History maker: Twin Valley topples Grundy
Grundy (0) vs. Twin Valley (28)
Written: Aug 30, 2014
By LLOYD COMBS
for the Daily Telegraph
GRUNDY, Va. — Twin Valley didn't just make history Friday night.
It seized history and ran with it.
Jake Kowalski ran for 142 yards and two touchdowns as the Panthers ran past Grundy, 28-0 for their first-ever win over their Buchanan County rivals.
Both teams made one mistake after the other in the first half of the season opener for both clubs. Twin Valley took advantage of one of Grundy's miscues to take a 7-0 halftime lead.
Behind the running of Kowalski and teammate Austin Shortridge the Panthers seized control of the game with a crushing. 14-play, 80-yard drive that ate up the first 7:32 of the second half clock and gave them a 14-0 lead late in the third quarter.
"When we started running our jets and that spread them out and when we went back to run our basic stuff we kind of wore them down in the second half. We ate the clock and did what we wanted to do the whole game."
A bad snap on a punt attempt set up the first Panther touchdown. Kowalski raced 37 yards to set up his own 7-yard scoring run. Then the speedy senior capped the opening drive in the second half with another 7-yard TD run.
"When we first came out it seemed like all (Grundy) defenders were swarming Austin and that just opened it up for Jake," Crigger said. “Jake Kowalski's one of the best runnng backs we've had here at Twin Valley. He's a hard runner, he's fast and he played like a senior tonight."
Freshman quarterback Tayten Sykes did the rest as the Panthers pulled away late. After Twin Valley recovered a fumble at the Golden Wave 33-yard line two plays later Sykes sprinted down the left sideline 28 yards for a touchdown with 1:45 remaining in the third period.
Early in the fourth period Sykes capped the scoring with a 46-yard TD pass to Brandon McGlothlin. Drake Presley was a perfect 4-for-4 kicking extra points for the Panthers.
Grundy moved the ball at times. Freshman running back Jacob McNutt ran 23 times for 148 yards, but one key play at an inopportune time seemed to stall every Golden Wave drive.
"I take full responsibility for the way we played tonight," Grundy coach Jeremy Ward said. "I congratulate coach Crigger and his team they played a heck of a ballgame and they've got a heck of a team and I wish them the best of luck the rest of the season."
Twin Valley got an outstanding effort from a defense led by several other freshmen.
"Our whole front line is freshmen, except for Chase Moore and you can't ask for any better than Cody Dales and Alex Vance and JoJo Keen, they played their hearts outs and it started during the summer we had 25 working out, pushing the sled, lifting," added Crigger.
Twin Valley............7 0 14 7 — 28
Grundy.................0 0 0 0 — 0
TV-Kowalski 7 run (Presley kick)
TV-Kowalski 7 run (Presley kick)
TV-Sykes 28 run (Presley kick)
TV-McGlothlin 46 pass from Sykes (Presley kick)
Team Stats
First Downs: TV 12, G 16; Rushes-Yards: TV 35-223, G 40-171; Passing Yards: TV 46, G 65; Comp-Att-Int: TV 1-5-1, G 5-14-1; Fumbles-Lost: TV 2-0, G 4-1; Penalties: TV 6-45, G 9-70; Punts-Average: TV 1-38, G 1-36.
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