Staff photo / Brian Yauger. Chalker quarterback Tanner Kelson reaches for the endzone capping off a 35-yard scoring rush during Friday’s game against Sebring.
SOUTHINGTON — Earlier in the season, Chalker coach Justin Kren lamented the health of his team, eagerly awaiting to see his squad at full strength.
The Wildcats are at full strength.
Chalker’s bolstered lineup, including the return of sophomore Colton Levensky from a bout of kidney cancer now in remission, the Wildcats ran through Sebring, 40-8, in a contest between the Mahoning Valley’s only two 8-man programs.
Levensky got his moment to shine quickly. Not only did he get his own special introduction before the game, the sophomore scored on Chalker’s first offensive play of the game on a 38-yard rush.
“It’s huge,” Kren said of Levensky. “He’s been a part of this with these guys since they were 5 years old, and I’ve coached him since he was like he was five. He’s like a son to me. It was a very emotional night for me, but it was better to see him have the relief in his face to know that everything’s fine now and his life is back to normality. That’s the biggest thing, is that he’s comfortable now.”
Chalker’s offense was lethal on Friday, scoring on their first play from scrimmage three times. In the first 15 minutes of game time, the Wildcats scored 32 of their 40 points.
Throughout the season, the team has been drilling the basics, and it’s elevated the team’s game.
“Every day you’ve got to focus on the basics,” Kren said. “As mundane as it sounds, you have to go over it every day, until it’s muscle memory and it just becomes instinct to the guys. And it showed tonight. We were able to put a lot of our backups in and get reps and stuff like that, and they did well.”
While Chalker is back to full strength, the same can’t be said for the Trojans.
Sebring (2-6) is not only young, but was missing nine active players from its roster on Friday due to injury and illness.
A bad enough situation for any team, but a team already struggling with numbers needs every player it can get. As the Trojans look to build the program back up, that includes bringing players on who have never played football before.
When injuries arise, those players get significant minutes.
“I think the story tonight was a good football team that Justin (Kren) coaches showed a whole lot of class today and reminded everybody what high school football was all about,” Trojans coach Anthony Agresta said. “They could have run up the score, they could have done a lot of things on my young kids playing out of position, and my young kids had never played before. I think the real story tonight is what the opposing coach did, and Southington showed their class and dignity tonight, and I think that’s the real story of the game.”
Sebring closes the year out hosting Stryker.
Chalker’s first season as a full-time 8-man program is winding down. Sitting at 3-3, the transition has been smooth.
“It was nice to not have to transition from an 11-man game to an 8-man game every week,” Kren said. “What place scripts do I grab today? Do I have the right ones? That’s the nice thing about us, is being able to fully focus on 8-man. We’re on track with just that, so we’re good to go.”
The Wildcats close the season out with Holgate and Danbury, both of which are at home.