VALDOSTA — Local public school football teams have a rare night off tonight, but Georgia Christian and Valwood begin their GIAA state tournaments.

In Class 3A, Valwood hosts Frederica Academy in a rematch of a regular season game. Georgia Christian takes on Westminster Christian. Both Georgia Christian and Valwood are at home.

The Generals ended the regular season last week with a loss to Sherwood Christian in eight-man the District 2 championship contest. It was the first of the season for Georgia Christian, who won nine straight to start the campaign.

GCS’ opponent, Westminster Christian, is based out of Watkinsville. The Lions are 7-2, having began the year with seven consecutive victories. Augusta’s Westminster and Harvester Christian dropped the Lions, 42-21 and 60-17, respectively.

The two schools have one opponent in common: Covenant Academy. Georgia Christian won 40-0 and Westminster by a 16-8 final.

Georgia Christian enters state as the No. 4 team to Westminster Christian’s No. 5. Should they advance, the Generals would either to travel to Westminster of Augusta (the No. 1 overall seed) or host No. 8 David Emanuel Academy.

Other first round matchups see Holy Spirit at Sherwood Christian and Westwood at Harvester Christian.

In Class 3A, Valwood’s No. 3 Valiants play against No. 6 Frederica.

Bryant Roberts
Asher Wells picks up yards on a quarterback keeper earlier this season. Wells has had to step up big in the absence of Tayt Snellgrove for the Valiants.

The Valiants were No. 2 in last week’s power rankings, but slipped to No. 3 with a loss to Tiftarea Academy in a game that decided the District 3 crown. Now 7-3, the defending Class 3A champions have another date against the Knights.

In their first meeting Aug. 29, Valwood won a 48-14 battle behind three passing touchdowns by Tayt Snellgrove and two rushing scores by Braylon Neal. The Valiants led 27-0 at halftime and had a running clock in the fourth quarter.

Frederica, which started 1-4 for 2024, evened that out to a 5-5 regular season record. They have won their last three by a combined 150-28 score. In contrast, the Valiants have been hurting lately. Neal led the rushing corps at Tiftarea, but Asher Wells started in place of Snellgrove.

Valwood leads the all-time series 8-4 and have won the last three.

Tonight’s victor will play either Tiftarea or John Milledge Academy. Tiftarea is the No. 2 seed, meaning that if both the Valiants and Panthers win, next week’s game would once again be at Tiftarea.

The other two Class 3A first round matchups are Terrell Academy at Westfield and Lakeview Academy at Deerfield-Windsor.

Both Valdosta and Lowndes have qualified for the postseason in the public schools ranks, but both are idle tonight having completed their regular season schedules.

Though both schools had to push region games back a week because of Hurricane Helene, a scheduled region-wide bye week was eliminated to make sure the schedule finished on time.

The Georgia High School Association extended the regular season a week because of both the hurricane and a chemical fire in Conyers which saw several games in that area postponed. Around 50 games are being played this week.

When play resumes next week, Lowndes and Valdosta will play in the first round of the Class 6A state tournament. Though brackets have not officially been announced yet, it appears that Valdosta will travel to Walton and Lowndes will host North Paulding.