Conestoga Valley

By John Buffone

jbuffone@gametimepa.com

It wasn’t a great rookie campaign for Buckskins head coach Mark Pieters. His team finished sixth in Section Two with a 2-5 record and finished the season at 2-8 overall. With the section reconfiguration, Conestoga Valley is now in Section One and will look to have different results in their new section.

“We don’t really know what to expect,” head coach Mark Pieters said. “We’ll see film but a lot of teams adjust their offenses and defenses for personnel throughout the season anyways so to us, it’s not that big of a deal.”

Although the Buckskins only averaged 12.6 points per game, they will be returning their two leading rushers from last season in seniors Joel Lopez (423 yards) and Vicente Maldonaldo (312 yards). The Buckskins will also have Grant Stoltzfus back at quarterback with another year under his belt. As a freshman, Stoltzfus passed for 937 yards with 9 touchdowns and 7 interceptions.

With a lot of offensive weapons returning, the Buckskins will have to tighten up their defense if they hope to compete this year. Conestoga Valley allowed just over 39 points per game in 2013 and gave up over 50 points three times.

Though the last two seasons have been rough for the Buckskins, they have plenty of young talent that is waiting to explode onto the scene.

“I look at our team as being a ‘Rocky’ type team. Like in Rocky I when Apollo is supposed to pummel him, we’re trying to have that same attitude where we’re standing at the end with a chance to win,” Pieters said. “We’re expecting to take a few hits in the beginning but outlast them in the end.”