Gallery by Greg Barnett
Bluefield – The pregame rainbow that graced the sky, ending behind Bluefield’s sideline was nothing more than a false omen for the visitors on the scoreboard.
Battling through occasional rain showers, Graham’s defense held up better than Bluefield’s as the G-Men held the Beavers to minus-17 yards of total offense in the second half, claiming a 10-0 season-opening victory as the home team Friday night at Mitchell Stadium.
The victory is Graham’s fourth consecutive in the series, extending the school’s record for longest winning streak in the rivalry. The G-Men broke their record with three last year, adding to the tally this year. Bluefield holds the record for the longest in the series with 10 consecutive victories from 1964-73.
But the G-Men made their mark Friday, shutting the Beavers out for the first time since doing so in 1989 and 1990.
“Our defense, they’re outstanding,” Graham head coach Tony Palmer said. “Coach Palmer and coach Bradshaw do an outstanding job with those guys. But we’ve got to find ourselves offensively. We haven’t found ourselves yet and the defense is carrying us.”
Both teams struggled to find much of anything on offense and when they did they felt inclined to aid the opposing defense.
Bluefield fumbled the ball four times, losing two of them while Graham lost one of two on a lateral. Compounding the turnovers were a slew of penalties with Bluefield dinged nine times for 64 yards while Graham committed 12 for 105 yards.
After gaining at least 20 yards on each their first three drives, the Beavers picked up just 28 total yards across their final seven drives of the night. They never crossed the G-Men 40.
“A couple of players that are skill guys cramped up and them not playing put us in a situation where the backups weren’t as solid as we could’ve had,” Bluefield head coach Fred Simon said. “I’m disappointed because we played well enough to win in certain ways. And I think we’ve got a good football team.”
Bluefield’s offense appeared ready to strike early, engineering drives of 24, 22 and 20 yards but relying on a run-heavy, full-house formation offense, penalties on the first two drives derailed both efforts.
The third fizzled out after the G-Men defense stonewalled Ty Patton at the line of scrimmage on third-and-3 at the Graham 44.
Graham fared slightly better, moving the ball into Bluefield territory on three of its four first-half drives but a pair of unsuccessful field goal attempts – one missed and one blocked – led to a defensive stalemate at the intermission that bled into the fourth quarter.
Facing a fourth-and-goal from the 21 and searching for points after a pair of penalties moved the G-Men back from the Bluefield 4 to the 21, Palmer, unwavering in his confidence, sent Dylan Nash out to attempt his third and longest field goal of the night. The third time proved to be the charm for the senior who split the uprights from 38 yards out with 11:16 left for the deciding score.
“Our kicker, he works year round and there’s no reason for me to not have confidence in his ability to make a kick,” Palmer said. “He kicked the ball kind of low on the one that got blocked but we’ve got confidence in him. Dylan’s a great kicker and we’re very proud of him.”
Attempting to take to the air with the pressure on and points finally on the board Bluefield’s efforts again fizzled when freshman QB Mattox Simpson took two of his three sacks on the following drive, leading to punt.
It took the G-Men two plays to nail a coffin the Beavers couldn’t chew through with Dalton Roberts finding Maliki Elick for a 31-yard score.
The play highlighted the most successful offensive unit for either team with the G-Men collecting 144 of their 204 yards through the air. Bluefield meanwhile collected just 58 yards of total offense for the second half setbacks sapping its totals. It took the air out of what was strong showing from Simon’s defense, one that compiled a sack courtesy of Jaden Francisco and seven tackles for a loss.
“We played well enough to be proud of the defense,” Simon said. “We’ve just got to find ourselves offensively, and I think we got a good football team. That’s what we’ve got to do because you saw it, man. You can’t battle all night long with the mistakes we made, and hang in there without a bunch of heart. But you can’t rely on defense like that with a good football team, and that’s what hurts.”
Bluefield will aim to avoid its fourth consecutive 0-2 start when it hosts Class AAA state runner-up Princeton Friday night at Mitchell Stadium.
B: 0 0 0 0 – 0
G: 0 0 0 10 – 10
Scoring Plays
Fourth Quarter
G: Nash 38-yard field goal (11:16)
G: Elick 31 yard pass from Roberts (Nash PAT); 7:01
