but more than half came on two long plays.
Although Jenkins hated seeing those, he couldn’t help but be happy with the overall result.
“Obviously, we’ve never seen a quarterback like that at this level,” Jenkins said of St. Clair, who is the No. 1-ranked senior prospect in the country per Rivals.com. “I certainly haven’t in my many years of coaching, so there’s a great deal of respect going into this game, but we also felt very confident that our offense could could keep him off the field as much as possible. I think we were on the field about 33 minutes as opposed to their 17, so we were able to control the ball, play pretty aggressive defense from a backfield standpoint, and our D-line I thought did a really nice job containing Tavien.”
Valley View head coach Matt King said preparing for Bellbrook is a challenge this week given the two very different games he sees on film.
“It looks like from Week 1 to Week 2, they changed their identity a little bit in different ways, and obviously they had good results,” King said. “So we’re trying to kind of read between the lines a little bit on what we’ll get Week 3 and and prepare for all the things that we think they’ll do.”
King’s squad has been a run-first outfit so far, running 45 times while throwing 21 passes, but the Spartans are averaging more than 240 yards per game and 10.8 yards per carry.
They are also 1-1 after losing at Coldwater 38-0 in Week 1 then trouncing Milton-Union 49-7 last week.
“We have some guys who are young in some positions, so you play a team the caliber of Coldwater, and they pretty much expose anything that you need to get better at,” King said. “I think that was a good learning process for us and will be part of our growth this season.”
Valley View ran for 386 yards last week, including 123 from junior Anthony Valenti and 110 by Brodie Hopkins, who also caught a 33-yard pass.
“It was good to see the guys rebounded and improved on the things,” King said. “We’re going to have to take a step each and every week this year, and hopefully we can grow throughout the season. And so we’re in that process, and we need a big one this week.”
While Valenti has 164 yards rushing on the season, junior Vincent Epifano leads Bellbrook with 193 yards and three touchdowns.
Here are four more games to watch this week:
Troy at Butler
Two of the three MVL Miami division defending champions square off while averaging 33 points per game.
Trotwood-Madison at Springfield
Two perennial state title contenders are desperate for a win after starting 0-2 against very tough schedules.
Greeneview at West Liberty-Salem
Defending champions of the OHC South and North face off after starting the season 2-0.
Xenia at Sidney
The Buccaneers and Yellow Jackets are averaging 46 and 44 points per game, respectively.
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