Tazewell Bulldogs quench Golden Wave
Tazewell (28) vs. Grundy (6)
Written: Oct 23, 2015
By LLOYD COMBS
for the Daily Telegraph
GRUNDY, Va. — Tazewell kept its playoff hopes alive. Grundy’s took a big hit.
In fact, the Golden Wave took a lot of big hits from a strong, aggressive Tazewell defense as the Bulldogs stopped the Golden Wave cold, 28-6 Friday night at Nelson Memorial Field.
Zach Hurley led a potent Tazewell running game with 169 yards rushing and two touchdowns.
Dakota Crouse led the defense with three sacks, the last one forcing Grundy to turn the ball over on downs for the third time in the game and it came midway through the fourth quarter when the Wave had reached the Tazewell 6-yard line.
Grundy (4-5) could not take advantage of good field position most of the night.
“You can’t turn the ball over as much as we did,” Grundy coach Jeremy Ward said. “Especially in the red zone, whether it’s on downs or a turnover.”
Tazewell (3-5) controlled the line of scrimmage all game. It didn’t always need good field position.
Hurley picked up 80 yards on the last three plays of an 11-play, 89-yard drive in the first period. He finished with a 38-yard touchdown run.
Midway through the second half Tazewell marched 91 yards in 12 plays, eating up 5:30 off the clock. Quarterback T.J. Kitts capped it with an 8-yard TD run with 6:50 remaining in the game.
Kitts, Jacob Pilkins and Josh Hayes also made significant contributions to a Tazewell running game that netted 312 yards overall. Pilkins scored the game’s first TD on a 15-yard first-quarter run.
The Bulldogs only led 13-6 at the half.
While its offensive line did its job well the Tazewell’s hard-charging backs added yards after contact on nearly every play.
“Defensively it was the same thing as the last four games previous to this and it was poor tackling,” said Ward. “You can’t have people at the line of scrimmage, hands on them and not tackle them.
“And I credit that to Tazewell being stronger than us. Their kids were a lot stronger and I think that was the difference in the ballgame.”
Jacob McNutt scored the lone Grundy touchdown on a 5-yard run in the second quarter.
Each team turned the ball over twice.
At Nelson Memorial Field
Tazewell....................13 0 8 7 — 28
Grundy......................0 6 0 0 — 6
First Quarter
T-Pilkins 15 run (Murray kick)
T-Hurley 38 run (kick blocked)
Second Quarter
G-McNutt 5 run (kick failed)
Third Quarter
T-Hurley 5 run (Hurley run)
Fourth Quarter
T-Kitts 8 run (Murray kick)
———
TEAM STATISTICS
First downs: T 10, G 21; Rushes-yards: T 52-312, G 31-147; Passing yards: T 11, G 107; Comp-Att-Int: T 1-4-0, G 6-15-1; Fumbles-lost: T 3-2, G 1-1; Penalties-yards: T 6-50, G 5-50; Punts-average: T 2-16.5, G 2-39.5.
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