Printer Friendly Version - Warriors Football Stayed Positive Despite Setbacks in 2023

Senior Grady Lacourciere showed his dedication to the gridiron as an important senior leader for Valley-Old Lyme football this fall. Photo by Wesley Bunnell/The Courier

Max Novak (35) still served as a valuable leader for the Valley-Old Lyme football team this fall, despite missing the campaign with an ACL injury suffered during lacrosse season. Photo by Wesley Bunnell/The Courier

While the season may not have panned out as it had hoped after being a state runner-up a year ago, the Valley Regional-Old Lyme (VR-OL) football team earned the chance to internally reveal its true character, grit, heart, and determination through much adversity, with each member setting themselves up for potential bigger future gains in the process.

The Warriors concluded the 2023 campaign on Nov. 21 with a 20-7 loss to Thanksgiving Week rival Haddam-Killingworth to finish 1-9 overall. In the contest, Valley got on the board when Grady Lacourciere threw a 27-yard touchdown pass to Jackson Pannier in the third quarter, but it wasn’t enough to prevail. Despite the defeat, Head Coach Hill Gbunblee looked beyond the standings and took away some massive triumphs from the season, with kids that came out ready to play and toughed it out–even when it seemed like nothing was falling the Warriors’ way.

“Based on our state final run last year, we got a bigger number of kids to come out this year, and the driving force this year was to take care of the kids so that we maintain them and they stay with the team,” said Gbunblee. “You have to do that because you can lose kids from the team when they realize how tough the sport really is. The cohesiveness took the entire year to develop, along with finding that trust and getting the kids to buy into the system. We started to see it more towards the end of the year, especially against North Branford. We got on the right track, but injuries to key players affected us down the stretch. But the kids did not quit and showed up.”

Gbunblee commented that it took time, particularly for the offense, to develop a feel and flow, with several skill positions in an uncertain state–especially behind center with who would emerge as the Warriors’ signal caller.

“It was a slow maturation process; we did not have [senior] Grady Lacourciere to start the year because we were unsure if he would be able to play due to being recruited for college baseball, and so his first ‘scrimmage’ was our game against Cromwell-Portland,” said Gbunblee. “I have a special relationship with Grady, and he carries himself as an experienced leader, and is very cerebral with how he does things. He deserves all the credit for putting his baseball career on the line by playing football. We only had one quarterback with sophomore Connor Dickson, who was one of the hardest working kids in the system. Defense tends to develop cohesion quicker, and it is harder to install aspects of your offense when you are missing key parts, and when your roster is in flux, it plays a big role, too.”

VR-OL still had several strong leaders throughout the program to help the younger members navigate the choppy waters, including junior Max Novak, who missed the season with a torn ACL suffered during lacrosse season, plus sophomore Reed Schmelzer, junior Matt Cooper, junior Tommy Troy, senior Shane Lemay, and senior twins Elias and Charlie Sahadi.

“It was an unconventional year because it was a rebuilding year. We had the offense built around Max, but he played a phenomenal role as a coach this year while he was rehabbing on the track,” Gbunblee said. “Reed is a dog in the weight room and started on the offensive line the last two years. He is a phenomenal presence, and good player on both sides of the ball. Matt is tall with a good catch radius, and has long arms to keep blockers away. Tommy is a great athlete with a great frame. Eli and Charlie came out to the team this year after playing basketball and played a huge role. They were one of those happy surprises you get on a team. Shane played behind great players in the previous years, and he was hurt this year, which hampered us. I really appreciated all of the hard work of the seniors.”

Of course in the paradigm of a rebuilding campaign, the Warriors now find themselves on the upswing of it by welcoming back a plethora of players on offense for 2024, with an entire force up front, along with many potent pass catchers.

“We return a lot of experience, which is the benefit of a rebuilding year. Everything is a learning experience, and we bring back a lot of kids on offense with the entire offensive line and mostly every receiver,” said Gbunblee. “I look at what we have coming back, and I am optimistic and positive in my outlook. Nothing is more motivating than losing, and it is nice to know we can wash our hands of the year and move on. I like our chances next year.”

The 2023 Warriors’ team roster was comprised of seniors Lemay, Eli Sahadi, Charlie Sahadi, Lacourciere, Jonathan Gosnell; juniors of Troy, Cameron Atkinson, Alex Kruzel-Boxwell, Giovanni Winters, Novak, Jovanie Molina, Peter Kuhn, Rigo Chirinos, Joseph Medel-Herrera; sophomores Chase King, Rowan Wyrebek-Brasky, Dickson, Jackson Pannier, Jack Knudsen, Michael Spencer, Churchill Roberts, Michael Chirinois, Jayden Vasquez, CJ Zapatka, Quinn Hadarik, Tesering Samphel, William Sicignano, Eli Torres, James Preston, Schmelzer; plus freshmen Kevork Shegirian, Alexander Krol, Charles Zelek, Paul Kuhn, Patrick Lynch, Tristan Taylor, Jackson Fritz, Matthew Mossberg-Philhower, Zachary Belval, Kalonji (Jo) Joyce, John Blalock, Kaylib Pinder-Dorothy, Luke Beighau, Chayanne Echeverria, Maxsim Stopa, Cody Donahue, William Burgess, and Brodie Whelen.

Gbunblee was assisted on the sidelines by Brandon Woodcock, Jim Metz, and Austen Ahern.