Month: September 2015

Pioneers blasted by Maroons

Photography courtesy of Tina Quesenberry

Max Meadows… What started out being delayed by an hour then an hour an a half because of lightning, finished up as a Maroon storm. The George Wythe Maroons pounded the Fort Chiswell Pioneers 61-20.

Zack Grimm with the first touchdown of the night for Fort.
Zack Grimm with the first touchdown of the night for Fort.

The Pioneers started the game with their own thunder going up 14-0 in the first six minutes of the game. Quarterback Warren Moore scored on a one-yard quarterback keeper. Then Tanner Bailey hit Zach Grimm with a two-point conversion pass for an 8-0 lead. After a Maroon turnover, the Pioneers duo of Bailey to Grimm hooked up on a 33 yard touchdown pass, but the kick was blocked for a 14-0 Pioneer lead.

George Wythe would get on the board as Tyler Harden intercepted a Moore pass and scored from 22 yards out. Clay Sweat’s kick cut the Fort Chiswell lead in half after the opening quarter. The second quarter would see things turn bad for the Pioneers as the Maroons scored four touchdowns in the last 6:41 of the half. Running back Rashad Wells scampered in from 45 yards out. Quarterback Deacon Beamer ran in from two and 10 yards out. Holden Tolley capped the Maroon scoring storm as he caught an eight yard pass from Beamer for a 34-14 halftime lead.

The Maroons would score again at the 9:44 mark in the third on a Harden 44 yard dash and again after holding the Pioneers to three and out, would cross the end zone on a Wells 25 jaunt for a 48-14 lead.

Fort Chiswell’s Davin Odum ran in from 22 yards out, but again the kick failed to cut the Maroon lead with the score now 48-20. The Pioneers were dropping like flies. Third and fourth players were now out due to injuries in the game.

George Wythe wasn’t done. On the ensuing kickoff, the Maroons, Markell Moss picked the ball up at his 15 and faked going up the middle and broke off to his left and down the Maroon sideline on a 85 yard touchdown. Their last score came with 2:46 remaining when back up tailback, Ben Bishop went 16 yards off a tackle for a 61-20 score.

Pioneer head coach, Todd Tiller remarked after the game, “We couldn’t run the ball. Three of our starting linemen got hurt, and we turned the ball over. We finished up taking three kids to the hospital tonight. We got five or six kids hurt plus we were already missing four players.” Coach Tiller then joked and said, “I think our “gator” that hauls the water and sideline equipment is even hurt.”

“George Wythe (1-1) moved the ball, and we didn’t stop them,” said Tiller. George Wythe finished with 422 yards of offense to the Pioneers 192. Running back Rashad Wells had eight carries for 95 yards and two touchdowns. Tyler Harden had 11 rushes for 96 yards and scored twice.

Fort Chiswell’s Davin Odum lead the Pioneers with 12 carries for 50 yards. Zach Grimm caught four passes for 96 yards and a score.

The Pioneers season doesn’t get any easier as they host the Radford Bobcats next Friday. Kickoff is slated for 7 pm.

Bobcats wins thrilller in overtime

Radford…. On a warm and sunny Saturday afternoon, the Radford Bobcats defeated the Galax Maroon Tide 33-26 in overtime. The game was postponed from Friday night to a noon Saturday start time. The game was worth the wait. Radford who had win their 600th game in program history last Friday night at George Wythe, won this hard fought game versus Galax, as Heth Grant rushed for 147 yards on 16 carries and Marcus Finley had 132 on 21 rushes. Finley rushed for two touchdowns and threw for one. Grant had one rushing score.

Galax was led by bruising running back Charles Harris who carried the “pigskin” 35 times for 262 yards. Dougie Peoples finished the contest carrying the “mail” 20 times for 107. Both Harris and Peoples scored twice. The Tide yardage wise out gained Radford 401 to 307.

Radford would get on the board first as they drove 75 yards on just four plays on their first possesion,with finley scored on a eight yard run up the middle. Logan Jessie kick made it 7-0.

Galax would strike back on their first possession with Harris bulling his way in from 12 yards out but the pass for a two-point conversion fell incomplete . The Tide would the go up on a harris four yard run and his 2 point run made it 14-7 with 6:32 left in the second quarter.

Radford would answer quickly as Finley faked a handoff and raced 56 yards to paydirt, and Grant would take the snap and threw a 2 point conversion to D.J.Baylor that put the Bobcats up 15-14 with 5:32 remaining . Radford had retaken the lead after just one minute of trailing and would take that lead into halftime.

Galax would go back up at the 4;40 mark of the third quarter on a Peoples three yard run ,but the pass for two was incomplete as the score stayed 20-15. Radford again came right back. This time it took them just 50 seconds to go back ahead on a Grant 47 yard jaunt down the Galax sideline. Finley would hit Bradley Davis on a pass, to make the score 23-20.

The Maroon Tide with just 15.7 left in the third, struck to take the lead on a Peoples 14 yard run and the kick try was no good for a 26-23 lead.Both teams seemed to slow down some as the heat of the day and the fourth quarter went on ,with neither team scoring until late.

The Bobcats ( 2-0) would drive the ball down to the Galax eight yard line with just 18.5 showing on the clock left in the ballgame. Coach Saunders of Radford would call his last time. It was four down and he sent out his field goal kicker-Logan Jessie. Jessie would then hit a 25 yarder to tie the game at 26.

