Shane Thomas | The Valdosta Daily TimesValwood running back Colby Thomas runs downfield against the Berrien County Rebels during the second quarter of a scrimmage on Friday at Raymond Jones Stadium in Nashville.

NASHVILLE –– The Berrien Rebels took an early lead and never looked back as they routed the Valwood Valiants 34-0 on Friday night.

Berrien senior quarterback Monteo Brooks spearheaded a punishing Rebels’ ground attack, recording 19 carries for 107 yards and two touchdowns. Freshman quarterback Michael Tucker put the finishing touches on the game with a late touchdown run, capping a fourth quarter that saw Tucker carry the ball five times for 71 yards.

After the game, Rebels head coach Bill Cribb credited his defense for creating turnovers to help the run game break the game open.

“We’ve been stressing defense the whole time we’ve been out there,” Cribb said. “I’m really pleased with the way the defense played, we had 11 people running to the ball…On offense, (running the ball) is all we can do––we’re gonna line up and pound the ball at you. I’m real pleased with what we did tonight.”

Tucker’s impressive stretch in the fourth allowed the Rebels to stretch the lead, something Cribb liked from his underclassmen as a unit late in the game.

“Those kids, they practice real hard and they don’t get to play very much,” Cribb explained. “They deserve to play and they’ve been real good––better than I’ve expected.”

The Valiants managed 192 yards of total offense in the game, 91 of which came on the ground. Cam Walker and Colby Thomas each had big moments on Friday, Walker broke for a big run that got the Valiants down to the 5-yard line only to have the play called back for offensive pass interference.

Turnovers doomed the Valiants as they struggled to harness burgeoning momentum long enough to make a push. Valiants head coach Ashley Henderson believes his team is still rounding into football shape and laments his team failed to take better care of the ball.

“We played a three-quarter football game with our No.1s,” Henderson said. “We’re getting in football shape right now so that’s the main thing we can take from this. It’s good for us to see. When we play teams, we’ve gotta come out of the gate ready to play. We can’t come out of the gate and go three-and-out and punt the football. We have to come out ready to play now.

“We said coming into the season we wanted to take care of the football––we had three turnovers tonight, one botched snap, one a fourth-down play going in to score, we did not accomplish that goal tonight.”

Though his team trailed 19-0 at the end of the third quarter, Henderson believed his team was still in the game. The Rebels ensured the Valiants wouldn’t mount a comeback. Cribb praised the play of the Valiants’ offensive and defensive lines as both units were able to create pressure and keep the Rebels off balance throughout.

“Coach Henderson and his staff do a great job,” Cribb said. “The biggest thing I saw was they were good on the offensive and defensive lines, which is what we needed to see. We play teams in our region that are just like them, they remind me of a lot of teams in our region.”

The Rebels had 349 total yards, 274 were on the ground. Speed and athleticism were apparent for the Rebels as they were able to make big gains on the edges against the Valiants’ defense. Henderson identified difficulty making the right reads defensively as keys to the Rebels running wild.

“They were doing some different things read-wise that we didn’t handle real well on the edge and they took advantage of that,” Henderson said. “This is no excuse, but we were trying to be pretty base on defense and not do a bunch of different things. We want to be able to play base and not have to blitz to stop people.”

The Valiants head back to the drawing board with their regular season opener coming next Saturday. Henderson knows his team will have its work cut out for it against Autauga on the road.

“It’s probably the most talented football team we’ll play all year,” Henderson said. “They’ve got great numbers, way more numbers than us. It’s a tough matchup that the GISA has hooked us up with. We can worry about us. We have to get better at what we do, we have to take care of the football and our defense has gotta get off the field. 

“The first drive tonight, we miss a tackle that extends the drive and they go down and score. Then, you combine that with a turnover. It’s just tough to play behind on first down, we’ve gotta be better this year on that.”

Berrien takes on Irwin County on Aug. 18, a matchup Cribb wants to see his team improve at the point of attack on both ends.

“We want to get better blocking and tackling,” Cribb said. “We missed a few tackles tonight and let them out of a hole one time on defense because of poor tackling. We’re just going to stress blocking and tackling––that’s the only way we can win.”