“Friday night’s football game against Graceville was a lot like the game with Chipley. We had just enough offense, played pretty good defense, ran a fumble recovery in for a score and escaped with another victory,” coach Greg Jordan said Monday.
The 14-3 non-district win over Graceville improved the Tigers to 4-0 on the season and 1-0 in district play. The Tigers will face West Gadsden Friday night in Greensboro in another district matchup.
“Graceville was huge up front and we had a hard time blocking them. They limited us to only 36 offensive plays while they ran 59. We had one drive to open the third quarter and the touchdown gave us a 14-0 lead. They kicked a field goal in the third quarter, but never really threatened to score again. We just kept running the ball, avoided big mistakes and playing good defense,” Jordan noted.
The Tigers got on the scoreboard first when Paul Mosley picked up a fumble and raced to the endzone Alexander Garrett added the PAT and Blountstown led after two minutes, 7-0.
The remainder of the first quarter was played near midfield with neither team mounting a threat. Early in the second quarter, Charles Buggs, Jr. connected with Leon Broxton for 33 yards and a first down at the Graceville 25. The Tigers managed 3 yards on 4 downs and Graceville took over.
Some big defensive plays got the ball back for Blountstown at the Graceville 26 but the Tigers would lose the ball on a fumble at the Graceville 8 yard line.
After Graceville kicked a 35 yard field goal on their opening possession of the third quarter, hard running by Darren Huff, Princeton Grant and Jawon Mosley moved the ball to the Graceville one where Buggs dove in for the touchdown with 5:14 left in the third quarter. Garrett’s PAT was once again good.
Neither team mounted a threat for the remainder of the third quarter and much of the fourth. Graceville failed on a fourth down play late in the game and the Tigers took over at the Graceville 5. The Tigers ran out the clock from there without trying to score.
The Blountstown defense deserves praise for their continued good play, especially in games when the offense has struggled. Graceville rushed for 173 yards on 55 attempts but could not get into the endzone. Graceville completed only 1 of 4 passes for -2 yards.
Dowling Lee had an outstanding game being in on 18 tackles. Alexander Garrett was in on 14 tackles followed closely by Byron Hall with 11 and Jawon Mosley with 10. Jason Money was in on 9 tackles followed by Leon Broxton with 6, Ryan McIntyre with 5, Paul Mosley with 5 and Frankie Murrell with 5. Brandon Smith, Princeton Grant, D.J. Brunson and Darren Huff were also in on defensive stops.
Offensively, the Tigers were held to 97 yards rushing on 31 carries for a 3.1 yard per carry average. Quarterback Buggs completed 2 of 5 passes for 39 yards. Broxton had the one big catch for 33 yards and Paul Mosley had one reception for 6 yards.
Blake Shelton did a good job punting for the Tigers. Shelton punted three times for a 39.3 yard average and a long punt of 55 yards.
Darren Huff was the workhorse for the Tigers rushing attack with 69 yards on 11 carries and a long run of 18 yards.
Princeton Grant and Jawon Mosley each rushed for 17 yards in the game.
“West Gadsden hasn’t won a game, but they’ve been playing teams like Rickards and Chiles. They’re big and have some speed as always,” Jordan added. “This is our second district game, so we really need to play well.”
