WVHS defense special in 2023
Walker Valley High School senior Braxton Smith has a knack for taking on challenges in the athletic arena and succeeding.
He has also shown the first step is simply being unafraid to try.
As a left-handed ace on the baseball diamond and a ball hawk in the secondary on the football field, Smith has helped the Mustangs reach great heights in both sports.
Smith, who has committed to Division II Carson-Newman University’s baseball program, was reliably excellent on the mound this past spring while helping Walker Valley to the second state tournament appearance in program history. When the Mustangs beat intracounty rival Bradley Central 4-2 to win the Region 3-4A championship, Smith threw his fourth complete game of the season and improved to 6-0 with a 2.76 ERA.
The same mindset that allows a pitcher to work out of jams can help a defensive back facing a driving offense in a close game.
“The most impressive thing about Braxton is he will be in a bind, but he is as cool as you can be,” Walker Valley football coach Drew Akins said. “That’s what you need out of your leaders. That quality about him has trickled over to the football field. He lives to compete, and that helps him stay calm in big moments.”
Although he had never played football until high school, the 5-foot-10, 160-pound Smith now holds the Walker Valley record for career interceptions with eight. The three-year starter set the mark in style, too, returning that pick for a touchdown during a 74-33 home win against Campbell County two weeks ago in the first round of the TSSAA Class 5A playoffs.
“In middle school, I only played baseball and ran cross country,” Smith said. “I came here and did a couple of cross country practices and knew it just was not for me. So I tried out football and really enjoyed it and stuck with it. It has worked out for me ever since. It’s amazing to see how far the program has come. This senior class has really bought in to being leaders.”
Walker Valley (10-2) is one of seven Chattanooga-area
programs left in the TSSAA playoffs, and a big reason why is a program-record-setting defense that has allowed an average of 12.7 points per game.
After reaching double-digit wins in a season for the first time with last week’s secondround rout of Lenoir City, 37-11, the Mustangs have also secured their inaugural quarterfinal appearance. The Region 4 champions will visit Region 3 No. 3 seed Clinton (6-6) at 7 p.m. Friday.
Walker Valley has allowed a combined 31 points in four road games this season, which includes a pair of shutouts, and the overall success on that side of the ball has boosted a program that had three 0-10 seasons from 2006-18 and allowed more than 50 points per game in one season.
“We kind of built this team around defense,” Akins said. “We can rely on this defense and make decisions based on our defensive players. We have a guy at every single level that allows us to go make plays. Conner Phillips has been absolutely dominant on the defensive line, and Jacob Hollingsworth has been a great leader at linebacker for the past two years. Then Braxton and Tyran Forte have been rock solid when it comes to tackling and causing turnovers at the third level.
“We are sitting here in the quarterfinals because our defense has played so well throughout the year. I am so proud of our defense and Braxton being a captain and leader on the defensive side.”
Smith’s five interceptions during his junior season included two against Bradley Central, and he said playing in the outfield in baseball helped him make the transition to playing cornerback and safety for the Mustangs.
“The key to success comes down to being disciplined and the way you practice,” Smith said. “We come out every day super intense and give everything we’ve got. We trust our coaches, and they put us in a spot to win. We just have to go execute.
“When I first started playing, they just told me to go out there and be an athlete and do my thing. They put a lot of trust in me. I never thought when I was a freshman that I would be able to help this team set brand-new milestones.”
Akins is grateful Smith decided to give football a try as a freshman. Three years later, the Mustangs are just two wins away from a trip to Finley Stadium for the Class 5A BlueCross Bowl state championship game.
“We had practiced all of June, and right after dead period is when Braxton showed up to us,” Akins said, thinking back to the summer of 2020. “We were like, ‘Who is this kid?’ He was super athletic and really savvy from the start. We knew we had something to build on then.
“He figured out the game by going out there and playing. His story has been really fun to watch unfold.”