Muskingum Valley League Big – Conference Preview
By: Stephen Koroly
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The MVL Big year in and year out has provided top tier athletes, state championship contenders, and memories that student athletes will remember for the rest of their lives. The 2025 season looks to add more memories as well as crowning a new MVL Big Champion.
Let’s start with last year’s victor and go down in order of conference finish.
Tri-Valley Scotties
The Scotties 2024 campaign was nothing short of special. The only team in Gridiron Glory’s coverage to go undefeated in the regular season and going undefeated in conference play.
Tri-Valley’s season did come to a staggering end though. After dominating Carrolton (43-12) in the first round of the state playoffs, the Scotties suffered a crushing 37-35 second round loss to Dover. This loss also ended careers of valuable Tri-Valley seniors such as Max Lyall, Jayden Wallace, Gavin Spiker, Keaton Hahn and more.
This summer, Head Coach Cam West was set to pass off his coaching duties to assistant Josh Wright. But tragically near the end of June, Josh Wright tragically passed away.
This sees Cameron West back into the helm for Tri-Valley as this will likely be a rebuilding year after losing so many talented seniors last season.
Sheridan Generals
The Generals finished second in the MVL Big in 2024 and just missed out on a Region 11 playoff spot. This was the first time the Red Rage missed out on the postseason since 2017.
Sheridan sees the exact same schedule as last year in this season and a lot of the same key playmakers. Tyce Whiteman, a physically gifted rising junior Quarterback is ready to explode after a big learning year. Logan Hupp, a wide-receiver and safety who is ready to make plays all over the field. And finally, Creed Hill, a massive both ways linemen who has the potential to dominate.
The above-mentioned players and many others I believe will be key in a bounce back season for the Red Rage. This will be a big year for Head Coach Paul Culver III as he enters his ninth year in Thornville.
Philo Electrics
The Electrics had a very solid 2024 campaign that saw Philo earning their way back to the postseason.
Led by Head Coach Dirk Lincicome, the Electrics finished the regular season at .500 and just sneaked into the playoffs but lost in the first round (41-21) to Logan Elm.
This squad loses Talon Preston this year, a leader on offense rushing the ball and one of their most dynamic talents. But starting quarterback Drew Lincicome is ready for a breakout season, and any team coached by Dirk Lincicome will always be solid.
John Glenn Muskies
The Muskies also finished their 2024 campaign with a 5-5 overall record but just missed the postseason.
Matt Edwards has brought his team to the playoffs multiple times in his ten plus years at John Glenn but close losses to Sheridan, Philo, and Meadowbrook just put his squad out of the cut.
The Muskies are always dynamic and a well-coached team, this will not change in 2025 and we will see if John Glenn can pull out some close wins against high-quality opponents this season.
Morgan Raiders
Just a year after making the playoffs, the Morgan Raiders are looking to build their squad and play back up, brick by brick.
The first eight games of Morgan’s campaign were unfortunately all losses. But newly appointed head coach Seth Brown and his squad managed to win their last two games: a route of River View (62-7) and a tight win against a great team in Philo (14-13)
Seth Brown and the Raiders will continue to make improvements throughout the 2025 season.
River View Black Bears
River View’s 2024 campaign unfortunately saw the Black Bears go defeated in the regular season.
River View has not won a game since 2022 and looks to put the pieces together towards winning days in 2025.