Grundy falls to 0-4 with road loss at Bledsoe

“I thought we had a good game plan,” head coach Nick Bryant said. “We’d planned to throw the ball a lot, and it worked well early, but the wheels fell off defensively near the half.”

Bledsoe scored on its opening drive, breaking off a 19-yard touchdown run to go up 7-0 early. The Yellow Jackets answered with an appearance in the red zone on their first series, but the BCHS defense got stingy and kept Grundy out of the end zone. Moments later, Bledsoe went up 13-0 with its second touchdown of the night.

The GCHS defense held the lead within two scores following the TD with a blocked extra point. Senior Joshua Turner got a hand up on the point-after attempt to keep it a 13-0 game after one quarter of play.

The Jackets got on the board on their first possession of the second quarter to shave the Warriors’ lead to five. Brown hit junior receiver Colton Rogers for a 70-yard touchdown pass, and senior Junior Crisp caught a floater to the right side of the end zone to complete the two-point conversion.

After allowing Grundy to cut its lead down to 13-8, the Bledsoe offense came alive and never looked back. Three touchdowns in the second, coupled with another touchdown and a field goal in the third put the game well out of reach.

The Yellow Jackets had one last scoring opportunity in the fourth quarter. Dakota Grayson picked off a pass and returned it 54 yards, but the ensuing series stalled out at the BCHS 30-yard line with a turnover on downs. Bledsoe snapped the ball just four more times before the game clock expired.

Grundy turned the ball over just once, fumbling a snap in the third. Bledsoe’s Aiden Houston fell on the botch to stop the drive on its opening play.

On defense, Nic Campbell recorded a pair of pancake blocks, and Tyler Hobbs added another. Junior Will Foster led GCHS with 10 tackles, including one for a loss. Kyler Hopkins and Hobbs followed up with seven tackles each, and Hobbs, Kegan Kilgore and Dylan Merrell each accounted for a tackle for loss.

Box Score

Grundy     0     8      0    0 - 8

Bledsoe   13   21   10     0 - 44

Game Stats     GC             BC

First Downs       5               15

Rushing Yards   58             395

Passing Yards   158             25

C-A-I             10-22-0         3-8-1

Fumbles-Lost   1-1               0-0

Punts-Avg.    3-23.8           1-33.0

Penalties-Yards 6-49          3-26

Individual Leaders

RUSHING - Grundy: Colton Rogers 7-43; Javon Brown 5-13; Kaeden Sitz 2-2. Bledsoe: NA.

PASSING - Grundy: Javon Brown 10-158, TD. Bledsoe: NA

RECEIVING - Grundy: Colton Rogers 1-70, TD; Aiden Lusk 1-19; Dakota Grayson 1-12; Junior Crisp 1-12. Bledsoe: NA

Next Game: Sequatchie Preview

The Yellow Jackets make the trip down the mountain to Dunlap tomorrow night to take on Sequatchie County.

The Indians (3-1, 1-0 4-3A) are on a three-game winning streak, downing Marion, Cannon and Jackson County in the past three weeks. Their only loss was a 35-6 defeat at South Pittsburg in the season opener.

Quarterback Payton Campbell has thrown for 395 yards this season, tossing three touchdowns with just one interception. He has run for another three, averaging a team-best 115.3 rushing yards per game.

Receiver Jackson Tate is Campbell’s favorite target, averaging 58.0 receiving yards per contest.

“Sequatchie is very explosive on offense,” Bryant said. “Their quarterback is one of the best we’ll see all year. He can throw it, he can run it, and we’ll see them do a lot of option stuff. Our defense has to be sharp. If it’s not, they’re likely to hang 50 on us like they did Marion.”

Kickoff at Sequatchie is set for 7 p.m.

Grundy Game Notes vs. Sequatchie

Grundy’s series with Sequatchie dates back to 1949 (incomplete records).

SCHS leads the series 26-36 over the Yellow Jackets (incomplete records).

The Indians won last season’s meeting 41-0 in Coalmont.

Grundy’s last win over Sequatchie was in 2020 - a 25-19 victory in Dunlap.

As a head coach, Nick Bryant is 2-4 against the Indians.

Bryant’s 2014 and 2012 squads both claimed home wins over Sequatchie.

Sequatchie was coached by former Grundy standout and head coach Ken Colquette in 2014, making Bryant just the second GCHS coach in program history to earn a win against the Hall of Fame coach.

Bryant’s father, Jerry, set the Jackets’ single-game rushing record against Sequatchie in 1977. The back totaled 307 yards with seven touchdowns.

Around the Region

None of Region 6-4A played a region contest last week. Giles earned a 27-20 win at Franklin County, Sequatchie won 48-0 over Jackson County in Dunlap, Community beat Perry County 50-14 on the road and Cannon County earned a 28-21 home win over the Webb School.

This week, Giles visits Community, and Cannon County is the only region team playing a non-region team. The Lions are on the road at Lookout Valley Friday.

Region 6-4A Standings

Region Overall

Giles             1-0 3-1

Sequatchie    1-0 3-1

Community   0-0 1-2

Cannon         0-1 1-3

Grundy         0-1 0-4