PHOTO | Boothe Davis : Captured by the Moment Photography
Man's Justin Grimmett scored three touchdowns to defeat Tug Valley Friday night at George A. Queen Memorial Field.
In high school football action, the Man Hillbillies kept their playoff hopes alive by surviving a second half rally by the Tug Valley Panthers. Man defeated Tug Valley Friday night 35-28. The Hillbillies improve to 4-5 on the year and drop the Panthers to 3-6.
The first half was all Hillbillies. Man opened the scoring with a 15-yard touchdown run by Jordan Adams to take a 7-0 lead with 4:21 remaining in the first quarter.
Man struck again minutes later when quarterback Israel Canterbury threw one of his three touchdowns on the night and Justin Grimmett scored one of his three touchdowns on the night. The duo connected on a 55-yard touchdown pass to give the Hillbillies a 14-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Grimmett continued his assault with 7:03 left in the half when he broke free on a 43-yard touchdown run down the sideline to open-up a 21-0 lead for Man.
Following a Jacob Walls interception of Tug Valley quarterback Elijah Fluty, Walls capped it off by hauling in a 45-yard touchdown pass from Canterbury to extend the Hillbillies lead to 28-0 in the second quarter.
The Panthers were able to get on the board with a 20-yard touchdown run late in the first half to narrow the gap to 28-7 going into halftime.
Tug Valley opened the second half by recovering a surprise onside kick they converted into a 10-yard touchdown run by Tanner Kirk to cut the Hillbillies lead 28-14.
Man appeared to put the game out of reach on the first play of the fourth quarter when Canterbury found Grimmett in the back of the end zone for a 9-yard touchdown pass to push the lead to 35-14. The very next play, Fluty was able to hit on an 80-yard touchdown pass for Tug Valley to draw them back to within 14 points early in the fourth quarter.
The Panthers continued to apply pressure with 2:54 remaining in the game, as Fluty threw his second touchdown pass of the game, this one from 17 yards out, to slice the Hillbillies lead to 35-28.
Tug Valley was able to come up with a stop and took over on the Man 33-yard line with under two minutes to play. On fourth and one, the Hillbilly defense was able to stop Kirk shy of the first down marker. Man held on for their second victory in the last six tries against their rivals.
Man will next travel to Chapmanville on Friday night with a chance to sneak into the Class A playoff field. WVOW will have coverage of the game starting at 6:50 p.m. Kick-off is set for 7 p.m. from Tiger Stadium.