Max Meadows…What a great week for football for the Fort Chiswell Pioneers. Last Saturday they upset Galax, the defending state champions. That stopped the Maroon Tide’s 15-game winning streak. Then they took on Narrows and their vaunted quarterback Cole Blaker. They handled Blaker and the Green Wave 27-18. It made homecoming for the Pioneers very pleasant on a great night for football.
The Pioneers were led by senior Colby Rider as he scored three touchdowns, rushed for 127 yards on 11 carries and had 14 tackles. He recovered a fumble and caught two passes for 10 yards; one of those was a touchdown. As if that were not enough, he was also named homecoming king. The senior had a night to remember.
Narrows got two touchdowns from Austin Evans on 47 and 48 paid passes from Blaker. He finished with 178 yards passing and 64 rushing. The 6-4, 205 pound senior was 12 of 26 passing, two touchdowns and with two interceptions.
Fort Chiswell (5-2, 2-0) scored after just three minutes had ran off the clock at the start of game as Rider took the snap and rammed his way in from six yards out. Tyler Dunford’s point after made it 7-0. The score went to 14-0 in the second quarter as Rider took the snap from center at his own 14-yard line, went off right tackle, broke three tackles, headed down the Pioneer sideline. He out-ran the Narrows secondary for an 86-yard score with 8:34 left in the first half.
On their next possession Narrows scored when Blaker dropped back and found Evans wide open over the middle for a 47 yard score, but Kaleb Normansell’s kick was wide left to leave the score at 14-6. The Green Wave recovered a Pioneer fumble. On their second play Blaker hit Evans down the sideline for a 48-yard strike. This time the run for two was stopped for a 14-12 halftime Pioneer lead.
The Pioneers would score again, this time at the 5:53 mark of the third quarter as Rider caught a eight-yard pass from Warren Moore, and Tyler Dunford’s kick upped the score to 21-12.
After their defense held Narrows (5-2, 1-1) to three plays and out, Fort Chiswell took over on their 35. Two running plays would garner seven yards out to their 43. Then Moore dropped back and threw a pass to Tanner Bailey in front of the Pioneer bench. Bailey broke a tackle at midfield and raced to his 15. He then cut back across the grain and picked up a devastating block from Hunter Parrott and ran in from there for a 57-yard score. The kick was then blocked for a 27-12 lead.
Narrows scored their last touchdown with 9:26 left in the game as running back Mikey McKinney ran in from one yard out but the two point conversion passed failed.
“Rider (Colby) had one heck of a game for us,” said a happy Pioneer head coach Todd Tiller. “Our offensive and defensive lines did one whale of a job tonight. Blake can hurt you in lot of different ways. I thought we really made him earn his rushing yards.” Coach added, “I’m pleased with our performance except for the turnovers; I’m not happy with those. They made a couple big plays on us in the first half, and we made a couple changes in our defense the second half.”
Fort Chiswell has won three consecutive games for the first time in a couple of years. They finished this game with over 360 yards of offense.
The Pioneer schedule doesn’t get any easier as they will play their last regular season home game against familiar foe Grayson Co. Kickoff will be at 7:00 pm next Friday. It will be senior night for the Pioneers.
Narrows 0 12 0 6-18
Fort Chiswell 7 7 13 0-27
FC- Rider – 6 run – Dunford kick 7- 0
FC- Rider – 86 run – Dunford kick 14- 0
N – Evans- 47 pass from Blaker – Kick failed 14- 6
N – Evans – 48 pass from Blaker – Run failed 14-12
FC- Rider – 8 pass from Moore – Dunford kick 21-12
FC- Bailey – 57 pass from Moore- Kick blocked 27-12
N – McKinney- 1 run – Pass failed 27-18
First Downs -N – 8, FC- 12
Penalties- N- 5-40, FC- 8-63