In A Valley State of Mind as Tigers Tackle Semifinals

Until the final bell rings around 3 o’clock Friday afternoon, Valley High School officials are trying to keep students’ routine as normal as possible.

As just another school day closes, Valley’s Drum Line will march down the hall en masse, like the Pied Piper on steroids, to get the verve going.

But that's it. There are no early outs for athletes; no pep rallies or bonfires; no rah, rah sis boom bah to send the Tigers, whose first state football title since 2008 is on the line, off to Cedar Falls in a fevered pitch. 

It’s not “just” another school day, of course. No matter how much school officials downplay Friday’s Class 4A semifinal game against Ankeny and try to keep the eye on the real prize — academic achievement — it’s a very, very big deal for the students.

And no matter how correct they may be when they say that the football team’s perfect record this season is on par with some other big achievements in the past couple of weeks — cheerleaders’ state championship, the swim team’s second-place finish at state, cross country runner Ben Anderson’s record-setting state title, or the drama department’s sold-out performances of Footloose — face it:

Valley is a football school in a football town.

Sure, everybody gets that Valley High School isn’t just a football school. But it is that, if not just that, and West Des Moines is a football town – a place where just two words, “It’s Valley,” carry the power of many.

“Football is one of those sports that captures your whole school,” said Brad Rose, Valley’s athletic director. “If you get off to a great start, like we have in football, the enthusiasm at school is felt by the whole community. Football is a place that is big enough for all of us to gather.”

“This is a big football school,” said star running back Trey Lewis, a senior. “An athlete can’t walk down the hall without someone asking us how well we think we’re going to do.”

Valley has won the state Class 4A title four years out of the last 10. Ankeny was in the hunt most of those years, but the state crown has been elusive. It could be argued that a tough Ankeny Hawks team — whose only loss this year was to Valley rival Dowling Catholic — has a stronger incentive to win.

But if you ask sophomore Aaron Howard, an offensive guard who was pulled from the JV team to travel with the varsity squad, it’s not going to happen. No way, no how.

“A lot of people are pumped,” Howard said. “Valley is about to take that trophy back and bring it back where it belongs.”

How can he be so sure?

“I hate to be over-confident, but that’s Valley,” Howard said, punctuating his words with a look that wondered why anyone would need to know more.

It’s not so much boasting as it is a Valley state of mind.

Senior Taylor Ross, who was buying a commemorative playoff T-shirt, said the same thing.

“It’s Valley,” she said, turning her palms skyward.

Ankeny? Pft.

“I don’t know how they made it this far,” Ross said.

Ankeny is a rival of sorts for Valley. The only time the two teams can meet is in the semifinal round of the playoffs. “They’re a tough team and have a few exceptional players, but honestly, they lost to Dowling.”

Valley beat Dowling, the defending Class 4A champion. Twice. By a touchdown at the beginning of the season, and in a gallop in the quarterfinal round of playoffs.

Beating Dowling is a big part of the Valley state of mind. Historically, whichever of the teams comes out on top of the CIML Conference showdown wins the state crown.

And it’s a classic rivalry.

“You hate losing to them more than you enjoy beating them,” Rose, the AD, said. “The thought of losing to them is worse than the thrill of beating them.”

That makes Lewis “pretty confident” about the Tigers’ chances against Ankeny, “but I’m not going to look past them,” he said.

Still, it’s been one of those years where anything, and especially a state title, seems possible.

“We knew we were going to be good,” Lewis said, “but we’ve really come out and surprised ourselves by how good we’ve played.”

If — or, in the Valley state of mind, when — the Valley Tigers defeat Ankeny, they’ll meet either Cedar Falls or Bettendorf in the championship game.