Fort Chiswell…The Fort Chiswell Pioneers, coming off an impressive victory over Narrows, will now face the BlueDevils of Grayson Co.
Grayson Co. will come into the game after beating Bland Co. last week 41-21 to improve to 2-5 on the season. Bree McPherson, who’s in his 11th year, coaches them. His overall record is 58-58. Besides the Bland win they also beat Carroll Co. 21-17 in the opener of the season. Grayson had lost four straight until the win last Friday. Their losses are to Alleghany (NC), Tazewell, Glenvar, Floyd Co. and Graham. They were 6-5 last year and made the playoffs, where they lost to Richlands 62-7.
The Blue Devils are scoring at 20 points per game clip, while giving up 33 a game. They are lead by sophomore quarterback Jake Hollingsworth. Running backs will be George Peoples and Crue Cassell both sophomores, as well. The main receiver is the coach’s son, junior Tanner McPherson. Junior Seth Phillips is also a big target for the Blue Devils. He is 6-3, 215 pounds.
On defense Grayson Co. is led upfront by Jared Phillips and Adam Carrico. Seth Phillips, Hollingsworth, McPherson and Tony Osbourne are leaders of the secondary. The Blue Devils are young as they only have five seniors on the squad. They are returning four starters on offense and four on defense.
Fort Chiswell head coach Todd Tiller said, ”Grayson is young but they are also dangerous. They are very well coached. Coach McPherson does a real good job. Offensively they will run from an I-formation. They run some of (or it looks like some of) Galax on film and are very physical.” Coach added, ”They will run double tight ends and pro sets. The Peoples kid is a hard-nosed, hard runner and Tanner (McPherson) is an excellent receiver for them.“
Coach then remarked about Grayson Co. defense by saying, ”They will show us a 52 scheme. They don’t blitz much and their secondary likes to play man-to-man. Phillips (Seth) is their leader in the secondary. Health-wise we are in pretty good shape, but we need to get to work this week.”
Fort Chiswell will go with Logan Smith at center, Grant Milgrim and Devin Newman at guards. The tackles will be Alex Brooks and Jacob Coake. Warren Moore starts at quarterback with Tanner Bailey and Hunter Parrott as the wide receivers. Colby Rider starts at tight end. The “H” back is Andrew Stoots and the tail back will be Tyler Jakubiak. Anthony Morris, Sean Morgan, TJ James, Billy Shrewsberry and Patrick Crawford will see action as well. On defense the Pioneers will start with Brooks, Newman and Crawford up front. The inside linebackers are Rider, Milgrim and Shrewsberry. The outside backers will be Stoots and James. The cornerbacks are Anthony Morris and Logan Newman. Newman has five interceptions on the season. Tanner Bailey is the safety and he has picked off two passes. Coake, Smith, Moore, Morgan ” Loopie” Turpin and Jon Gregory will get into the action also. It will be senior night as the Pioneers will say good-bye to 11 seniors on their last regular season home game. The Pioneers are rated fifth this week in Group 1A West power points ratings.
Kickoff is slated at 7pm at Fort Chiswell High School’s C.F.McKinney Stadium.