Wytheville…Radford behind running back Grant Heth’s six touchdowns and Qb Marcus Finley’s throwing for 248 yards and four touchdown passes, trounced the Maroons of George Wythe 55-27 in the opener for both teams. Grant caught two touchdown passes of 45 yards each, scored on runs of 25 yards, eight and five yards. He top his night off with a 93 yard kickoff return. He finished with 96 yards rushing on 16 carries and five receptions for 146 yards. Finley was 11 0f 15 passing on the night .

George Wythe running back Rashad Wells carried the pigskin 18 times for 189 yards and scored two touchdowns. Tyler Harden had 107 yards on nine rushes and scored a touchdown. Qb Deacon Beamer scored a touchdown on a 10 yard run.

The Bobcats jumped early onto the scoreboard as they drove 65 yards on seven plays, and after holding the Maroons scored again on just four plays covering 59 yards. The Maroons would cut the lead in half on a Wells 28 yard run but Radford answered with a 67 yard drive on four plays to go up 20-7 after one quarter. They put the game out of reach in the second quarter outscoring the Maroons 27-0 . Their last score, as the first ended was a bit of trickery. Finley took the snap from center and handed of to Dontae Billings. He would then handoff to receiver D.J.Baylor on a end around, but he then would flip the ball back to Finley and he would find Grant over the middle for a 45 yard pass for a touchdown to go up 48-7. Radford would use their second string and junior varsity players for the most of the second half for the victory.

Radford head coach Matthew Saunders said,” I thought we played very well tonight. Some of the fellow coaches from other teams had said to me that we looked in mid-season form earlier in the day. This group of young men have had the ability to go things that we have told them.” coach then said,”We got everyone into the game tonight and gave them some experience. It was very good for the sophomores and freshmen.”

Note: the Radford junior varsity beat the George Wythe JV’s 14-6. Jeremy Chadwick and Trace Shepherd scored for the Cats.

Radford will have their home opener next Friday at Bobcat Stadium as they host the Galax Maroon Tide. Kickoff is slated for 7pm.