'Not just another week,' Pleasant, River Valley squaring off in county rivalry game
MARION — Matt Waddle and C.J. Westler are newbies to Marion County's oldest and fiercest football rivalry.
Waddle, the new head coach at River Valley, spent a couple of different stints as an assistant coach for the Vikings, but for Westler, a Marion Harding grad and former assistant before taking over at Pleasant this summer, this is a first.
As both are in their first time managing The Game in the county, they're doing their best not to call too much attention to it.
"I’m not trying to hype it up any more than it already is," Waddle said. "I’m just trying to go about it as another week. We also know it’s not another week. We’re trying to downplay it a little bit. We trying to treat it as it’s just another week, but obviously, we know it’s not just another week."
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The same is true across the county with the Spartans.
"We’re going to treat it as normal as possible," Westler said "Actually, the kids have a little more energy earlier in the week because they know it’s a big deal and a big game."
The practice schedules and the pregame routines won't be altered, but the energy is different in Week 5 than it's been in the previous weeks of the season.
"You don’t want to get too hyped about it and just try to keep the kids calm and focused on just what we need to do to win the game," Waddle said of his approach to game time on Friday when Pleasant goes to RV for a 7 p.m. kick.
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Emotions high in rivalry game
But there are emotions and feelings and a different kind of passion on display when facing a rival.
"I don’t have to tell these kids. They know what it means, and they know what’s at stake," Waddle said. "Being at home only helps fuel (his team). We don’t want them to come over and win on our field."
Pleasant is coming from a different angle. Last year, RV went to Don Kay Field and stomped the Spartans 64-7, scoring a touchdown on every possession it had that night.
"I wasn’t here last year, but in talking to some of the coaches who were here last year and some of the kids, the way last year’s game went down kind of left a bad taste in everybody’s mouth," Westler said. "There certainly is a little more energy and in our case, I feel there’s a lot of internal motivation from what happened last year."
Historical context
Pleasant has faced River Valley more than any other opponent. Since the dawn of the high school playoff era in 1972, the two have met 51 times with Pleasant winning 34, according to the new Ohio High School Football Database, which tracks the results of every high school football program in the state going back more than 50 years.
The Vikings have won the last three games with Pleasant by a combined score of 121-35, but the pendulum could be swinging again.
RV is 1-3 overall and 0-1 in the Mid Ohio Athletic Conference after losing 56-21 at Ontario last week. The Spartans are off to their best start since 2019 at 3-1, 1-0, handling last year's MOAC runner-up Highland 34-17 to open league play.
"In a big game like this, it doesn’t matter if it’s high school, college, NFL," Westler said, "a lot of times when it’s a rivalry game, you can throw the records out the window and the talent levels out the window. The team that’s able to stay disciplined and maintain focus are the teams that win. That’s how you see a lot of big-time upsets in rivalry games because guys lose focus and don’t stay locked in."
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This article originally appeared on Marion Star: Football rivals set to meet Friday when Pleasant goes to River Valley
