G-Men punish Golden Wave 67-0
Written: Sep 21, 2013
By LLOYD COMBS
for the Daily Telegraph
GRUNDY, Va. -— It didn't take long for Graham to put the disappointment of a one-point loss to Richlands behind it.
The G-Men dominated on offense, dominated on defense and dominated Grundy on special teams in a 67-0 shellacking of the Golden Wave Friday night at Nelson Memorial Field.
Dylan Cook ran for two touchdowns for a Graham offense that needed just 35 plays to score eight touchdowns.
Graham kicker Samuel Stowers kept Grundy pinned deep in its own territory with touchback after touchback, while Charles Benfield, who also ran for 78 yards and a touchdown, added 87 return yards for Graham's special teams.
On defense, meanwhile the G-Men held a normally potent Grundy offense to 77 total yards and forced six turnovers. Graham (2-2) turned two of those miscues into points.
Adam Carbaugh returned an interception 17 yards for a TD seven seconds after Hill tossed a 44-yard touchdown pass to tight end Mark Large for the first score of the night.
Jonathan Jennings later capped a 34-point first quarter for the G-Men when he scopped up a Golden Wave fumble and ran 26 yards for a score.
"Defensive scores are hard to come by," Graham coach Mike Williams said. "Coming into tonight we only had one takeaway and we talked all week about how takeaways can affect the outcome of the game greatly.
"We've given up a lot of points this year so it was nice to come out and pitch a shutout tonight. It meant a lot to our kids so we let a lot of them stay in the game in order to get that shutout."
Grundy (2-2) did not complete a pass the entire game and on its only sustained drive of the night lost a fumble on the Graham 32-yard line.
Cook gained all of his 91 yards in the first half as the G-Men built a 47-0 lead at the break. He scored on runs of 26 and 17 yards, respectively.
"We knew going in Grahan had a good running game and they took advantage of it," Grundy coach Jeremy Ward said. "We never could get anything going offensively to match them."
Graham's only punt of the night came on the opening series of the game. They scored with 6:37 remaining in the first period and scored five touchdowns in a span of 6:20, including the two defensive scores.
"It felt good to bounce back (from the loss at Richlands)," added Williams, whose club lost 27-26 to the Blue Tornado the previous week. "I was really worried coming in to this one that the kids would be flat and not play well, and on the first series that's what it looked like.
"(Grundy forced us to punt and they moved the ball a little, but the kids rebounded and got a little energy about them and finished the game well."
Kyshon Lee added a 38-yard TD run for the G-Men in the second quarter. Graham got touchdown runs from Levi Stroupe and Roman Workman in the second half.
The final TD came on a 21-yard pass from Workman to Austin Holbrook around the 2:55 mark of a running clock.
Ward expressed some displeasure over the play call on the final touchdown. It turned out to be the final play from scrimmage.
"I understand he had young guys in there and I don't like to comment on another coach's call, he's got to do what's best for his team, but I just don't know if I'm winning by that much late in the game."
It was Grundy's worst loss in nearly 40 years.
Graham............................34 13 7 13 — 67
Grundy................................0 0 0 0 — 0
Scoring Summary
Gra-Large 44 pass from Hill (Stowers kick)
Gra-Carbaugh 17 Int Ret (Stowers kick)
Gra-Benfield 36 run (Stowers kick)
Gra-D. Cook 26 run (Stowers kick)
Gra-Jennings 26 Fum Ret (kick blocked)
Gra-D. Cook 17 run (Stowers kick)
Gra-Lee 38 run (run failed)
Gra-Stroupe 18 run (Stowers kick)
Gra-Workman 2 run (run failed)
Gra-Holbrook 21 pass from Workman (Stowers kick)
———
Team Stats
First Downs: Gra 13, Gru 8; Rushes-Yards: Gra 26-161, Gru 24-55; Passing Yards: Gra 99, Gru 0; Comp-Att-Int: Gra 6-9-0, Gru 0-6-2; Fumbles-Lost: Gra 0-0, Gru 4-4; Penalties-Yards: Gra 3-35, Gru 3-15; Punts-Average: Gra 1-46, Gru 4.35.5.
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