VALWOOD VALIANTS
GIAA District 3-AAA
SCOUTING REPORT : by Shane Thomas | photos by Dave Sundin
Rebuilding Valiants hoping for strength in numbers this season
HAHIRA — Following a season that saw them take their lumps , the Valwood Valiants are hoping to find strength in numbers in 2022 .
Last season , the Valiants started 1-5 and limped their way to a 3-9 season that saw them go winless in region play . Though the Valiants managed to secure a playoff berth and avenged an early season loss to rival Southland Academy in the first round , the season did not go as planned for the 2017 GISA 3A state champions and 2019 state finalists .
After going 19-7 in his first two years as Valiants head coach , Justin Henderson has seen his team finish just 6-16 in the last two seasons with one playoff berth .
Heading into the preseason , Henderson feels the team finally has a deep enough roster to begin to turn things around at Valwood .
“ I feel better than I have the last couple of years as us overall ,” Henderson said . “ We ’ ve had some really good players the last two years , just team-wise , not really able to put it together . Overall , as a team , I think we ’ re better . I think we ’ re better up front on both sides of the ball . The numbers are up so we ’ re kind of able to two-platoon the offensive and defensive line which is huge ; huge for practice and camp is a different animal when you ’ re able to put your No . 1 O-line against your No . 1 D-line and let them go at it . We ’ ve competed in an OTA and I felt like we held our ground pretty good against some pretty good schools .”
Offensively , the Valiants will be looking to provide more of a scoring punch than last season . The 2021 Valiants averaged just 19 points per game .
The offense will surely feel the absence of seniors Dru Womack , Noah Pettigrew and Tajh Sanders .
Womack played in 10 games for the Valiants , throwing for 981 yards with eight touchdowns and eight interceptions while rushing for 175 yards with three more scores .
Pettigrew , the team ’ s stud at running back , rushed for 1,250 yards with 14 touchdowns . A University of North Carolina commit for wrestling , Pettigrew also started at linebacker last season and recorded 40 tackles and seven tackles for loss last season .
Sanders , a Western Illinois commit , did a little bit of everything for the Valiants – lining up out wide at receiver , setting up in the backfield as a running back and even tried his hand at quarterback last year . Sanders had 51 carries for 324 yards with four touchdowns while reeling in 35 catches for 490 yards and five touchdowns .
This year , the Valiants have an all-new crew at quarterback as 6-foot junior Kyle Beath figures to be the team ’ s starting quarterback when the season opens Aug . 26 against St . Andrews . Behind Beath , the Valiants have junior Mason Barfield and freshman Dax Womack in the QB room .
For third consecutive year , the Valiants will have a different starter at QB .
“ We ’ re replacing a quarterback again this year ,” Henderson said . “ Kyle Beath , right now , is the frontrunner . He ’ s having a good summer .
34 2022 SOUTH GEORGIA FOOTBALL