Ian Valentine takes charge of Newfield football

Entering this season, the biggest story in the Tompkins County football scene has been all the head coaching changes. Khiry Brown will oversee Ithaca High School’s move to the independent league, while Nick Dyson takes over at defending 8-man Section IV champions Groton. That trend continues in Newfield, where one alum is set to lead the football program this fall.

Ian Valentine is the new head coach of the Trojans after spending two seasons as a defensive coordinator under Hank Neubert. Valentine is a 2008 graduate of Newfield and played football in the town from the youth level all the way up through the varsity team. He also spent 10 years as a volunteer assistant coach at Ithaca High. Valentine reflected on how much it meant becoming a head coach at his alma mater.

“It’s enormously special,” Valentine said. “One of the biggest things I preach to the kids is, ‘What is your why? Why do you do this?’ And I tell them that my why is my kids. I want to make sure that we build something special for the generations to come. I want people to be excited about what they see on Saturday afternoon up here on Cancro Field. I want that special feeling to be back that I had when I played here.”

The Trojans are coming off a respectable 2022 campaign, going 4-3 overall. But they missed the playoffs after going 1-3 and finishing in fourth place in a stacked division with Groton, Trumansburg, and Moravia. It was a total contrast to how they fared against their non-divisional opponents, winning all three games by a combined score of 100-0. Valentine knows that they left a couple wins on the table, particularly against Trumansburg and Moravia, so he has one clear goal in mind for the Trojans to improve upon this season.

“The message going into this year is to finish what we started,” Valentine said. “We had a couple of games where we were in it and it was there for the taking. We were able to grab the reins, so it’s [about] finishing everything [and being a] fourth quarter team.”

The Trojans enter this campaign with one of the smallest rosters across the entire section, with just 13 players. While they graduated quite a few Section IV All-Stars—namely Jalen Hardison, Brock Reed, and Trevor Sinn—the quarterback situation remains unchanged. Austin Jenney will be under center for the third year in a row, and Valentine expects big things from his senior signal caller.

“The message with Austin this year has been that this is his squad now,” Valentine said. “If Austin and we want to take this program and continue to build it, we’ve got to take those reins on that leadership. Austin has stepped up to that challenge a lot over the course of the last week and a half. I’ve been really, really pleased with him as well as the entire roster’s progression through that and maturation in our ability to continue to strive to build the program.”

Another key returner for the Trojans is Malcolm Jenkins. The sophomore had an impressive debut season at the varsity level, playing in multiple positions on both sides of the ball. 

“We’re really excited to be able to do some things with Malcolm as he got his feet wet last year as a freshman,” Valentine said. “There were times where teams were looking at him and trying to key onto him as a freshman they’re already identifying. To have him build on that year and to have us build the offense around a couple of guys that are returning has been really exciting for the last week and a half.”

Two other names to be on the lookout for this season are Ryker Reed and Nathan King. Reed is a junior middle linebacker who recorded the second-most tackles on last year’s team. While he played almost exclusively on defense, Reed is expected to take more of a part on the offensive side of the ball to make up for those who graduated. Meanwhile, King returns to the program after missing out the last couple of years. The senior has impressed during the preseason and should also play a significant role.

It will be another tall task this season to get through the three-headed monster that lies in their division. Even if they fail to make the playoffs again, Valentine is more focused on the team’s improvement one week at a time.

“Growth is the number one thing that I always talk about,” Valentine said. “What are we in Week 10 compared to what we were in Week 1? If we can hang our hat on the rack and say we were more competitive and a more formidable opponent in Week 10 than we were in Week 1, then that speaks to the next steps of the program being right where it needs to be.”

The Trojans kicked off their campaign on September 9 at home against Greene.