Named after the famous hot springs in French Lick, Indiana, Springs Valley High School is a proverbial powerhouse in class A athletics. Coming off an incredible turnaround season last year, the Blackhawks look to keep that momentum up and perhaps move even further into the postseason.
Second year Head Coach Jason Lowe came out of the gates with all cylinders blasting as he led the Hawks to a tremendous season in 2021. The team finished with an astonishing record of 7-1 and placed sixth in Class A in the final AP poll of the year. To put their turnaround in perspective, SISN co-founder Corey Hall made some great graphs of their win percentage and points difference for the past 4 years. Numbers don’t lie folks, these boys played their butts off and came away with the best season they’ve had in at least 4 years.
2021, however, is in the past and its time to look forward to 2022.
Springs Valley will employ a Gun T scheme on offense which will allow its amazing athletes to get the ball in space very quickly and works best with a mobile QB, which Springs Valley definitely has. This will force the opposing defense to defend the entire field and account for every single skill position. On the other side of the ball the ‘Hawks will employ a 4-4 base multiple defensive scheme. Consisting of 4 down linemen and 4 linebackers this defensive scheme is based on speed, athleticism, and intelligence rather than on size and strength. This scheme also allows for multiple blitz packages that can be easily concealed and altered and can be difficult for the opposing offense to identify where the pressure may come from. Look for the ‘Hawks to try and use their speed and athleticism on both sides of the ball as they look to speed up opponents and get them off balance.
With the season opener only a week away we were able to speak with Coach Lowe about his team this year.
SISN: Your team took a giant leap last year and finished in the top 10 in Class A. How do you plan to keep that momentum going?
Coach Lowe: Last year was a special year at Springs Valley. It was fun for our kids and our parents/fans. Fortunately for us we have that season to build off of and try to keep the momentum going. From my experience that is much easier than trying to build momentum off of a season that wasn’t as memorable.
SISN: Which opponent or opponents on this year’s schedule do you most look forward to playing?
Coach Lowe: We will have a couple tests out of the gate with our 1st two opponents having new head coaches. From there you get into conference rivals and then round out the season with tough sectional opponents. Every week is a tough one.
SISN: How do you feel the new sectional realignment will affect your squad?
Coach Lowe: We brought in 2 solid teams with Providence and South Spencer. Both teams will come into our sectional from very tough regular season schedules. Our goal here is to be the team that no one wants to draw. We can’t worry about anything else.
SISN: What is the most important area you believe your team can improve on?
Coach Lowe: It’s still just year two here and we are still learning. Last year we were able to learn on the fly and that worked out for us. Our kids have done a great job of being disciplined and trying to learn as much as they can.
SISN: Will age or depth be a factor good or bad for your team this year?
Coach Lowe: We anticipate having a lot of “youth” on the field this fall. We will have several sophomores on the field on Friday nights and some juniors that didn’t see much varsity time last year as well. We are excited about the depth/youth we have.
SISN interview with Head Coach Jason Lowe 8/10/22
I look for the ‘Hawks to continue to improve under their second year coach and a deep run into the postseason is not out of the possibility.
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What makes Springs Valley a “proverbial powerhouse”?