By Bryant Roberts

HAHIRA – It will be Valwood versus Tiftarea again this Friday night, this time for a shot at the state title.

The No. 3 Valiants earned the bid with a 35-14 win over Frederica Academy in the GIAA Class 3A quarterfinals. Tiftarea, who won the District 3 title from Valwood Nov. 1, won 35-21 over John Milledge to advance to the semifinals.

Defending state champions Valwood (7-3) hosted the No. 6 Frederica Academy Knights (5-5) on Friday for the first round of the GIAA AAA state playoffs. This was the second meeting between the two teams this season, with the Valiants dominating the Knights 48-14 on Aug. 29th.

Starting with the ball to start the game, the Valiants struck first, taking the lead on the first play of the game after 59-yard pass from Asher Wells to Andrew Belcher just 14 seconds into the game. After a Tommy Marrero PAT, the Valiants led the Knights 7-0.

On the first Knights possession, the Valiants defense got off the field early, getting off the field after a strip sack by Gavin Chambers allowed for Grayson Hall to recover, and give the ball back to the Valiants.

Starting their second drive at their own 46 yard line, the Valiants were unable to replicate the success of their first drive and punted the ball back to the Knights after only picking up five yards.

After allowing a 33-yard rush by the Knights on the first play of the drive, the Valiants defense forced a punt of their own after only allowing three total yards. Like their last drive, the Valwood offense stalled, being forced to punt from their own 19.

With the ball at their own 36, the Knights offense flipped the field after a 54-yard run to start their drive. After gaining six yards over the next three plays, the Knights defense faced a fourth down at the Valwood 4 yard line. Electing to go for it, the Knights offense would only pick up two yards after a tackle by Ian Giddens and Belcher.

With 2:36 to play in the first quarter, the Valiants offense took over possession at their own 2. On the first play of the drive, Braylon Neal picked up 10 yards on the ground. Two plays later, Neal gained another 12 to give the Valiants a fresh set of chains.

On third-and-11 to start the second period, Wells found a wide-open Mason Corbett in the middle of the field for 13 yards, moving the ball to the Valwood 35 yard line. After picking up a total of zero yards on two plays, a pass attempt became a Frederica interception.

The ensuing drive saw the Knights tie the game up 7-7 after a 54-yard touchdown run with 9:39 to play in the half.

Looking to answer back, the Valiants offense started the drive with a seven-yard loss. Facing second-and-17, Wells found a wide-open Cort Kurrie for a pickup of 22. With the ball at the 47, Kamari Jackson moved the ball to the Knights’ 16 after a 37-yard run.

Two plays later, Wells would put the Valiants up 13-7 with 8:04 to play. Marrero’s PAT was good, putting the Valiants up 14-7.

After allowing 11 yards on the first play of the drive, the Valwood defense forced a punt just four plays later. A bad snap on the punt gave the Valwood offense the ball at the Frederica 24 yard line. Much like the Knights, the Valwood offense was not be able to get going, turning the ball over on downs.

With the ball at the their own 23 yard line, the Valwood defense forced another three-and-out, giving the offense the ball back with 2:26 to go in the half.

Starting at their own 24, the Valwood offense quickly found themselves deep into Knights territory after rushes of 31 and 21 from Neal on back-to-back plays. Two plays later, Kamari Jackson would add another long run, picking up 18 yards on the ground. With the ball at the 1 yard line, Jackson finished off the drive with his first rushing touchdown, giving the Valiants a 20-7 lead with 49.9 seconds to play in the half. Marrero’s PAT pushed the Valiants’ lead to 21-7.

To open up the second half, the Knights put together a six-play drive, but were forced to punt at the 50 after a screen pass on third-and-13 was incomplete.

Valwood had to punt deep from their own territory, but a bad snap on the next Frederica possession forced a quick three-and-out.

Punting from their own 46 yard line, the snap went over the punter’s head, giving the Valwood offense the ball at the 28.

After a 10-yard penalty on first down set the offense back and a loss of a yard, the Valiants offense found themselves in a second-and-21 situation. Wells found Kurrie for 12 yards, then two Knights penalties gave the Valiants a fresh set of downs and moved the ball to the 5.

Two plays later, Wells scored his second rushing touchdown of the night, pushing the Valiants lead to 27-7 with 2:10 to play in the third. Marreo’s PAT made the lead to 28-7.

Much like the rest of the night, the Valiants defense stayed stern, giving the ball back to the offense after a tackle by Gavin Chambers on fourth down.

With the ball on their own 27, the Valiants did not need long to push their lead to 34-7 after Wells connected with Corbett in the end zone with 11:51 to play in the game. Marreo’s PAT pushed the Valiants lead to 35-7.

After this score, the Valiants started to rotate their second string.

After both teams traded punts on consecutive possessions, the Knights were able to put together their best drive of the night, starting at their own 6 yard line and marching downfield on the young Valiants for a nine-play touchdown drive with 3:17 to play.

On the final drive of the game, the Knights gave it up when Wilkin Moritz hit resulted in a fumble in the end zone.