BY LLOYD COMBS
sports correspondent
KEEN MOUNTAIN, Va. – Grundy was looking for its first win in a season opener in five years.
It did not take long to end that drought.
The Golden Wave trounced Twin Valley, 44-0, in a non-district game that was all but decided by the early moments of the second quarter.
Jake McCowan scored a pair of first quarter touchdowns and Grundy added three scores in the second period on the way to a 34-0 halftime advantage over its Buchanan County rival.
Tyler Berglowe led a rushing attack in which eight of nine Golden Wave ball-carriers ran for positive yardage. Like McCowan a sophomore, Berglowe raced 60 yards for a touchdown with 9:44 remaining in the second quarter to give Grundy a 27-0 lead.
Berglowe gained 132 yards on six carries. McCowan (5-23), freshman Nick Travis (4-26), Cody Rife (2-17) and quarterback Jon Kelly (1-10) all ran for 10 or more yards as Grundy seized the opportunity to stage auditions for touches in a young, but deep backfield.
“They’re all fighting for spots,” Grundy coach Greg Rowe said. “And they’re all pretty even.
“They all did a good job tonight, Berglowe, McCowan, Cody Rife. Cody Rife ran hard out there. He’s a football player.”
Kelly threw a pair of touchdown passes, including a 54-yarder to Cody Justus on the first play of the second quarter and a 10-yard scoring strike to Ben Rife on Grundy’s third play of the second half. Rife added an 18-yard TD pass to Dillon O’Quinn with 1:41 left in the first half.
Grundy dominated from the start and held the inexperienced Panthers to 17 yards of total offense, including minus-14 yards in the second half.
“We can’t worry about the opposition; we have to worry about what we do,” said Rowe, who coached for the first time against one of his former players, Twin Valley coach Tommy Crigger. Crigger, a former Emory & Henry standout, was the quarterback on Grundy’s 1995 Region IV championship team.
One of just five players with previous experience as a varsity regular for Twin Valley, two-way starter Chris Hughes left the game with a leg injury in the third quarter. The Panthers netted four yards rushing on 25 attempts.
Kelly was 4-of-5 passing for an even 100 yards. Freshman kicker Wayne Mutter was 5-of-6 on extra points and added a 24-yard field goal for Grundy.
Grundy 13 21 7 3–44
Twin Valley 0 0 0 0–0
Scoring Summary
G-McCowan 2 run (kick blocked)
G-McCowan 4 run (Mutter kick)
G-Berglowe 60 run (Mutter kick)
G-Justus 54 pass from Kelly (Mutter kick)
G-O’Quinn 18 pass from Rife (Mutter kick)
G-Rife 10 pass from Kelly (Mutter kick)
G-Mutter 24-yd. FG
Team Stats
First Downs: Gru 16, TV 2; Rushes-Yards: Gru 27-229, TV 25-4; Passing Yards: Gru 118, TV 13; Comp-Att-Int: Gru 5-6-0, TV 2-8-0; Fumbles-Lost: Gru 1-1, TV 8-3; Penalties-Yards: Gru 2-30, TV 4-40; Punts-Average: Gru 0-0 , TV 7-30.3.
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