Fort Chiswell— The Fort Chiswell Pioneers will host their arch and county rivals, the George Wythe Maroons, this Friday night. It will be their home opener. Both teams will come into the game with 1-0 records. The Pioneers defeated Rural Retreat on the road 46-7, while the Maroons won at Radford 26-18 .
The Maroons got a couple breaks to beat the Bobcats as Radford fumbled deep in their own territory and a snap over the punters head led to 13 of their 26 points. They also had a Radford kickoff return for a touchdown nullified by a Bobcat penalty. They had over 325 yards of offense against Radford.
Fort Chiswell got outstanding performance from their defensive and offense against Rural Retreat. The Indians were held to just one first down in the first three quarters of play. Tyler Jakubiak had 109 yards rushing and scored four touchdowns.
The Maroons head coach is Brandon Harner, and they will go with Gavin Gray, Weston Gordon, Charlie Caudill, Parker Coe and Dorrien McMillan on the offensive line. Deacon Beamer will start at quarterback. Jacquez Younger, Ravvon Wells and Reid Skeens at wide outs. The running backs will be Teion Brown and Isaiah Sawyers. Landon Thompson and Khorey Hull will get some action at running back and wide receiver.
Beamer rushed for 77 yards and threw for 129 against Radford. Brown rushed for 63 yards, Wells ran for 39 and Thompson had 38. Younger caught three passes for 83 yards and Skeens had 33.
Pioneer head coach Todd Tiller said, ”George Wythe will run double wings on offense. They like to run inside and outside off of motion. They like misdirection and their quarterback Beamer (Deacon) likes to throw the football.” Coach then remarked, “On defense they will use a 4-2-5 look. They don’t blitz that much and their secondary will mainly be zone. They will mix it up some but mainly they like to play zone.” Coach was then asked about the health of his team after the opener at Rural Retreat and he said. “We came out of last week’s game in good shape and will be ready for this Friday.“
Fort Chiswell will go with Logan Smith, Billy Shrewsberry, Jon Gregory, Hayden Hawks and “Loopie” Turpin on the offensive line. Garrett Chrisley and Luke Arnold will get time there also. Brody Crockett will be the quarterback, with Tyler Jakubiak and Sean Morgan as the running backs. Denver Brown, a George Wythe transfer, will also see time at running back. Tanner Bailey, Aaron Crawford will be the receivers and Anthony Morris the tight end. On the defense they will go with Shrewsberry, Gregory and Chrisley upfront. The linebackers will be Bailey, Ethan Woods, Jakubiak, Brown and Crawford. The secondary will consist of Logan Newman, Anthony Morris and Sean Morgan. Crockett, Zach Johnson, John Poole and Hawks will get time on the defense as well.
Kick-off is slated for 7:00 pm Friday at C F McKinney Field at Fort Chiswell High School.