Pioneers wear down G-Men
Captains from Graham and Heritage await the coin toss.
Bluefield Va. – Heritage took advantage of good field position and played solid defense in 21-6 win over Graham.
The Pioneers and G-Men battled nearly three hours in a penalty marred game that saw both teams struggle on offense. The Pioneers returned just three starters on offense and started a freshman at quarterback.
Graham was coming off a 40-point game against Beaver but lost starting quarterback Garrett Palmer to a leg injury y early in the first half. “It made a huge difference. We felt like we were in a position to compete and maybe win this game.
We just didn’t have the reps and the bodies to that,’ Graham Coach Tony Palmer said. The G-Men used Campbell Fix and Gage Palmer at quarterback at different times in the game but couldn’t generate much offense.
Heritage took the opening kickoff and used the running of Daryl Alexander and A.J. Coles to move from their 22 to the G-Man 39. A bad snap and scramble for the ball set Graham up at Pioneer 38.
The G-Men failed to take advantage and turned the ball over on downs. Kemondre Fleshman broke a 43-yard run to set up the only touchdown of the first half. Fix caught him from behind at the three.
Alexander found the end zone two plays later and the Pioneers had the only points they would need. The two teams battled between the 20-yard lines for the next two quarters. A punt return set Heritage up at Graham 20 for the second touchdown.
The G-Men defense stiffened but a personal foul moved the ball inside the 10 and set up a six-yard run by Coles for the score.
Hymier Cabell returned an interception 34 yards for the final Heritage score. Pioneer Coach Brad Bradley was proud of his young team. “We got three starters back offense and three on defense.
“We started a 14-year-old freshman at quarterback. We got some growing pains, but we came in here and found a way to win,’ he said. Bradley said his team ran the ball well at times but not consistently.
“We would run it well for awhile then get a stupid penalty. We have to clean that up,’ he said. Alexander overcame a pair of interceptions to lead the Pioneers to victory in their season opener.
The combination of penalties and the Heritage defense kept Graham off the scoreboard until the final minutes of the game. A 62-yard pass and run between Fix and AJ Bradshaw got the G-Men out of negative yardage and set up their only score.
Gage Palmer connected with Caleb Bradshaw for the touchdown. A bad snap cost the G-Men the extra point. A bad snap also cost them a field goal attempt earlier in the second half.
Pioneer kicker Jayce Mayo was three of three on extra points and put the ball in the end zone on four kickoffs. “They were limited by their quarterback being hurt but I thought our defense played really well. We gave up a score at the end that I wasn’t happy about but overall, I think the defense played well,’ Bradley said.
While he saw a lot of mistakes and room for improvement Bradley was happy to get a win in the season opener. “We had week one off and we been practicing since July 31, so we needed to play a game,’ he said.
Palmer was hopeful his quarterback would be ready for the trip to Union next week. The G-Men get the week off following the trip to Union. Heritage heads to Appomattox next week and then to cross-town rival E.C. Glass.
