Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Valley’s home opener against Smiths Station is set for Friday at Rams Stadium. The team is coming off a 21-20 loss against Glenwood School. Head coach Adam Hunter said there are a lot of lessons they are taking into Game 2. 

Glenwood had come back from a 20-0 deficit to beat Valley. Issues with special teams and time management were the difference in the season opener. 

“We just didn’t finish it. We’ve got to finish, that’s going to be key,” Hunter said. “We have some veteran players in some positions, but we also have a really young team…. That’s why we got these first two non-region games to prepare for our region.”

Hunter said he has five players on defense and five on offense who have never played Varsity football. 

“We’re going to have some growing pains as we go through this … As we go along, those kids who are just now seeing varsity snap, they’ll get better every week. We just can’t plateau.”

A missed extra point and poor snap on Friday paved the way for Gator’s win. Hunter said they have already worked with special teams, and the players know what they need to do to improve. 

There are some standout players from last week who are looking to make an impact against the Panthers. Antoine Greenwood, defensive end, led the team in tackles which will be vital against Smith Station’s run game. 

“His aggressiveness is going to get better as he gets in game shape, he’s really going to be a factor on our defense.”

Hunter also praised the young inside linebackers for their work. On both sides of the ball, Goss, Dee Dunn and Zan Woody impressed with their speed. 

Antwon Lloyd, also an ironman at Wide Receiver and Cornerback, had a great start to the season. In the most controversial call of the night, Lloyd intercepted a ball in the endzone, the refs continued the play, and the ball was wrestled away by a receiver and called a touchdown. 

The first quarter and a half showed promise for the Rams going into this week. 

“I think there are some things that we can do offensively that we did really well Friday night, we established the running well, I thought Gavin [Goss] managed the game offensively well, for his first time starting [at quarterback],” Hunter said.

The coach said Smith Station will test their defense.

“I think they’re going to try to control the game. They’re a double-wing team. They’re going to try to run the football. I think they’re running back had probably about 30 carries on Thursday against Shaw,” Hunter said.

The Rams will have to step up offensively to give the defense breathing room. 

“We got to play very, very aggressively up front, and that way we can stop them and get the ball back and capitalize every time on offense because it is going to be a game that is going to be limited on offensive possessions just because of what they’re doing,” he explained.