Waverly football vs. Indian Valley: 5 Things To Know about the undefeated Chiefs

Posted by Admin November 6, 2024 Football

Chillicothe Gazette
| USA TODAY NETWORK

The Waverly football team is making the trip to Gnadenhutten to take on Indian Valley on Friday night in a Division IV, Region 15 second round matchup.

The Braves play in the Inter Valley Conference-South Division with the likes of Sugarcreek Garaway and West Lafayette Ridgewood, both of whom won their first-round playoff games..

Here is what you need to know about the Braves:

How did they get here?

Indian Valley, now undefeated at 11-0, took down Heath, 40-15, to advance to play Waverly (6-5).

Sophomore Ryker Williams led the way with 176 yards on eight carries and a touchdown. Williams was also 5-for-10 for 75 yards passing and a touchdown. Backup running back Eric Golder, who has played wingback, scored three touchdowns with 91 yards on eight carries. Jaxon Burcher, who excels as a blocking tight end, had 44 yards one three carries and a touchdown.

Leading the defense were Gavin Garabrandt and Bradley Barr with 10 tackles each.

Grady Kinsey and the offensive line

You can’t talk about the Braves without talking about Kinsey.

Now Kinsey didn’t play in the game against Heath due to a lower body injury, but if he plays against Waverly, the defense will have its hands full.

He has 2,347 yards on 178 carries and 33 touchdowns, despite carrying only three times in Week 9 against Zoarville Tuscarawas Valley and not playing against Uhrichsville Claymont or Heath. He remains ranked in the top 15 nationally in rushing yards, according to maxpreps.com, as the Braves averaged 371 yards per game rushing in the regular season.

The offensive line deserves a lot of credit. They are physical up front, led by David Striker (6-0, 260) and Hunter Peterman (5-10, 190) and, even without Kinsey against Heath, they were moving bodies for other runners. The Braves excel as pullers in coach Matt Lancaster’s scheme.

The Braves are a running team whether it is with Kinsey or not. As a team, they have eclipsed 4,000 rushing yards this season and 59 rushing touchdowns.

The rest of the offense

Indian Valley has put up 501 points this season through 11 games.

While Kinsey is responsible for much of that, there are others of whom the Tigers should take note.

The team only has nine passing touchdowns, but Williams has been efficient as a dual threat, hitting 53 of 86 passes for 762 yards.

Golder has 201 yards receiving on 15 catches and three touchdowns. Burcher has 182 yards on nine catches and three touchdowns as eight different receivers have caught passes.

The defense

Indian Valley has yielded 202 points. The most it has given up in a game was 41 points to Dover, which handled Granville in the first round of the Division III, Region 11 playoffs. It was the first time the Braves had beaten Dover in almost two decades.

They have one shutout this season, against Claymont. Burcher is the leader on defense with 62 total tackles, while Golder is also a standout in the secondary.

Rowan Piccin has 58 tackles with 23 of them being solo; Williams leads the team in sacks with five and Golder, Carsen Hostetler and Kyler Vosick have three interceptions.

Playoff history

Lancaster has taken the Braves to heights not before seen, with 11 postseason appearances. They are 11-10 in those games, including last year’s regional semifinal appearance.

They have never made it to the state Final Four.

Last year, they were knocked out of the playoffs by Steubenville, which reached the state following a regional final win against Sheridan.