Like a quiet assassin in the dark, the 2022 Football Season has suddenly crept up on us and is getting dangerously close to getting underway. That means it’s time to take our annual deep dive into the newest version of this year’s Missouri Varsity High School Football standouts. Next up are the Valle Catholic Warriors, so naturally Ameritime Sports caught up with revered Head Coach Judd Naeger and picked his brain about this year’s squad.
Last year the Warriors had a remarkable season, going 10-1 with their only loss coming in the District Finals to the eventual State Champions (St. Mary’s). They played incredibly well on both sides of the ball with an unstoppable offense and a stifling defense en route to a perfect regular season and the program’s 600th win, but ran into a buzzsaw in a St. Mary’s squad that should have been ranked a couple Classes higher. Still, it was a banner year for the Warriors, and the football machine that is Valle Catholic will look to repeat and potentially build on last season’s success.
Valle lost seven Seniors to graduation (Aiden Heberlie, Isaac Roth, Luke McClure, Charlie Friedman, Collin Vaeth, Michael Okenfuss and Josh Bieser) that were all key contributors, so they will have their work cut out for them in 2022. But as is every year in the Warriors’ system, they will return an arsenal of last season’s impact players and a fresh crop of new ones to step it up at the next level.
