With win over Clovers, OV football is undefeated in regular season
In a year when records are falling like raindrops, the Owen Valley football team did something Friday night that had not been accomplished by them since 2000. Although not technically a record, the Patriots completed a "perfect" 9-0 regular season with a 69-13 win over Cloverdale, breaking several records along the way.
"There's a lot of things that go into an undefeated season... the managers, the stat girls, the players, the coaches, the fans, the parents, the student body... everybody that you could think of. To have those things, you have to work hard, you have to have buy-in, you have to have community buy-in and you have to have a little bit of luck. You have to stay healthy and things like that," OV head coach Rob Gibson said after the game.
It was a flurry of scoring activity at Cloverdale, as the Patriots took part in their last regular season game of 2022. OV found the endzone early and often, scoring their first touchdown, a run by Christian McDonald, in just 1:09 in the first quarter. Even with most of the starters out by halftime, the loaded OV offense was able to find the endzone, totaling 10 touchdowns on the night.
Records fell and amazing accomplishments were amassed during the contest. Senior receiver Chris Zeilstra broke the record for career receiving yards. Entering the game, Zeilstra had 1,044 yards with the record held by Kevin Smeltzer from 1999-2001 with 1,085. Although official stat numbers weren't in as of press time, Zeilstra's numbers from Friday night were able to put him past that 41-yard threshold to secure the record.
"Zeilstra deserves that," Coach Gibson said with a smile. "Chris comes in, he works hard every time. He asks the right questions, he holds the team accountable if we run a play he doesn't like, he'll ask 'coach can we get that again.' He deserves to be the all-time leading receiver here at Owen Valley. (I'm) Just really proud of him. And he'll tell you too... Brody has to do his job, offensive line has to do their job, the other receivers have to run their routes, Christian has to protect... so I'm just really proud of him, he deserves that."
Although not a record, McDonald came away with an amazing career stat on the night, going over 1,000 yards in rushing for the season, with 173 yards and three touchdowns in just two quarters of play. McDonald has rushed for over 1,000 yards in each of the last three seasons and has over 4,000 rushing yards in his career.
"He's another a kid that deserves it," Coach Gibson commented. "Christian is a kid, that a this point, could probably have 2000 yards if we wanted to. There are a lot of things that we have to do to be able to put ourselves in a position to be successful... passing the ball, running different plays. He is so selfless. He does exactly what he's asked to do every single time and he's a great team player. Proud of him for that accomplishment as well."
Despite handing the Clovers a loss, Coach Gibson sees positive changes and big things in their future with the hiring of first-year head coach Tyler Lotz.
"If I'm the Cloverdale community, I'm going to put every dollar and dime I can find and give (to) that kid (coach) and try to keep him here as long as possible," Gibson said. "They are off to such a great start. They are noticeably better. They are incredibly, noticeably better on film. I think the community has bought in, but they need to buy into him and trust him. He's going to have a great career and I hope it happens here at Cloverdale."
The Owen Valley team also finished the regular season with a rather neat accolade to add to their resume. With a scoring average of 53.11 points per game, the Patriots led the state in offensive scoring average and finished ninth in average overall margin of victory at 36.11 points per game.
"We're fortunate to get to this point. At the end of the day, we want to go 9-0, but we're just trying to win one week at a time. We won this week, we'll go 24 hours to celebrate and go back to work again next week."
With the undefeated regular season in the rearview mirror now, the Patriots set their sites on post-season play. Owen Valley will travel to Mount Vernon in Posey County in far southern Indiana to take on Wildcats in the first round of sectional play. Mount Vernon is 5-4 on the season with wins over South Spencer (56-30), Princeton (42-7), Jeffersonville (48-0), Forest Park (42-7) and Washington (56-0). Their losses on the season came to Heritage Hills (9-25), Boonville (20-32), Gibson Southern (7-35) and North Posey (13-28).
The game is set for this Friday, October 21 with aa 7 p.m. start, central time, which is 8 p.m. eastern time for those making the 141-mile, 2 hours and 19-minute drive from OVHS. Tickets are $7 at the gate, cash only.
This article originally appeared on Evening World: With win over Clovers, OV football is undefeated in regular season
