Bluefield Daily Telegraph, Bluefield, WV

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September 3, 2010

Senior-dominated ‘Wave, Warriors meet in Grundy

By LLOYD COMBS Bluefield Daily Telegraph

GRUNDY, Va. — The schedule is full this weekend in far southwest Virginia, where Grundy and all four Black Diamond District teams face out-of-district opposition, with two of those opponents coming from out of state.

The Golden Wave (1-0) host new rival East Ridge, Ky. (1-0), while Twin Valley (0-1) entertains one of two West Virginia foes on its schedule, Montcalm. It's the season opener for the Generals.

Hurley (1-0) is also at home, where the Rebels take on St. Paul (1-0).

Honaker (0-1) opened the season at home last week with a loss to one good team, Lebanon, and faces an even tougher opponent this week, Richlands (1-0), on the road.

Haysi, meanwhile, opens the season at Dickenson County rival Clintwood (1-0).

The Grundy-East Ridge game could very easily be closer than Grundy's 26-0 win last year in Kentucky. The big run-oriented Warriors, like the Wave, are loaded with seniors.

East Ridge earned its first win ever over arch-rival Shelby Valley last week, a week after an impressive scrimmage performance in a preseason victory over Haysi.

"They're basically the same team as last year," Grundy coach Greg Rowe said. "They have good size and they like to line up and try and get three, four or five yards at a whack. We had a tough time keeping the ball away from them last year, and they've improved this year.

"We've got to try and stop them for no gain, or negative yardage, on first or second down, to try and put them put them in third and long, and force them out of what they want to do. That's a key for us, get tackles for losses."

East Ridge dominated time of possession for three quarters against Grundy last year, before a 13-0 deficit forced the Warriors to change their strategy in the fourth quarter, where the Wave pulled away.

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