SALEM, Va. – The 1st and 10 Camp Tour heads to a perrenial power in the Salem Spartans, the VHSL Class 4 state runner-ups from a season ago.
With a program as well refined as Salem -- you never have to wonder who the next man up is. Part of the Salem way is always having a guy ready. So while losing players like Peyton Lewis and Chris Cole certainly will have an impact, head coach Don Holter always has the next elite guy waiting in the wings. For example, in the running backs case, it will be Josiah Persinger toting the rock for much of the time.
“Josiah Persinger would probably start at running back for a lot of other schools in the Valley last year, maybe the state,” Holter said. “But, he was just a year behind Peyton Lewis. He’s an outstanding running back, but the strength of our team is the mules. There are three returning starters, a tight end that got a tremendous amount of experience last year.”
Holter often refers to his offensive and defensive linemen as “mules”, referencing their style of play.
“Everybody on defense, we’ve been going through the motions and getting everybody in the groove with the position and everything like that not everybody is new to, but we kind of getting into the groove and having fun out there,” Persinger said.
No different than any other year, we can expect the Spartans to be focused and disciplined, big and experienced up front while playing with controlled violence. Salem had a scrimmage with Brookville Friday night ahead of its much anticipated season opener on August 30 at LCA.