Green Wave falls to Maroon Tide
Narrows (18) vs. Galax (48)
Written: Nov 14, 2015
By CRAIG WORRELL
for the Daiy Telegraph
MGALAX, Va. — The No. 14-seeded Green Wave (5-6) trailed the No. 3 Maroon Tide by a touchdown with less than six minutes to play in the first half before a trio of quick scores boosted Galax to a 35-6 halftime lead and ultimately a 48-18 Maroon Tide win in a Region 1A West first-round playoff game.
“I really felt like our kids wanted a second chance, and you don’t get a slot of second chances in life to fix mistakes,” said Narrows coach Kelly Lowe.
“We worked all week and made some adjustments and it helped. I thought we played better, but hats off to (them),” Lowe said.
Having just trimmed a two-touchdown Galax lead to 14-6 with 6:10 left inthe half, the Green Wave was hit with three big plays in a four-minute span. One play after the Narrows kickoff, Charles Harris raced 66 yards to the end zone for a 21-6 lead at the 5:52 mark.
Three plays into the ensuing Narrows possession, a bobbled pass was snagged in full stride by Galax defensive back Blake Brown, whose 48-yard pick-six widened the gap to 28-6 at the four-minute mark.
Following a Narrows three-and-out, Harris capped a second straight one-play scoring drive for Galax (7-4), darting through a gaping hole to the right and legging out a 54-yard score with 1:40 left in the half, stretching the Narrows deficit to 35-6.
“We had a couple of turnovers in there that really hurt us, a pick-six that really deflated us,” said Lowe. “And they’ve got such big-play capability. We worked all week on not giving up the big play. Let’s make them put a drive together. But they had a couple of big plays before the half that really hurt us.”
Dixon had hoped to limit the playing time of some of his banged-up kids and felt that the rhythm just wasn’t there most of the first half. He also believed the previous meeting’s outcome may have been a factor.
The two teams traded scores throughout the second half, Galax opening with an 11-play, 52-yard drive capped by a four-yard Harris run and Narrows answering when quarterback Cole Blaker scrambled in from nine yards out on a busted play.
Harris, who totaled 335 yards and six touchdowns on 22 carries, capped Maroon Tide scoring with a 30-yard run early in the fourth, and the Green Wave got a three-yard Bailey Snidow run late. Snidow had made a one-handed grab for a 21-yard gain on a fourth-and-17 play to sustain the drive.
Snidow had four catches for 29 yards as Blaker finished 9-of-15 for 125 yards.
“We’re a grind-it-out team,” Lowe said. “We don’t have a lot of big play capability but I thought our kids did a great job of grinding it out and just battling. I’m so proud of my kids. They gave up 75 the last time we were down here and gave up 48 tonight. They played hard, we had a couple of chances early, then it kind of snowballed on us.”
Galax opened the game by forcing a three-and-out and took the lead for good less than five minutes in on a one-yard Harris run. Harris scored from the 11 late in the quarter, but Blaker’s scrambling 36-yard touchdown midway through the second period breathed new – if not momentary – life into the Green Wave. Narrows was making its first playoff appearance since 2009 and was doing so on the heels of a one-win campaign last year.
“We were 5-2 and then we lost three straight,” Lowe said. “The back end of our schedule is so tough with Galax, Grayson and Graham. Our kids were 1-9 last year, they really worked hard in the summer, they set a goal to reach the playoffs and they achieved that goal, and I’m really proud of the senior leadership we had this year.”
Narrows..................................0 6 6 6––18
Galax.....................................14 21 7 6––48
First quarter
Gx–Harris 1 run (Harrison kick) 7:19
Gx–Harris 11 run (Harrison kick) 0:07
Second quarter
N–Blaker 36 run (kick blocked) 6:10
Gx–Harris 66 run (Harrison kick) 5:52
Gx–B.Brown 48 interception return (Harrison kick) 4:00
Gx–Harris 54 run (Harrison kick) 1:40
Third quarter
Gx–Harris 4 run (Harrison kick) 6:26
N–Blaker 9 run (pass failed) 0:29
Fourth quarter
Gx–Harris 30 run (kick failed) 10:54
N–Snidow 3 run (kick blocked) 1:34
———
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING – Narrows Blaker 16-66, Hopkins 11-44, Snidow 9-33, Evans 2-9, team
1-(-5). Galax, Harris 22-335, I.Brown 5-63, Spurlin 2-20, D.Peoples 2-7, B.Brown 2-1.
PASSING – Narrows, Blaker 9-15-1-125. Galax, I.Brown 2-3-0-25, Orton 0-1-0-0.
RECEIVING – Narrows, Neal 1-29, Snidow 4-29, Lawson 2-24, Hopkins 1-22, Welch 1-21. Galax, Spurlin 2-25.
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