Happy Valley’s football team started the 2023 season with three straight losses. The Warriors have gone 14-3 since.
For two straight years, the Warriors have finished runner-up in Region 1-2A to earn a home playoff game. Two of Happy Valley’s losses have come in the first round of the 2A playoffs, last year a 14-13 heartbreaker against Polk County.
There hasn’t been much of anything flashy about the Warriors’ approach, at least from a statistical standpoint. Distributing the ball between four running backs last fall — all of them averaging at least 5.3 yards per carry — Happy Valley returns three of them.
Tyler Berry and Lane Parker return to the backfield, gaining 430 and 286 yards respectively during the 2024 regular season. Quarterback Gabe McDougald, who ran for 370, attempted just 20 passes in nine regular season games, hitting 10 of them for 178 yards and three touchdowns. Ron Paul Parker caught two of them.
Defensively, Happy Valley was equally balanced, Tyler Bailey and Mason Norman leading the way in tackles with 62 and 61. Norman and Jayden Walls posted nine sacks each, while Walls and Lane Parker both had seven TFL.
Simple, yet effective, as Happy Valley aims for its first conference title since 2016.
RUNNING DOWN THE REBELS
South Greene has secured the No. 1 playoff seed four times since 2018 and shared another conference championship on top of that. The other three championships from Region 1-2A during that stretch went to Hampton, which has since relocated to Region 1-1A.
The Rebels handed Happy Valley its only regular season loss last fall, a 21-6 decision which decided the region champion. That win avenged the Warriors’ 26-20 overtime win on Rebel Hill in 2023, where Happy Valley ended up with the No. 2 seed while South Greene traveled for the first round.
Three-year starting quarterback Jacob Susong graduated, but star running back Nash Rader returns for his senior year with the Rebels. South Greene won eight straight games to end the 2024 regular season before falling to Tellico Plains in the 2A playoffs.
It’s a pretty safe bet both teams have Oct. 30 circled on their calendars, a regular season finale which could end up deciding the conference champion. At the very least, the game is all but guaranteed to shape up the playoff picture.
REST OF THE LEAGUE
West Greene — Led by third-year coach Evan Monroe, the Buffaloes will go back to the postseason after a two-year absence. The Buffaloes return quarterback Austin Brown but lost leading rusher and receiver Austin Franklin to graduation. West Greene scored just one touchdown in its last four games after defeating Cumberland Gap 40-0 on the road.
Cumberland Gap — The Panthers have likewise missed the postseason two straight years, having lost 25 of their last 26 games. Not since 2021 has Cumberland Gap won a district game, with 14 straight losses against region foes since.
With just four teams in the league after Hampton and Eagleton Academy departed, all of them are guaranteed a spot in the Class 2A playoffs. Eagleton awaits one of the four teams in the playoffs, though, having relocated to Region 2-2A to join Oneida, Polk County and Tellico Plains.
TRIVIA TIME
Q: Other than Hampton in 2021, who was the last team from Region 1-2A to reach the state championship game?
A: Never. The ’21 Bulldogs are in a class by themselves there. South Greene and Happy Valley have both reached the state quarterfinals in their history, while West Greene and Cumberland Gap have made the Round of 16.
