First, WV has grown because of its academic reputation. It’s one of the best public schools in the Chattanooga/Cleveland/Athens area. Kind of a Farragut type school.
Second, Coach Akins has done a great job building a program. First he helped take the program from $30k a year to well over $100k now. This has allowed the facilities to be totally transformed. He also brought in Coaches Taylor Harvey and Brandon Ashby. Both of these Coaches have created a hard hitting disciplined approach, which has shaped the identity of the team (can’t say this enough).
Third, Ocoee Middle School has done really well in football( excluding this year) and those players are going to Walker Valley. For the longest time, Bradley was getting those players.
Walker Valley should be really good next year as well. It will be hard to replace Schwarzl, but they return a bulk of talent and have some really solid young players ready to step up.