Courtesy of Mason Wittner and the Times-Georgian
(Franklin, GA) — It’s no secret that the Heard County High School football defense toyed with opposing offenses on a weekly basis en route to closing the year out with 12 straight victories and a Class AA state championship — the first state title in program history.
At the heart of the defensive effort for the Braves was senior defensive end Zaylin Wood, who led the charge for Heard County with 101 tackles while racking up 36 tackles for loss, four sack, 16 quarterback hurries and three pass breakups.
As a result of the monster season, Wood was voted the 2018 Times-Georgian All-Area Defensive Player of the Year.
The Temple University verbal commit points to the Braves’ back-to-back losses to Hapeville Charter, 33-3, and Rockmart, 33-3, as being the turning point for both he personally and the defense as a whole.
“At the beginning of the year, when we lost those two games, I was very humbled,” Wood said.
“After that, everybody really started working as a team. Really, if it wasn’t for everybody else on our defense doing our job, I wouldn’t have been named Defensive Player of the Year. It’s everything we do as a team. If they didn’t do their job, then I wouldn’t be able to make the tackles that I have.”
The defense certainly stepped up and did its job time and time again throughout the the Braves’ historic championship run.

Zaylin Wood at Mercedes-Benz (Photo: Jeff Napier)
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