(Photography courtesy Tina Quesenberry)

Max Meadows…The Fort Chiswell Pioneers got five rushing touchdowns from senior quarterback Brody Crockett as they celebrated homecoming with a convincing 46-26 win over the Tazewell Bulldogs.

The Pioneers (4-3, 3-2) were playing without both of their starting running backs that were out due to injuries. Crockett rushed for 254 yards on 34 carries, and Isaac “Bevo” Dunford scored a touchdown and rushed for 118 yards on 12 rushes.

Crockett scored on runs of five, 16, one, three and three. He also tossed a 37-yard pass to Ethan Woods as he accounted for 315 yards of offense

Tazewell (2-5) got two touchdowns from Mike Jones, one each from Josiah Jordan and Chancellor Harris. Jordan completed seven passes for 227 yards and threw for one touchdown and rushed for one. He carried the ball 20 times and gained 64 hard earned yards.

Fort Chiswell allowed 302 total yards, but they had 493 yards of total offense. They rushed the ball 59 times for 432 yards. The Pioneers scored first to go up 7-0: however, Tazewell came right back to take an 8-7 lead in the middle of the second quarter. The Pioneers would score twice to take a 19-8 lead into intermission. They would outscore the Bulldogs 14-6 in the third quarter and 13-12 in the final quarter.

“We lost Denver Brown late in last week’s game, and we knew we had to step up on offense this week in practice,” said Pioneer head coach Josh Wingate. Brody (Crockett) had a heck of a game for us tonight. Our offensive line really worked hard and came through for us. Dunford (Bevo) played really well also. I’m very pleased about how our offensive line performed. We gave up some big passing plays on defense but we hung in there.”

Fort Chiswell still doesn’t know exactly how long Brown will be out. He is scheduled to go back to the doctor again early this week. Right now it looks like he has a strained MCL. Their other running back Tyler Jakubiak, who’s out for the rest of the season with a knee injury, was named king on the homecoming court. The Pioneers play their last regular season home game this Friday as they host the Blue Devils of Grayson Co. Grayson Co. is 6-1 and are in first place in the Mountain Empire District. Kickoff is slated for 7:00 pm.

Fort Chiswell 7 12 14 13 – 46

Tazewell 0 8 6 12 – 26

Rushing- Fort Chiswell – Crockett 34-254, Dunford 12-118, Bailey 5-17, Johnson 4-29, Varney 2-7, Jones 2-7

Rushing- Tazewell – Jordan 20-64, Jones 5-13, Harris 10-39, Blevins 1-9

Passing – Fort Chiswell – Crockett 3 of 5 – 0 Ints.- 1 TD. – 61 yds. – Tazewell – Jordan 7 of 17 – 1 Int.- 1 TD. – 177 yds.

Receiving- Fort Chiswell – Woods – 2-58 yds.-1 Td. , Dunford 1-3 yds., Tazewell – Nunley – 1-20, Honaker – 2- 60, Harris 1-45 , Jones – 1-55, Taylor 2-47

First Downs – Fort Chiswell – 25 , Tazewell -14

Penalties – Fort Chiswell – 13 – 128 yds., Tazewell – 8-68 yds.