HAHIRA – Riding on the strength of sophomore running back Triston White, the Valwood Valiants (3-0) raced out to a 25-0 lead before coasting to a 39-14 win over the Georgia Christian Generals (1-2-1) Thursday night.

The win over the Generals helped the Valiants match their win total from 2021. Valwood head coach Justin Henderson believes depth has been the key between last year’s squad and this year’s squad.

“We’re deeper, that’s no doubt,” Henderson said. “The depth on the line is sure helping us. Just to be able to two for two on our lines, and not have linemen flipping over and playing defense the very next series. That’s the biggest difference.”

White did the bulk of the work on Valwood’s opening series, rushing for over 50 yards on the drive and punching it in from 13 yards out to give the Valiants an early 6-0 lead. However, the extra point attempt hit the upright and was no good.

Regardless, the Valiants’ defense quickly got the ball back to the offense with a three and out. The Generals immediately found themselves behind the chains after senior defensive end Worth Kimbro sacked senior quarterback Worth Kimbro, stalling out their drive.

Junior quarterback Brooks Best carried the load on the ensuing drive, hitting senior wide receiver Hayes Perry to get down to the six-yard line, before finding Kimbro for a three-yard touchdown pass. The Valiants’ two-point attempt when awry, though, as a bad snap blew up the play.

The Generals’ next drive ended disastrously as a botched snap turned into a scrum for the football, forcing a fourth and forever heading into the second quarter.The Valiants took advantage on the punt, with sophomore defensive end Lane Peterman blocking the punt and freshman linebacker John Del Vecchio scooping up the ball and running it into the end zone to give Valwood an 18-0 lead.

Georgia Christian head coach Chuck Knapp believes the youth of his punter, among other positions, potentially attributed to it being blocked.

“I have a lot of ninth and tenth graders, and our punter is a ninth grader,” Knapp said. “They’re getting good playing time, but they’re inexperienced. They don’t know the little subtleties to look for, things like that. They feel like they can get more time like on that punt. He thought he had a little more time with it, and he just didn’t.”

Valwood continued to pour it on, this time with junior quarterback Kyle Beath getting in on the action. Beath threw a downfield strike to Perry for a 44-yard touchdown to extend the Valiants’ lead to 25-0.

The Generals were able to get going on the next series, driving inside the Valwood 30-yard line. However, the Generals came up empty as they turned it over on downs and the Valiants taking a 25-0 advantage heading into halftime.

Georgia Christian came out of the break and put together a strong scoring drive. Facing a fourth and three, Copeland found sophomore wide receiver Benji Galindo for a 28-yard pass to set up the Generals inside the ten. Three plays later, Galindo hauled in a six-yard pass to put the Generals on the board, 25-7.

Valwood followed the touchdown up with one of their own. Despite the Valiants getting backed up due to a penalty and forcing a second and long, Best scrambled and found Perry for a 23-yard pass.

From there, White did the rest, converting the third down with a nine-yard run and running it in for a one-yard score a few plays later to put the Valiants up 32-7. White finished his night with over 100 yards rushing and two touchdowns.

Both Henderson and Knapp had high praise for White.

“He’s a great player,” Henderson said. “He’s a load to carry, to get down. He’s quick and catches screens for us. He kind of does it all on offense, and I’m glad he’s playing for us.”

“He’s a slippery guy,” Knapp said. “He’s a great athlete. He’s a great kid on top of that. If you’ve ever had a chance to talk to him, he’s great to talk to. He’s a joy to be around.”

Additionally, Knapp believed miscues by his defense contributed to White having a big game.

“He’s shifty, and we weren’t holding our gaps,” Knapp said. “We were rushing up field too far, which again for a running back like that, he’ll gash it quick if you do that. So you know, part of that yes, very talented running back, and then a lot of that was us just rushing the field.”

Both teams traded possessions in the fourth quarter via turnovers on downs before Valwood found the end zone again. A 35-yard pass from Best to junior wide receiver Mason Barfield set up a 28-yard run on a jet sweep by senior wide receiver Eli Pay to put the Valiants up 39-7.

The Generals quickly responded as Copeland threw a dart to Galindo, who went for a 70-yard touchdown and cut the deficit back to 25.

However, the Generals’ last gasp was cut short with a turnover on downs as the Valiants ran out the clock to close the game.

Knapp believed that his starting starting off slow was what wound up dooming them.

“We started off slow,” Knapp said. “You can’t, especially when you’re playing a team that is a couple of classifications above you, start slow. I liked the way we started the second half, but you got to start the first half like that.”

As for the Valiants, both Beath and Best traded series with each other. Still, Henderson stressed that there’s not a quarterback battle.

“It’s not a battle,” he said. “We’ve got rotating quarterbacks.”

Despite the outcome, Knapp and Henderson had mutual respect.

“Coach Henderson’s got a great program here,” Knapp said. “We kind of patted ourselves in that same manner, but we’re not there yet. We’ve got a great relationship with these guys. Our players are friends with them. We enjoyed playing against each other and all the sports, and we’ll keep the relationship going, but they got us good tonight.”

Henderson particularly admired the Generals’ effort after the punt block.

“When you’ve got a thin team like Georgia Christian, that [the punt block] can be really demoralizing,” Henderson said. “Hats off to them. They came out at half, and they didn’t give up. That’s what a well-coached team is going to do.”

UP NEXT

Valwood: Hosts the Robert Toombs Christian Academy Raiders (1-2) Sept. 16.

Georgia Christian: Hosts the Aucilla Crhistian Warriors (1-1) on Sept. 16.