2024 Team Preview: Shenandoah Valley Blue Devils (11)

Written by: David Mika on Saturday, August 17th, 2024. Follow David Mika on Twitter.

Head Coach: David Bench

Assistant Coaches:
Mark Palubinsky
Noah Allegretta
Shea Mealia
Glenn Weist
Angelo Maskornick
Mike Elchisak
Joe Alshefski
Nick Reese
William Burke

Team Name: Shenandoah Valley Blue Devils

District: 11

Class: 2A

League: Colonial-Schuylkill League, Blue Division

2023 Record: 2-9

8/25 Columbia-Montour Vo-Tech (4A) 7:00 pm W 51-26
9/01 @ Upper Dauphin (3A) 7:00 pm L 12-43
9/10 @ Minersville Area (1A) 3:00 pm L 7-48
9/15 Panther Valley (2A) 7:00 pm L 21-39
9/23 Hancock (MD) 1:00 pm W 47-6
9/29 @ Tri-Valley* (1A) 7:00 pm L 14-33
10/06 Marian Catholic* (1A) 7:00 pm L 0-30
10/13 @ Nativity BVM* (1A) 7:00 pm L 19-32
10/20 Williams Valley* (2A) 7:00 pm L 0-54
10/27 @ Mahanoy Area* (1A) 7:00 pm L 17-35
11/02 @ Salisbury (2A) 6:30 pm L 17-24

Key Starters Lost:
Nick Ryan
Ben Dempster
Alex Kozlosky
Mike Diehl
Kelvyn Cordero
Fernando Ramirez-Chiglinsky
Estuardo Salguero
Brad Monjaraz
Jonathan Octotoxtle
Kenny Maldonando
Ben Mentusky

Offensive Starters Returning:
Sr Brayden Lutz C
Sr Jeremy Thomas RB
So Joel Nunez RB
So David Burrous TE
So Todd Seiger WR

Defensive Starters Returning:
Sr Brayden Lutz LB
Sr Jeremy Thomas LB
Sr Tristian Karosas DE
So Joel Nunez DB
So Mike Elchisak LB

Special Team Starters Returning:
So Sam Mentusky

Key Newcomers:
SR Christopher Castro OL/DE
Jr Aiden Phinazee WR/S
Jr Dakota Delaura OL/DE
So Caden Myers OL/DL
So Jonnuel Reyes WR/DB
Fr Gene Sinkus WR/DB
Fr Aiden Longo OL/DL
Fr Ethan Bench QB/DE

2024 Offensive Outlook: We need to focus on the fundamentals of blocking and limiting mistakes. We will have to rely on some of the younger players who got some experience playing varsity last year as freshmen along with some new players and freshmen this year. Tristan Karosas was at QB last year and got to see some time behind the center. This season as a Senior, we will rely on him with the few other seniors’ leadership and focus on our strengths as the season progresses.

2024 Defensive Outlook: Defensively, we need to focus on a few different schemes and be aggressive. I believe the defense will be our strong point this season and rely on pressuring the QB to force turnovers and make plays in the backfield. Our linebackers will be the core of the defense this year with their aggressive/attack-the-ball mentality will keep the offense guessing. We have a lot of younger talent as well and we expect to see them make some big plays for us in the secondary.

2024 Special Teams Outlook: We look to gain some advantages this year with good field position on kickoffs as long as the defense does its job. Offensively if we can drive the ball down the field and get into field goal position, we will be taking advantage of that more than in past seasons with our returning So kicker, who should have a solid season for us and can be a key determining factor in our games.

2024 Shenandoah Valley Blue Devils
Interview with Head Football Coach David Bench@shenqbclub @svbluedevils1 #PAHSFB @hsfbamerica #PAHSFB @hsfbamerica @piaadistrictxi @SchLeague @EPAFootball pic.twitter.com/CoDcqH23uX

— D11Sports (@D11Sports) July 31, 2024