HAHIRA – Five years to the day of their 2017 state championship, the Valwood Valiants finished their first-round matchup like their championship run – making a defensive stand.

“The way some of our leaders lead, refuse to quit, refuse to give up,” Valwood head coach Justin Henderson said. “If you have a couple bad years and you’re gonna change how the program’s going, it starts with winning at the lower levels but it starts with a real special group.

“Losing breeds losing and if you keep losing on Friday nights, it’s not gonna change. It takes a special group and that’s what these boys are. I couldn’t be more proud of them. They’ve been fighting since April. … They play hard and I think that’s one thing that’s been missing the last couple year – how hard we play. They play hard every snap and so does Terrell and all of our region (opponents). That’s why some of our games are tight because nobody’s giving up in this region. Nobody.”

Leading 15-8 in the closing seconds, the Valiants found themselves in a tight situation as the Terrell Academy Eagles drove down the field looking to even the score or even take the lead.

Despite being called for a critical pass interference call that brought the Eagles just outside the red zone, the Valiants batted down a long pass to the end zone to pull out the victory Friday night.

“I still think a sack wins the game, which we got,” Henderson said. “It didn’t quite end the game, but it won it for us. I don’t know who got the sack, but with Worth (Kimbro) on the edge, we’ve always got a chance at it if somebody’s passing the ball. We loosened coverage until we got across the 50, then we tightened it up and they completed a couple balls early in that drive. But with no timeouts, we’re good. The boys did this. The same coach has been coaching around here for five years. These boys did this. They did a super job and I’m super proud of them.”

The Valiants took the lead for good late in the second quarter.

A 67-yard hookup from junior quarterback Brooks Best to senior wide out Eli Pay set the Valiants up inside the red zone. On the next play of the drive, Mills Moorman broke through the middle of the Terrell defensive line for an 18-yard touchdown run followed by a Dallas Hatfield two-point conversion to make it a 15-8 Valwood lead.

The Eagles took an 8-7 lead on a 1-yard touchdown push from Marquerious Mitchell and a trick play to score the two-point conversion by Quindon Wright with 5:40 to go before halftime.

Valwood had several opportunities inside the red zone Friday night, especially in the first quarter. The opening drive saw the Valiants get down inside the Terrell 10 but fail to punch it in – turning the ball over on downs.

After forcing a three-and-out with under 8 minutes to go in the first quarter, the Valiants started with a short field but once again failed to score as the team originally looked ready to attempt a short field goal before opting to go for a touchdown run. The decision didn’t pay off as Best fumbled a snap that was recovered by Mitchell with 5:46 to go in the quarter.

“I was real close to trying a field goal,” Henderson said. “We were about 40% on PATs with multiple kickers. It’s not Alex (Gee). Alex is just new to it. We just couldn’t punch it in. They’re a good team and they’re not gonna sit there and lay down for anybody. They never will. Bill Murdock does a great job getting his team ready to go and this team was no exception.”

The Valiants held strong defensively off of the turnover as Worth Kimbro got a key stop on fourth-and-2 from the 46 to turn the Eagles over on downs.

Off the defensive stop, the Valiants opened with a pair of run plays for a gain of 33 yards – 25 of which coming on a run by Triston White. A 4-yard rush by White set up a hit over the middle by Best to offensive tackle Conner Hutto on a 17-yard touchdown to make it 7-0 for the Valiants with 11:54 left in the second quarter.

The Valiants opened the game with momentum as Landon Ryan recovered a fumble by the Eagles on the game’s opening kickoff.

The Valwood offense had its issues with two interceptions and a fumble. Matters got worse with the losses of White and Best due to injury in the game.

“We’ll have to see,” Henderson said of White and Best’s injury status after the game. “We’ve got to get them in to see the doctors but Monday, we’ll have to get them in to see the doctors and see what they say. This team has survived through injuries all year and next game, I don’t see it being any different. We’ll figure out what we’ve got and go from there.”

UP NEXT

Valwood travels up to Milledgeville to face powerhouse John Milledge Academy (11-0) this Friday, Nov. 25. The Valiants have lost three straight to the Trojans dating back to 2019.

In fact, JMA has outscored Valwood 174-19 over the last three meetings, including a 62-19 win over the Valiants in the 2019 state championship game.