Happy Valley’s defense did more than just a tomahawk chop for their home opener.
The Warriors forced Unicoi County into five turnovers en route to a 62-0 victory Friday night on Warrior Hill.
Moving their record to 3-0 on the year, the Warriors did their scoring all in the first half to cause a continuous clock for the remainder of the game. Friday night’s contest was the second shutout for the team, who have outscored opponents 148-24.
“That was quite a first half to say the least,” Happy Valley head coach Jason Jarrett said. “I’m just super proud of our team. Our guys came out and took care of business. We talked about that all week, jumping on teams early, and we were able to do that tonight.”
The Warriors only needed five plays on their opening position with running back Dustun Sams (seven carries, 90 yards, TD) racing to paydirt to give his squad an early 7-0 advantage, following a Michael Harrah point-after attempt, with a little over eight minutes remaining in the first quarter.
It was all defense on the next two positions for Happy Valley with Skyler Hyatt ballhawking in the secondary to return Kendrick Williams’ pass 50 yards back for a touchdown. To follow up Hyatt’s performance, linebacker Dylan Townsend burst through the Blue Devil line on their next possession to block a punt. The punt was recovered by Brayden Sams to move the Warriors’ lead to 21-0 with 7:04 left in the quarter.
Carrying over momentum from last week’s 41-24 conference win over Sullivan North was vital for Friday, Hyatt said.
“Last week was a big win,” he added. “We want our respect. Coach has been talking about that to us for the past two weeks … earning our respect. We had a little bit of an incident there back in the seven-on-seven passing league in the spring with them and wanted to come out here and make a statement. This is just a big, big win for us moving forward.”
Coach Jarrett praised the effort of the defense, which was backed up well in the secondary with interceptions from Hyatt, Street and Jacob Surcey.
“All of our defensive coaches do such a great job,” he said. “We have one of the best defensive staffs in the state. Our secondary played really well. We were able to get pressure on them … and those two go together. Our pressure helps our secondary. That’s good Unicoi County team, too. That’s one of the most athletic teams we’ll see this year.
B. Sams came up big once again for the Warriors on their following possession, being on the receiving end of Sage Haun’s lone pass from 23 yards out to move the lead to 28-0. Dylan Street, who amassed over 100 yards combined with interception, punt and kickoff returns, capped off the first quarter scoring with a 52-yard punt return to end the period up 35-0.
Haun tacked on a pair of quarterback sneaks in the second quarter while Austin Hicks (six carries, 64 yards, TD) and Street tacked on touchdown runs from seven and five yards out, respectively.
Haun, who accounted for three touchdowns, like what he saw from his team’s defense.
“It was great to watch out defense play that well. They worked extremely hard everyday at practice and it paid off tonight.
“We just got to keep playing our football and do what we’re taught to do,” he continued. “We play every week with the same intensity and we come out and play hard every week. We don’t want to take any team lightly. As long as we keep the train rolling, we will be just fine coming up this next week.”
The Warrior head coach also credited the support of the fans so far this season.
“I definitely want to give a shoutout to our fans,” Jarrett said. “We have some of the best facility around here and that’s because we have some of the best, hard working people around here. There’s a lot of people that spend a lot of volunteer hours up here to make sure we have great facilities.”
The Warriors go back to conference play next week hosting Cosby while Unicoi County, who moved to 2-2 on the year, plays Elizabethton.