Grayson Wears Down Fighting Blues

Blue Devils Roll In Second Half Of Region Quarterfinals

Parry McCluer’s football team executed its game plan to near perfection during the first half of last Friday night’s Region 1C quarterfinal contest. The second half was another story.

Grayson County (7-4) exploded for three touchdowns in the third quarter, and the PM offense went stagnant after intermission as the Blue Devils rolled to a 42-7 victory in Independence. With the victory, Grayson County, the defending Region C champion, advanced to the regional semifinals against Craig County.

“I think we had a pretty good game plan,” said Parry McCluer head coach Jeremiah Brockenbrough, “but at the end of the day, their strength and ability to two-platoon us wore us down. They were stronger than us. It starts in the weight room; that’s the difference-maker right now.”

Discounting a drive in which the Blues simply ran out the second-quarter clock, Parry McCluer had three long possessions in the first half. During those three drives, PM converted six of eight third-down tries, ran 28 plays and consumed more than 15 minutes of the clock.

The problem was that the Blues could convert only one of those drives into points.

Thanks to a 15-yard facemask penalty against the Blue Devils and a 52-yard run from Jacob Shafer, the Blues were able to cash in on their second possession when quarterback Nathan Glass scrambled and passed to Parker Snider for a 6-yard touchdown. Quentin Rosser booted the extra point, and the Blues had a 7-0 lead with 9:48 to play in the second period.

The other two possessions bogged down when the Blues could not convert fourthdown tries in Grayson County territory. The opening drive, a 13-play march that took nearly six and a half minutes, ended at the Blue Devil 17 when passes fell incomplete on third and fourth down. Later in the second quarter, the Blues moved all the way to the Grayson County 34, running nine plays and holding the ball for 6:05, but on the 10th play of the drive, Shafer was stopped for no gain on fourthand- three as the Blues were thwarted again.“ That was a big dropped pass on the 2-yard line ,” Brockenbrough said of the first drive that came up short. “If we get to the two, we’re going to score. We [could] have been up 14-12 at halftime. I don’t think it would have changed the outcome of the game, but it would have given us a better chance.”

While the Blues did have that second long drive in the second period, things began to turn after the PM touchdown. Grayson County’s Parker Dowell returned the ensuing kickoff 51 yards to set the Blue Devils up at the Parry McCluer 24-yard line. Two plays later, Dowell scored on a 22-yard gallop, but the PAT kick was no good, allowing the Blues to hold on to a 7-6 advantage.

With 1:24 left in the first half, the Blue Devils struck again, scoring on a 37-yard sprint from Dazion Thompson to give the hosts a 12-7 lead at halftime.

“The score at the end of the half didn’t help us,” said the PM coach. “They responded to our touchdown, and then they took it to the house. They started getting people on our linebackers, and their line just beat our defensive front. It was pretty simple.”

That was how the Grayson County offense operated. The longest Blue Devil scoring drive of the game was only nine plays. Grayson County, which scored on its first three and four of five possessions of the second half, ripped off 11 plays of 20 or more yards in the game, four of them that went for touchdowns.

Thompson opened the second-half scoring with a 34-yard dash, and Maverik Goad tallied a pair of 1-yard quarterback sneaks for scores. Thompson added the final Grayson County tally on a 21-yard burst with 7:35 to play.

Thompson led the way for the Blue Devils, running for 271 yards and three touchdowns on only 18 attempts. In the game, Grayson County rushed for 334 yards as a team and piled up 412 yards of total offense.

While the Blues held their own in the first half, the offense went nowhere in the second. Parry Mc-Cluer did not pick up its initial first down of the second half until Glass scrambled for eight yards on a third-and-five play with less than five minutes remaining in the contest. Prior to the final drive, which ended with Glass being knocked out of bounds at the Grayson County 1-yard line, the Blues ran only 13 plays, failed to convert four third-down tries and mustered a mere 17 yards, punting three times and being stopped on fourth-down with 7:43 left in the game.

With the loss, the Blues, who have now made 15 straight playoff appearances, finished with a 6-5 mark, marking their third straight winning season.

“I think it was a great season,” Brockenbrough said. “When we were healthy, we were a hard-tohandle football team. We were one or two plays away from being 8-2, I think. To be injured like we were and to still be able to go 6-4 with our schedule is pretty special.

“We appreciate all the support we got from the school division and the community, and we are looking forward to the future,” the coach continued. “The future looks bright.”

PM 0 7 0 0 7 GC 0 12 23 7 42 Second Quarter PM – Snider 6 p. from Glass (Rosser kick) GC – Dowell 22 run (kick failed) GC – Thompson 37 run (run failed) Third Quarter GC – Thompson 34 run (Thompson run) GC – Mav. Goad 1 run (Mak. Goad run) GC – Mav. Goad 1 run (Mak. Goad kick) Fourth Quarter GC – Thompson 21 run (Mak. Goad kick) RUSHING PM – Shafer 20-117, Glass 6-49, Snider 16-36, Brockenbrough 1-2. Totals – 43-204. GC – Thompson 18-271, Dowell 5-42, Mak. Goad 5-11, Mav. Goad 4-10. Totals – 32-334.

PASSING PM – Glass 3-9-0-48-1. GC – Mav. Goad 4-8-1-78-0. RECEIVING PM – Smals 1-25, Z. Dunn 1-17, Snider 1-6. Totals – 3-48. GC – Dowell 2-45, Mak. Goad 1-20, Woodberry 1-13. Totals – 4-78.