Fake punt helps Grundy preserve victory
Grundy (28) vs. Hurley (24)
Written: Sep 14, 2013
By LLOYD COMBS
for the Daily Telegraph
GRUNDY, Va. – Grundy had three plays of 58 or more yards, all for touchdowns, but one little 4-yard run was its biggest play of the night.
Baylen Dillow 4-yard run for a first down on a fake punt from his own 17-yard line with just over a minute remaining to help preserve a 28-24 Golden Wave win over Hurley Friday night at Nelson Memorial Field.
The Rebels (1-2) jumped out to a 16-0 lead behind the running of Dillion Bailey and freshman Brady Justice. Bailey capped two sustained drives with a pair of touchdown runs and finished with 147 yards rushing on 28 carries.
Grundy finally got untracked with one series in which it was finally able to run the ball. Quarterback Charles McCoy had three runs of 14 or more yards and capped a 10-play, 68-yard drive with a 2-yard touchdown run.
One play after Grundy’s defense got its first stop Dylan Raines made a great adjustment on a fade pass from McCoy to the left sideline, powered his way past a defender and pulled away to a 76-yard TD pass.
On its next possession Hurley could not convert on fourth down for the first time of three in Grundy territory and one play later McCoy threw an 85-yard touchdown pass to a wide open Trey Smith. It gave the Wave a 22-16 halftime lead.
“We were looking at (Hurley’s defensive formations and saw a couple of things we thought we could do,” Grundy coach Jeremy Ward said. “And we had a couple of good calls with the long pass and had a couple of good runs.”
Grundy extended its lead to 28-16 with 5:22 left to play in the third period on a 58-yard touchdown from Smith, who managed to both stay inbounds and elude two defenders on the left sideline.
Hurley came up with a big play of its own with a 47-yard TD pass from Dylan Billiter to Justice less than a minute later.
The Rebels, looking for their first win over their Buchanan County rivals in 27 years, started moving the ball again and used up over seven minutes of the fourth quarter, but was stopped on fourth down at the Grundy 8-yard line.
“They just stopped us on fourth down a couple times,” Hurley coach Greg Tester said. “We just gave up some big plays, the momentum swung in the first half. We knew they were going to go deep and they just made a play or two.
“My guys fought. We hung in there and did what we had to do. We’re not going to make excuses even though we had three starters out.”
Hurley was without starting quarterback Nick Gibson, the versatile Ethan Duty and wide out Chris Hardin.
McCoy finshed with 181 yards passing and ran for 71 yards.
Both coaches addressed a defenseless move by some, not all of Grundy’s players after most players on both teams had gone to their respective locker rooms. The Grundy kids took a Hurley Rebel flag and stomped on it at midfield.
“Hats off to Grundy they did what they to do to win, but what happened on the field after the game, that was a classless act,” Tester said.
Added Ward, when informed of the incident several minutes later: “I did not see that. That is not who we are. I will address that with my team. I apologize to Hurley fans that is not who Grundy is and I will address that, everybody can rest assured of it.”
At Nelson Memorial Field
Hurley...........8 8 8 0 -- 24
Grundy...........0 22 6 0 -- 28
H-Bailey 14 run (Bailey run)
H-Bailey 1 run (Bailey run)
G-McCoy 2 run (run failed)
G-Raines 76 pass from McCoy (Smith run)
G-Smith 85 pass from McCoy (McCoy run)
G-Smith 58 run (run failed)
H-Justice 47 pass from Billiter (Bailey run)
———
Team Stats
First Downs: H 14, G 8; Rushes-Yards: H 52-185, G 30-150; Passing Yards: H 110, G 181; Comp-Att-Int: H 5-8-0, G 4-7-0; Fumbles-Lost: H 2-0, G 1-0; Penalties-Yards: H 6-50, G 5-45; Punts-Average: H 2-33.0, G 3-36.3.
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