Fort Chiswell defeats Grayson County

By JIM CUNNINGHAM/Staff

The Fort Chiswell Pioneers remained tied for first place in the Mountain Empire District football race by defeating Grayson County 25-6 Friday night at C.F. McKinney Stadium.
The victory gives the Pioneers a 2-0 record in the MED, and 5-3 overall. The win allowed FC to keep pace with the only other undefeated team in the district, Bland County, also at 2-0.
The two teams will meet this Friday night in Bastian. While the winner of that game will take over first place, both teams will still have one game remaining in their regular season. Fort Chiswell will be home against Narrows, and Bland County travels to Grayson County.
Fort Chiswell Head Coach Stephen James said his team isn’t about to think about the Narrows game. He said it was going to do what it has done all season; and that is to focus on the next game.
The coach said he appreciated the effort his team turned in against Grayson County. “We gave up a few yards, but we didn’t give up the big play,” he said. “We controlled the tempo.”
It was a cool night at the Fort Friday with a steady light rain that made for less than ideal conditions. But the Pioneers did not make a single turnover for the entire game.
Fort Chiswell was led in rushing by Chris Rodriguez with 169 yards on 18 carries and three touchdowns. The Pioneers gained a total of 330 yards, 248 of those on the ground. And the FC defense held Grayson to just 165 total yards.
The Pioneer defense gave up one first down on the Blue Devils’ opening possession of the game before getting the ball on a punt.
FC quarterback Hody Viars passed to Bradley Robinson for a long first down that was good for nearly 40 yards down to the Devil 35-yard line.
Two carries by Rodriguez picked up another first down to the 20.
But the drive stalled out and Kyle Mabry came on to attempt a 42-yard field goal that fell short.
After another Grayson punt, the Pioneers began their next series on their own 35. Rodriguez carried at least four times to move the ball inside the Grayson 40.
Rodriguez then got wide open but dropped a sure touchdown pass on a third and seven play; however, Viars then connected on fourth down to Storm Bond to keep the drive alive down to the Devil 23.
Then Dieter Chandler carried for eight yards. Viars then kept the ball himself for the next two plays, the second one good for a three-yard touchdown. Mabry kicked the PAT to put the Pioneers up 7-0 with 10:26 left in the second quarter.
The Pioneers got the ball back and went on another scoring drive. Viars dumped a short pass to Rodriguez on a third and 11 play, and Rodriguez did the rest by side-stepping several defenders on his way to a 43-yard touchdown. The PAT kick missed, but FC had extended its lead to 13-0 with 6:05 left in the first half.
It was shortly after that when the lights, which had flickered with some going out, went completely out, leaving the players and fans in darkness for about 13 minutes.
When play resumed, Parker Mabe intercepted a pass to give the Pioneers possession at the GC 42. Three consecutive handoffs to Rodriguez produced another touchdown. A run attempt failed, but the Pioneers were now up 19-0 with 2:50 left in the half.
The Pioneers quickly went back on the attack on the opening drive of the second half with Rodriguez breaking open for a 64-yard TD run. A pass attempt for the PAT failed, but FC had extended its lead to 25-0.
Grayson County finally got on the board on its first possession of the second half. The drive was capped off on a three-yard pass from Ryan Hernandez to Jason Thompson. The PAT run failed, as the Devils cut the margin to 25-6 with 4:47 left in the third quarter.
The rain began falling a little harder toward the end of the third quarter and for the rest of the game.
Neither team was able to mount a substantial threat for the remaining time.

Grayson County 0 0 6 0 – 6
Fort Chiswell 0 19 6 0 – 25

Scoring:
FC – Viars 3 run (Mabry kick)
FC – Rodriguez 43 run (kick failed)
FC – Rodriguez 9 run (run failed)
FC – Rodriguez 64 run (pass failed)
GC – Thompson 3 pass from Hernandez (run failed)
(T – 2:14)