By LARRY HYPES
Bluefield Daily Telegraph
TAZEWELL, Va. —
Amid a hard rain midway through the game, Gate City added a series of lightning strikes against the battling Tazewell Bulldogs.
Using consistently good field position and some one-play touchdown drives, the visiting Blue Devils relied on quarterback Nick Bowen’s steady hand to pile up a 41-0 non-district victory over Tazewell on Friday.
Bowen completed 7-of-8 passes for 195 yards for a pair of scores including an 83-yard touchdown pass to Cory Franklin to maintain control of the game. Gate City’s defense came up with four interceptions and the more experienced visitors (1-1) used their size to good advantage over the Bulldogs (0-2).
“I’m not used to this,” said a visibly disappointed Tazewell coach Terry Smith, who refused to offer any excuses. “They (Gate City) were bigger and stronger than we were tonight. We are going to keep working, keep improving, get some things going our way, and turn in the right direction.”
Franklin, who had two interceptions and scored a touchdown, picked off a Bulldog pass on the first series to put Gate City in business on the Bulldog 49. Mixing the run and pass, Gate City got its first score on a seven-yard run by Seth Clark with 7:32 left in the opening stanza. Logan Byrd kicked the extra point for a 7-0 advantage on the six-play drive.
Byrd had a 40-yard punt return moments later, setting up Seaver Elliott’s 18-yard scoring run on the first play from scrimmage on another short field score. Byrd booted the extra point to make it 14-0.
Tazewell had an 11-play drive following but got stopped short on an incompletion just in front of the Blue Devil 13 yard line. Franklin then got behind the secondary on the next play for the 83-yard score, the second “one play drive” of the half to push the Devils up 21-0 after Byrd’s kick.
Dusty Clark had a pair of key carries on the Gate City march and Joseph Vaughn, the Devils’ leading rusher, pushed in from two yards out with 3:30 left in the second quarter as Gate City moved ahead 28-0.
Vaughn added a 55-yard touchdown dash in the third period before Byrd missed his only PAT of the evening with Gate City in front 34-0 on the third scoring march of just one play, coming with 48 seconds left before halftime.
Lex Reed caught a nine-yard touchdown pass from Bowen with 23 seconds remaining in the third quarter and Byrd’s kick provided the final margin.
Gate City finished with 352 total yards and the Bulldogs got 147 overall.
Cody McCann completed nine passes for 69 yards under pressure for Tazewell and Mikal Moore battled his way for 64 yards rushing to pace the Bulldogs.
Joe Grubb had an interception for the Bulldogs. Both Jalen Jordan and Shaquille McDonald registered big individual hits for the defense and
Andrew Murray had a splendid night punting, with an average of more than 36 yards per kick. Jordan was again Tazewell’s leading receiver with four more receptions. Mikey Wright, Chris Chambers, Chase Taylor and Kyle Sheets also made some big Bulldog plays.
Gate City edged Tazewell 12-10 in first downs but it was the Devils who converted and scored on their opportunities against the youthful Bulldogs, who played hard until the final whistle.
The Bulldogs travel to Lebanon Friday for a Southwest District contest.
At Witten Field
Gate City...............................14 20 7 0 — 41
Tazewell..................................0 0 0 0 — 0
Scoring
First Quarter
GC – Clark, 7-yard run (Byrd kick)
GC – Elliott, 18-yard run (Byrd kick)
Second Quarter
GC – Franklin, 83-yard pass from Bowen (Byrd kick)
GC – Vaughn, 2-yard run (Byrd kick)
GC – Vaughn, 55-yard run (kick failed)
Third Quarter
GC – Reed, 9-yard pass from Bowen (Byrd kick)
Team stats
First downs – GC—12, TZ—10. Rushing – GC -- 157, TZ – 78. Passing –
GC, 7-8-1, 195, TZ 9-18-4, 69. Total yards – GC, 352, TZ – 147.
