Valley holds off Glenwood in back-and-forth finish
BY DANIEL SCHMIDT
THE LAFAYETTE SUN
VALLEY — Valley High School needed a late touchdown, a final defensive stand and one untimed down to get back in the win column.
Ka’Mora Prothro caught a 31-yard TD pass from Kailee Harris with 2:02 left, and the Lady Rams (4-7) turned away two Glenwood School passes from their own 10 yard line in the closing seconds to win 26-21 at Sammy Howard Field on Oct. 14.
The win snapped a four-game losing streak for Valley.
“It feels great,” Valley head coach William Elliott said. “It’s been a long time coming. It feels awesome. That’s the best way I can put it.”
The hard-fought win over the Lady Gators (2-4) gave Valley a boost as it pushes for playoff contention in the final weeks of the regular season.
Valley trailed 21-20 after Glenwood’s Lola Moncus caught a 34-yard TD pass from Karrington Slocumb with eight minutes left, and Paisley Bailey caught the extra point. The Lady Rams drove inside the Glenwood 10, but a fourth-and-6 run came up just short of the goal line with 3:44 remaining.
Valley got the ball back and took the lead on the 31-yard strike. The two-point try failed, leaving the margin at five.
Glenwood drove to the Valley 10 yard line and faced fourth down with one second left. An incomplete pass from Slocumb appeared to end the game, but a penalty on Valley gave the Lady Gators one untimed down. Slocumb’s final pass then fell incomplete too.
Earlier in the game, Valley had built a 14-0 lead. Aniyah McCullough opened the scoring on a 17-yard run off a fake with 8:19 left in the first quarter, and Harris ran in the extra point. After Glenwood stopped Valley on fourth down at the 5 late in the quarter, McCullough struck again on a 50-yard TD catch from Harris with 11:28 left in the half. Shylar White caught the extra point.
Glenwood rallied to tie it before halftime. Brooklyn Sellers caught a 55-yard TD from Slocumb, and Lily Moody caught the extra point.
Moody then intercepted Harris at the Valley 38 before catching a 27-yard TD from Slocumb with 38 seconds left in the half.
While Valley appeared to have pulled Moody’s flag, it had fallen off according to the game officials, and she outran the defense to the end zone. Moody also caught the extra point for a 14-14 tie.
Valley’s defense set the tone following the break. Prothro intercepted a pass at the Valley 39 yard line nine seconds into the third quarter. Although a penalty wiped out a 6-yard TD run by White with 4:46 left in the quarter, Zorriah Simpson caught a 5-yard TD pass from Harris less than a minute later. The extra point failed, and Valley led 20-14.
Not long after that, Glenwood managed to reach the Valley red zone late in the third quarter and early in the fourth but came away with no points.
Elliott said the biggest improvement he has seen in recent weeks has come from his defense.
“To be honest with you, I think we’ve struggled a little bit the past few games,” he said. “Today we just did the little things correctly, in my opinion. I can’t say enough. I’m proud of the defense and obviously proud of my offense too.”
The offense found success downfield, a part of the game that had given Valley trouble.
“I feel like we were able to connect on some deep passes today,” Elliott said. “We’ve struggled with that a little bit in the past, but today it worked a little better than it has.”
McCullough, who scored Valley’s first two TDs, said even she was surprised by some of her catches.
“I didn’t think I was gonna catch those balls, but they just landed in my hand,” she said.
McCullough played through a sore leg on her first big touchdown.
“Thank God,” she said of crossing the goal line. “My leg was hurting and stuff, but I just pushed through the pain and made sure nobody got me.”
She said improved communication has been the biggest difference for the Lady Rams, and the win could carry them down the stretch.
“It can help us a lot,” McCullough said.
Valley played LaFayette High School on Oct. 20 at Bulldog Stadium. That result was not available by The Sun’s Tuesday press deadline. The Lady Rams will host Glenwood in a rematch at 6 p.m. ET on Tuesday, Oct. 27, at Ram Stadium.
