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STAR CORRESPONDENT

Last season, Joseph Sowards provided the thunder to quarterback Aiden Paul’s lightning. This season, that mantle looks to have passed to sophomore fullback Tyler Berry. Berry rushed for 121 yards on 19 carries in Happy Valley’s 19-0 opening-night victory over Cloudland.

“We played a lot better tonight,” Berry said after the victory. “We came in with a chip on our shoulder about last year, and our big guys did a great job up front. We got our power game back.”

On his 19 carries, he never lost yardage and kept Happy Valley ahead of the sticks all night. His longest run was 31 yards, and he had two other carries for 10-plus yards.

“Tyler brings that workhorse mentality,” Warriors head coach Jason Jarrett said. “He is a tough guy to tackle, and he was solid running in the trenches. He’s just a sophomore, but we expect a lot from him.”

Berry, the son of Todd and Candi Berry, has been praised by Jarrett for his work ethic, and he worked hard in the offseason in preparation for this season.

“I hit the weight room every day,” Berry said. “We want to achieve better than we did last year. Last year was a good year for us; after a couple of losing seasons, we won seven in a row, and we want to be better this year. That’s the goal.”

Jarrett went on to say about his young charge, “He proved himself to me, to his Happy Valley teammates, and to the community as a whole that he is capable and able to pound the rock for us. He had a great offseason and got bigger, faster, and stronger. He is a phenomenal young man, and he is a big part of the culture of this team, and expectations are high.”

Berry and the Warriors travel to Unicoi County for a clash with the Blue Devils on Friday night and hope to reverse last season’s loss.