Blues roll over Grundy in final regular season game

By DAVE COX/Staff
A large sign was posted in front of the visitor’s bleachers prior to last Friday’s Southwest District football game between Richlands and Grundy at Ernie Hicks Stadium. The sign read “Austin who?”
It took exactly two touches of the football to show the Grundy fans who Austin Fuller was! Both of those touches by the versatile Fuller resulted in touchdowns and the end of the sign! Fuller only had three touches all night and the third was a 40-yard kickoff return to start the third quarter.
A good idea for a sign would have been “Which Austin?” Austin Cordle came in late in the second quarter and ran for a touchdown. He added a second score early in the third frame in the Blues’ 47-14 thrashing of the Golden Wave in the regular season finale for both teams and a fourth straight SWD football title for Tornado Town. The Blues share this season’s crown with Graham, but Richlands (8-2, 5-1 SWD) is the official district champion because of rating points and earned the automatic berth in the Region IV playoffs which will begin on November 18. Richlands will host either Martinsville or Marion. That will be decided this week after Martinsville plays it final regular season game against Patrick County.
A third sign last Friday could have read “Who else?” Grundy fans learned just who the two Austins were and before the game was over they learned who Matt Davis, Joel Elswick and Romulo Fajardo were. Each scored a touchdown in one form or another. Davis caught a 15-yard scoring pass from Elswick and Elswick added a rushing touchdown from his quarterback position while Fajardo ran in a score that covered 14 yards and kicked five extra points on the night. All of the Richlands scoring came in the first half except the one touchdown by Cordle. Several other Tornado players had an outstanding night. Basically, the Blues played second and third string players for most of the contest after leading 41-0 with just under four minutes remaining in the second chapter.
The game was just six plays old when Fuller stepped in front of freshman quarterback Jon Kelly’s pass and returned it untouched 32 yards for the first score of the night. The extra point kick was no good, but the Blues were off to a good start at 6-0 with 8:48 left in the initial quarter and had yet to touch the football on offense.
Grundy’s third possession turned into a disaster when Davis intercepted Kelly at the RHS 29-yard line. Fuller took the first handoff from Elswick and worked his way through a maze of Grundy tacklers to the house on his way to a 71-yard TD with 4:41 to play in the first period. Fajardo added the extra point and the Blues were in front 13-0. A Grundy cheerleader had seen enough and while Fajardo was kicking the PAT, she bolted over and ripped the “Austin who?” sign down!
“We saw the sign come down. We got a kick out of that,” laughed Richlands head coach Greg Mance. “I think they figured out who he was in a hurry. We laughed about it. He saw the sign during the warm ups.”
A short Grundy punt gave the Blues excellent field position at the Wave 37 and Fajardo ripped off runs of six and 12 yards before Elswick tossed a 15-yard scoring pass to Davis. Fajardo tacked on the extra point and it was 20-0 with 50 seconds left in the first stanza.
The onslaught continued in the second quarter. Ben Addison grabbed the Blues’ third interception of the contest at midfield to set up the next RHS score. Kheven Schweingruber reeled off a 21-yard run and a personal foul penalty was added at the end of the play to put the football on the Grundy 14. Fajardo took care of those yards on the following play and added the extra point kick to give his team a 27-0 edge with 10:59 to play in the second period.
Addison had a nice 34-yard punt return for Richlands that ended on the Grundy three yard line. Elswick kept the football and sneaked in for the fifth Tornado touchdown with 7:51 left before halftime. Fajardo added the extra point kick to make it a 34-0 game.
Addison had another hefty punt return a few minutes later. This one covered 27 yards and gave the Blues another short field to work with. Cordle ran six consecutive times from the GHS 27 with the final carry covering two yards into the end zone. Fajardo kicked the PAT to set the score at 41-0 with 3:46 remaining in the second quarter.
Fuller returned to the field just long enough to take the third period kickoff and race 40 yards to the Grundy 36 with it. That set up a two-play drive for the Blues. Cordle lost two yards on the first carry, but got those back plus 36 more as he crossed the goal line ahead of several would-be tacklers with 10:58 left in the third period. The extra point kick was no good, but the Tornado was up 47-0.
Grundy (2-8, 0-6 SWD) put on its best drive of the game to that point with Ethan Owens and Josh McCowen doing most of the leg work on a 74-yard drive that resulted in Grundy’s first score of the game with 4:33 left in the third quarter. McCowen bulled his way in for a 1-yard score and L. C. Mutter tacked on the extra point kick to set the score at 47-7.
McCowen added the final Grundy tally of the night on a 5-yard run with 5:02 left to play. Mutter added the PAT to make it a 47-14 game. McCowen’s score ended a 78-yard Golden Wave drive that was highlighted by a 28-yard pass from Kelly to sophomore Jordan Ellis.
Fuller picked up 71 of the Blues’ 231 rushing yards on his one carry. Cordle added 60 more on eight carries and Fajardo finished with 40 yards on five totes. Elswick threw the football just three times and completed one pass for 15 yards. He was not intercepted. Richlands had eight first downs in the game.
Defensive standouts for RHS were Cody Thomas with six tackles, Brandon Olmstead 5.5, Ben Addison five, Shane Wicks and Davis 3.5 apiece and Kaleb Hamilton and Zak McClanahan three each. Chase Fuller had a sack for the Tornado.
The Golden Wave managed 231 rushing yards, led by McCowen’s 91 on 23 carries. Kelly threw for 88 yards on 17 attempts and six completions. He suffered three picks. Grundy picked up 13 first downs.
“It was a game of field position and big plays,” said Mance. “I think, offensively, we’re starting to get hot at the right time. The defense is exceptional as always. We’ve got two weeks to prepare (for the Region IV playoffs) and to add a new wrinkle or two. We’re going to concentrate on the fundamentals and doing the little things right. You’ve got to be fundamentally sound in the playoffs