The Buffalo Bills and ADPRO Sports have named Eric Valley and Isiah Young as the Coaches of the Week for the Buffalo and Rochester regions, respectively.
Each coach will receive $1,000 for their football teams and was selected for their work in their school community in addition to the impact they have had on their student athletes. The Coach of the Year for the Buffalo and Rochester regions will be named during the Week 17 game against the New England Patriots at Highmark Stadium.
Buffalo Region Coach of the Week
Medina High School's Eric Valley is the Week 10 Coach of the Week after leading the Mustangs to the Section 6 title for the third time in the last four seasons. Medina beat Southwestern 21-0 in the Class C semifinals with Noah Cudzilo finding the end zone twice and the Mustang defense posting their fifth shutout in eight games as they improve to 10-0 on the season.
Valley's coaching philosophy involves taking things one game at a time. Under Valley, Medina has gone 35-3 since 2019, winning two Section 6 titles in 2020 and 2021. They have won four straight league titles.
Valley is a Medina alumnus and played football at Courtland State. He began coaching at the junior varsity level in 1996 and was named head coach before the 2008 season.
Valley runs an annual Mustang Classic Golf Tournament to raise money for the football program as well an annual cookout which raises money for scholarships for Medina students. He has also run several fundraisers on an "as needed" basis, including when a play's family home burned down. The Mustangs also ran a mattress sale that donated bedding to families in need.
Valley was recently named this season's Coach of the Year by the WNY Football Officials Association.
His favorite football memory was winning the Section 6 title 54-6 over Fredonia during a blizzard to win the school's second Section 6 title in a calendar year. Due to Covid, the Mustangs won the 2020 Section 6 title in the spring of 2021.
Rochester Region Coach of the Week
University Preparatory Charter for Young Men's Isiah Young is the Rochester Coach of the Week for Week 10. Young has a career record of 32-5 as head coach with one sectional championship in 2021. Young and UPREP defeated Hilton High School in the Class AA Semi-final 22-14 over the weekend.
Young has coached at UPREP for the past five seasons, four of which he has spent as head coach. Young believes in holding young men to a high standard in order to increase the chances that they are successful in life after high school. He employs Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin's saying "the standard is the standard" for his football program.
Young's team has participated in Stop the Violence summits aimed at raising awareness for gun violence and "giving young people a voice in how they believe it can be fixed or helped."
Young's favorite football memory was winning the Section 5 championship in 2021 while holding his one-year-old daughter in his arms with the trophy.
