WEST DES MOINES, Iowa — No. 14 Valley went on the road and beat No. 6 Waukee to advance to the 5A semifinals for the second year in a row. But they almost never got that shot: the Tigers started the season 0-4.
"We still believed we could do whatever we wanted to put our minds to," said senior offensive lineman Braylon Jenkins. "We just put our heads down went to work and the results are shown."
Valley opened the season with four games against 2023 playoff teams, three of which were semifinalists in 2022.
"We had to bring in some young kids and get them ready to compete against [a] pretty good schedule right away," said Head Coach Gary Swenson. "And it didn't, you know, just didn't work out for us early, but they all kind of got their feet on the ground, and they've become pretty good players."
There are parallels from this season to last. In 2022, Valley used a Week 9 win to get in at 5-4 as a No. 14 seed. They went on to beat No. 3 Pleasant Valley, then won a road game to make the semifinals.
In 2023, it was another Week 9 win that snuck them in at 4-5 as a No. 14 seed before winning at No. 3 Pleasant Valley again.
"It's meant to be," Jenkins said.
In 2022, Valley upset archrival Dowling in the semifinals despite losing to them in the regular season. This season, it's a matchup with No. 1 Southeast Polk, a team they lost to in Week 1.
"We wouldn't expect to get into the playoffs and advance and go to this point and have someone you would schedule for homecoming," Swenson said. "I mean, this is a semifinal playoff game. So it's going to be a good team."
A lot has changed since Aug. 25.
"We had a different QB when we played them. It's a lot different now. Our starters will play a lot better. And it's a lot like last year. So we're prepared for the adversity. We've been facing adversity all season. So we're ready for this," Jenkins said.
No. 1 Southeast Polk and No. 14 Valley kickoff at 4 p.m. on Friday in Cedar Falls.