Galax ( 0-2) would win the toss and decided to go on defense first, with Radford getting the ball at the 10 yard line. After one Finley and two Grant carries moved the ball to the three yard line, it was fourth down and Coach Saunders used his one time of the overtime to talk things over. He decided to go for the touchdown and forgo the field goal. Finley would take the snap and was chased out of the pocket ,breaking a tackle, rolled out to his right and as he got hit he threw a pass over the middle that found D.J.Baylor for “six”. Lessie hit the point after to up their lead to 33-26.

The Tide would then hand off to Harris for just one hard to the nine. Peoples would the get the call for one yard – to the eight- then was stopped on third down for no gain. Galax the on fourth down, quarterback Carson Orton dropped back and threw over the middle but a Bobcat would tip the ball as the pass would fall innocently in the end zone, as the Bobcat team jumped for joy ! The back and forth, hard hitting , thrilling game had ended.

Radford head coach Matthew Saunders said,” What a ball game. Both teams played extremely hard. Coach Dixon (Mark) does great job for Galax. They (Galax ) had a great game plan. We knew it would be a slugfest all week. What a battle .” Coach added ,” Harris kid, is a great runner and their offensive line is so very good and physical. Conditioning came into play for both teams here today. I thought Grant ( Heth) , and Marcus ( Finley) came up big for us. I thought Wes Parcell had a huge day defensively and our defense came through when we needed them as well.” Coach was asked about the Finley overtime touchdown pass and he replied, ” That was an athlete making a huge play. Baylor also an athlete maked a big catch on that play. I went for it on fourth down their because we were having trouble stopping them.”

Radford will hit the road Friday as they go to Fort Chiswell to take on the Pioneers. Kickoff is at 7pm.

Galax 6 8 12 0 0-26

Radford 7 8 8 3 7- 33

Pioneers to host Maroons in home opener

Max Meadows… Fort Chiswell will be hosting their arch and county rival, the George Wythe Maroons, this Friday night. These two county rivals, to say the least, are very competitive when they face each other. It makes no difference what sport they are playing, there’s not a lot of love lost between.

Last season the Pioneers traveled to George Wythe and came away with an impressive 28-14 victory. The squads will come into this game 0-1 after both lost last week. Fort Chiswell was shutout by Rural Retreat 27-0 on the road. Radford 55-27 thumped the Maroons at home.

George Wythe ran for over 300 yards against Radford, but were held to just 94 rushing in the first half against the Bobcats first string. Rashad Wells and Tyler Hardin are the two running backs that the Maroons count on. Quarterback Deacon Beamer likes to throw and will run as well. He scored on a 10 yard run last week.

The Pioneers were out-muscled on the offensive and defensive lines by Rural Retreat in their 27-0 loss. That’s not like the Pioneers of the last few seasons who would be more physical than their opponents. Fort Chiswell is young and inexperienced and will need to grow up fast as their season rolls along.

Fort Chiswell’s first year head coach, Todd Tiller, remarked, “We got handled at times versus Rural Retreat. We are young and inexperienced and right now we are also banged up. We’ve had six-seven guys hurt.” Coach then said, “We will get better as we gain more experience.” Coach Tiller was asked about the Maroons and he replied by saying, “The Wells and Harden running backs are good. They’re alike and overall speed is good. They will be quick also. Beamer, their QB, will throw the football, but he will take off with it also. They like to run the jet, run out of empty sets. We will have to play assignment football on defense.”

He was then asked about the George Wythe defense. Coach Tiller said, “They will show a 40 defense. They run a 4-2-5 alignment. They are quick on defense as well as they are on offense. We will look at the film of Rural Retreat and correct some things. I don’t foresee any major changes. We need to get healthy.”

Coach added by saying, “I believe Logan Hart will play more than last week. Devin Bain and Davin Odum will play. Colby Rider, Devin Newman and Mitch Armbrister will be game time decisions.

Game time for the Pioneer home opener is slated for a 7:00 kickoff.

Bobcats to entertain the Maroon Tide

Radford Bobcats coming off of an impressive win over George Wythe last week will host the Galax Maroon Tide this Friday. Radford beat the Maroons 55-27 while the Galax Maroon Tide lost on the road to defending State Champions, Glenvar 20-15.

Galax lost that game in the last few seconds. They are under the direction of Mark Dixon. Dixon is a former NFL lineman for the Miami Dophins, and he graduated from the University of Virginia. He’s in his seventh season and has a 46-19 record. They have been in the playoffs in all of his previous six years.

Radford head coach Matthew Saunders said, “Galax is well coached, and they have a very good offensive line. Their QB is Carson Orton, and they have a couple of backs that are good.” Coach then added, “Charles Harris is the main back. He’s big, strong and powerful. They will run inside and outside zone blocking. They will run most of the time and then Orton will sneak a pass or two.”

Coach Saunders then talked about the Galax defense. “They will show us a couple of looks. They will lineup in a 4-4 and then a 5-2 scheme. I think they will blitz us from different positions to try to confuse our linemen. Caleb Spurlin is one of their main guys on defense and also plays on offense . He’s one of their leaders.”

Radford had a couple of injuries coming out of the George Wythe game. Wide receiver Mike Vick hurt a knee and lineman Hunter O’Brien an ankle. Both are out for this game. Kickoff at Bobcat Stadium is slated for 7 pm.