Valley Lutheran football coach feels Chargers ‘ready to win’

SAGINAW, MI – Optimism about Valley Lutheran football isn’t easy.

Since the program began in 1994, the program has one winning season, a 6-4 mark in 2012. The Chargers haven’t won more than two games in a season since a 4-5 mark in 2015.

And during an 0-9 season in 2021, the Chargers scored a total of one touchdown.

“I’m incredibly optimistic and excited,” first-year Valley Lutheran coach Paul Reid said. “We are going to win. From what I’ve seen since I’ve been there, it’s easy to be optimistic.”

Reid understands the challenges. The former St. Louis and Sanford Meridian football coach is aware of Valley Lutheran’s history. But he also believes he sees a successful future after taking over the job for Joe Willey.

“Joe Willey really set us up for success,” Reid said. “He set up our youth football program, and that has really been impressive to me.

“Then, a teacher in the school (Eric Smith) set up a weight-lifting program for every kid at Valley Lutheran. The results have been incredible. Every single kid had an improvement of 35 to 40 pounds on their bench.”

Valley Lutheran, with Saginaw Arts & Sciences, will have to prove it on the field. Reid is confident that it will happen.

“We went from one team last year to two teams this year of 30 kids apiece,” Reid said. “Between the weight room and youth football, we are starting to build a nice program.

“We’re still young. We still have a lot to learn. We have five kids who are juniors who have never played a game of football before. That’s an issue. But there also aren’t any bad habits we need to correct.”

Sincyere Poe returns at tailback after scoring Valley Lutheran’s lone touchdown in 2021.

“We were scared last year,” Poe said. “We had a lot of sophomores who were in their first year. I felt very little last year. This year, we’re better and we’re stronger. It’s exciting.”

Other returning starters include Carter Rauschert, Matt Price, Michael Clare, Cam Jolin, David Derusha and David Weiss. The Chargers suffered a loss when starting lineman Zeke Pearson tore his ACL, forcing him to miss his senior season.

Valley Lutheran opens the season Thursday, Aug. 25, with a 6 p.m. home game against Rochester Hills Lutheran Northwest.

“There’s a lot of camaraderie in the school. There are high academic standards at the school, combined with the kids from SASA, who also have high academic standards. So you have good kids who are finally finding the weight room.

“We just like what we’re doing there. We’re ready to win.”

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