Undefeated Narrows to host Grayson County

Photo Credit – Chris Lang

The Narrows Green Wave have rolled through the 2019 regular season with ease.

In his 17th year as the head coach of the Wave, Kelly Lowe has led his team to a 10-0 record. That marks the first undefeated season since 1979 for the team that calls Ragsdale Field home.

But that’s not the only milestone that Narrows has reached this year. The Green Wave won the Pioneer District championship and clinched the #2 seed in the region 1C playoffs.

Maybe more importantly, they won their first game over county rival Giles since 2002.

With a balanced offensive attack led by Chase & Chad Blaker, and their backfield partner Matthew Morgan, the Green Wave have racked up over 360 points on the season. The Blaker brothers & Morgan alone racked up over 400 yards of total offense in last week’s win over Parry McCluer.

What may be even more impressive is the Green Wave defense. The stingy group has only allowed 8.9 points per game, including shutouts vs. Auburn, Northwood, Bath County & Craig County.

#20 Matthew Morgan
Photo Credit – Chris Lang

Grayson County comes into this match-up as the 7th seed with a 3-7 record. Coach Brett McPherson’s team, in their first year back in class 1A since 2010, fell on some tough luck to start the season.

The Blue Devils dropped four of their first five games, all in dramatic fashion. A 7-6 loss to Alleghany to open the season was followed by yet another one point loss to Carroll County in week two, by a score of 21-20. The following week Rural Retreat sent Grayson County back to Independence with their third consecutive one score loss – 15-7. The Blue Devils were able to win their home opener in week four – a 15-14 win over West Wilkes, NC, but unfortunately lost in their fifth game of the season to Marion 9-0.

Grayson County was able to pick up wins over Eastern Montgomery and Fort Chiswell in the second half of the season but found themselves on the wrong side of lopsided scores against Auburn, George Wythe & Galax.

The Blue Devils, who are in a rebuilding year after losing a talented senior class in 2018, has had some bright spots this season. One of which has been Dawson Allen, who had over 100 yards rushing against the stout George Wythe defense. .

The match-up between the two former Mountain Empire District rivals will be the first since the 2016 season. The two schools met each year since Grayson County’s inception in 1988, with the Blue Devils holding a 18-11 edge.