Midway at Grace Christian Academy, Jr High
Final Score GCA 18, Midway 6
by Michael Rose
While Coach Moser’s High School Waves take the week off to prepare for the regional stretch run, the Junior Green Waves, reaching the midpoint of their season, traveled up the interstate to take on the powerful Grace Christian Junior Rams Thursday night. This dedicated member of the SORSN.com staff, in hopes of earning his spot back on the coveted SORSN.com pick panel, ventured out into a pending gasoline shortage, in a balky Subaru that the SORSN.com editor sold me (one owner, runs good, back seat hardly ever used he said, never mentioned a word about it being a lemon) and with a four year old in tow that would, by the end of the game, be up way past bed time to provide the legions of SORSN.com fans with total coverage of all sports South of the River. With the break in the hot weather, a big crowd turned out on this near perfect Thursday night for football in West Knoxville.
The Rams took control of this game early with an impressive drive in the first quarter. Grace, touting a strong running attack, cashed in with their first touchdown with 4 minutes left in the first quarter. The two point conversion was no good, and Grace took a lead that they would never give back, 6-0.
The Waves offense sputtered most of the night, including much of the first half. The running game really never got into a rhythm, thought the passing game did show some bright spots with Logan Davidson to #5 Rose connecting a couple times early. Some hard running by #25 Keller got the Waves moving a bit before the end of the first quarter. The quarter ended with Midway facing a 4th and 2 near midfield. An offside penalty by Grace resulted in the Waves first 1st down of the night. The first down was pretty much the highlight as penalties and a big sack resulting in Midway backing up into a 4th and long. The Wave punt was partially blocked and Grace was back in business at the Midway 46 yard line. The Rams again took the ball down the field on the ground and punched in another TD with 55 seconds to go in the half. A nice pitch and catch to Clowers resulted in positive yardage for the Green Team, but a false start and an interception to end the half once again shut down Midways offense. Grace led 12-0 at the break.
After an inspired speech at halftime by Coach G Patterson and some nice coaching adjustments by the Midway staff, the Junior Waves showed some life right out of the gate. The Waves took the second half kickoff and with a nice return, got good field position. Good runs by Keller, three runs and a catch by #45 Brummitt and the Waves were in Graces end of the field for the first time in the game. The Grace defense stiffened and Midway was faced with a 4th and 5. The carry by Keller was short of the first down marker and Grace took over again near midfield.
The Midway defense showed some life with good stops by Clowers, Lemons and Miller and had Grace in a negative down and distance situation, however Grace picked a big first down that really looked to take the wind out of the Midway defenses sails. The third quarter ended with Grace driving once again with its strong running game and holding onto a 12-0 lead.
A light rain started the 4th quarter and would make the pigskin tough to hold for both teams in the last quarter. Grace continued the drive and finally cashed in to make it 18-0 with 7:15 to go in the ballgame. The Waves could have folded up the tents and headed home, but to the kids and the coaches credit, Midway continued to play hard. Rose had a good return to the Midway 40 yard line. The offense began to move a bit, just as the rain started to fall harder and a fumble caused a big loss and put Midway behind the down markers. A fourth and long fake punt was no good and Grace took over on offense.
Grace gave the football right back to Midway with their own fumble, but the Midway offense continued to sputter and went 4 and out. Once again Grace fumbled, Midway recovered and this time the Waves offense made Grace pay.
The Wave passing attack, which was just a step or so off from a couple of big plays all night, finally connected with a 60 yard catch and run by Clowers. A couple of shake and bake moves and Clowers had found the dance floor. The two point conversion was no good, but Midway still had some life. The onside kick bounced around a good while, but Grace finally covered it and was looking to run out the clock. A good defensive stand, led by Brummitt, and Grace punted back to Midway.
Midway got the ball back with a buck fifteen to go in the game and hoped to make lightning strike twice on offense with the passing game, but Grace was watching for it this time and the result was an interception. A big hit by Midway on the return and some frustrations bubbled over resulting in a couple 15 yard penalties on Midway. Grace milked the clock the rest of the way home and came away with a tough 18-6 win over Midway.