VALDOSTA —
The Valwood Valiants open their regular season by welcoming the Windsor Academy Knights to Goddard Field tonight. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m.
A perennial power in GISA this season, the Valiants are looking to build on their 35-0 win in last week’s scrimmage against Tiftarea.
“I was proud with how hard we played,” Valwood head coach Ashley Henderson said of the scrimmage. “I thought we flew around, offensively and defensively. Next year’s football team stepped in and did a fine job, too. We made our share of mistakes, but we had a good week this week to iron them out. We made a season’s worth of mistakes in one scrimmage, but that’s OK.”
Tonight, the Valiants are heavy favorites against the young, undersized Knights, who finished last season with a 4-7 record.
Offensively, the Knights will line up in a spread offense, and will look to run the wildcat and the Pro-I. Basically, Henderson said, the Knights are looking to pound the ball at the Valwood defense.
With a defensive line as big as some Class 6A schools, Valwood poses several obstacles for the Knights’ offense.
“It will be a week for us to read our keys and stay at home,” Henderson said. “They will stay in the spread look and throw the football. We saw them do that in the scrimmage film. They threw it against some teams more than others.”
Defensively, the Knights line up in the 4-4 defense, a defense built to stop the run. This season, Valwood is looking to add more passing into its offensive scheme.
After a basic look in last week’s scrimmage, the Valiants will likely reveal more of their offense tonight.
“We were pretty basic last week,” Henderson said. “We are going to open up the play book a little more this week. That is all I want to say. I don’t want to tip our hand.”
One aspect of the game Henderson and his coaching staff are looking forward to seeing is special teams. GISA rules prohibit special teams play during scrimmages, making tonight’s game the first live special teams work for the Valiants all season.
“It will be good to see our special teams, since we can’t do that in the scrimmage,” Henderson said. “We’ve worked hard at it and hope it will be a strength for us. We have weapons back there. Hopefully, our best offensive weapon can be a punt return.”
Like last week’s scrimmage, Henderson said he isn’t opposed to playing his backups tonight, if the Valiants are “fortunate” enough to have a multiple score lead.
“With any game, if we are fortunate enough to get ahead, we are going to play our young kids as soon as we can,” Henderson said. “They were at the 6 a.m. workouts. They are here working hard. They deserve to play. Coach (Nick) Hyder was always famous for saying you want to coach next year’s team this season.”
Valwood football can be heard all season long on The Jock 1150 AM and 96.1 FM.
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Khary Paige (3) and the Valwood Valiants open their season tonight against Windsor Academy. file photo
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Valiants open season against Windsor Academy
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