Fort Chiswell defeats Galax

By JIM CUNNINGHAM/Staff

The Fort Chiswell Pioneers overcame an early Galax touchdown and went on to defeat the Maroon Tide 31-8 in a Mountain Empire District football game played Friday night in Galax.
The Maroon Tide scored on a third and five play on its first possession of the game on a 68-yard pass play from Mazon to George. The same combination worked for the two-point conversion as Galax temporarily stunned the Pioneers.
Fort Chiswell, however, recovered nicely and controlled the tempo for most of the rest of the game to improve to 2-0 in the MED and 7-1 overall. Galax fell to 0-2 in the MED and to 1-6 overall.
Fort Chiswell Head Coach Stephen James said that except for the long pass play in the opening minutes, he liked the way his defense played. “The defense played really well.”
Fort Chiswell’s offense also did well, after it made a few adjustments, said the coach. The Pioneers were also hampered by a few more penalties than they normally get, but the coach took it in stride. “I’m proud of the kids’ efforts,” he said.
Chris Rodriguez led the FC rushing attack with 150 yards on 21 carries (7.1 average) and scored two touchdowns. Johnse Hatfield also scored a TD for the Fort and finished with 108 yards rushing on only 10 carries (10.8 average).
Galax took the game’s opening kickoff and took less than two minutes before scoring the long touchdown and tacking on the two extra points for an 8-0 lead with 10:33 left in the first quarter.
But it took Fort Chiswell only 15 seconds to answer as quarterback Will Freeman passed to Zack Cook flying down the right sideline, and Cook carried it 51 yards to the end zone.
The Pioneers attempted to tie the score, but a run attempt was stopped short as the Maroon Tide retained a slim 8-6 lead with 10:18 left in the first quarter.
The two teams traded punted on their next possessions, and Galax also punted again after its third series.
The Pioneers found themselves in a punting situation on their third series when they were faced with a fourth down and five near midfield. Instead, Hody Viars took a handoff and bolted down to the Galax 34-yard line as the first quarter came to an end.
Rodriguez kept the drive going strong with several good runs. The last one was a five-yard jaunt into the end zone with 9:28 left in the first half. A run attempt for two points failed, but the Pioneers were on top for the first time of the night at 12-8.
The Pioneers quickly got the ball back on a fumble recovery at the Galax 35. But FC was hampered by several penalties and eventually turned the ball over on downs at about the same spot as when it took over.
The Pioneers, however, recovered another fumble moments later and this time moved the ball mostly behind the running of Hatfield. Rodriguez capped off the drive with a three-yard TD run with 1:40 left in the half. The PAT kick failed, but the Pioneers had extended their lead to 18-8.
The Maroon Tide had one more chance before halftime by driving into Pioneer territory, but FC took over on downs with only two seconds left.
Fort Chiswell added to its lead on its opening possession of the second half, mostly behind the running of Rodriguez.
Hody Viars carried the ball over the final six yards to pay dirt. A PAT kick failed, but FC was now up 24-8 with 8:53 left in the third quarter.
Neither team threatened for the remainder of the third quarter, and both also traded punts during their first possessions of the fourth quarter.
The Pioneers struck quickly on their fourth series of the second half when Freeman pitched out to Johnse Hatfield who raced 49 yards for a touchdown. Underwood kicked the PAT to put FC on top 31-8 with 6:18 left in the game.
The Maroon Tide had another decent opportunity to score on its next series when it moved down inside the FC 10, but the Pioneers held and took over on downs with less than two minutes remaining and were able to run out the clock.
The Pioneers travel to Narrows this Friday night.

Fort Chiswell 6 12 6 7 – 31
Galax 8 0 0 0 – 8

Scoring:
G – George 68 pass from Mazon (George pass from Mazon)
FC – Cook 51 pass from Freeman (run failed)
FC – Rodriguez 5 run (run failed)
FC – Rodriguez 3 run (kick failed)
FC – Viars 6 run (kick failed)
FC – Hatfield 49 run (Underwood kick)
(T – 2:22)