CHILLICOTHE, Ohio (WOUB) - The Paint Valley Bearcats hosted the Valley Indians at home in a Week 1 matchup that ended in a lopsided 33-0 Indians victory.
Paint Valley enters this season looking a little different than last year. Starting at the helm, the program is now led by head coach John Penwell, who took over after last year's coach, Corey Dye, left for a defensive coordinator position at Miami Trace.
The team also lost quite a few players, making this a much smaller squad than the dominant team that hit the field last year.
Both teams showed up ready to go, but struggled to get things started on offense. However, Valley was able to get things going and punched in a touchdown to get itself on the board, thanks to RB Anthony Aaron.
This touchdown began a trend for the Indians, who scored another 7 points in the first quarter off a touchdown from WR Nick Queen, putting them up 14-0.
That score remained the same heading into halftime. Paint Valley's offense struggled to get moving. Its yards were hard fought, and QB Preston Fauber struggled to find receivers, forcing the team to keep the ball on the ground and work its way through or around the defense.
The emphasis on running the ball only allowed the Bearcats to pick up a few yards at a time, and they struggled to move the chains as the game went on.
The third quarter saw even more action for Valley, who picked up two more touchdowns from Aaron, a standout player for the Indians in this matchup.
Each of those touchdowns had a missed PAT, resulting in a 26-0 lead heading into the final quarter. Valley would pick up another touchdown, courtesy of Lex Logan, which sealed the deal and Valley took home a 33-0 week one victory.
Next week, Paint Valley will have a chance at redemption when they travel to Athens to face off with the 1-0 Bulldogs.