Bluefield – A year ago Graham quarterback Garrett Palmer was thrown into the fire, inserted as a freshman in the second half of a 20-10 loss to Bluefield.
This time around he brought the fire.
Palmer scorched the Bluefield defense Friday night, completing 19 of 25 passes for 262 yard and two touchdowns, adding three more rushing touchdowns and 80 rushing yards on 12 carries in a 40-33 victory over rival Bluefield at Mitchell Stadium.
Bluefield, which has aspirations of lifting the state championship trophy in December after a runner-up finish a year ago, looked like anything but a team ready to claim a title.
Plagued by penalties, drops and turnovers, the Beavers squandered opportunity after opportunity Friday, watching a 20-7 evaporate.
In all, the miscues paved the way for the G-Men who scored 20 consecutive points to open the fourth quarter, forcing three consecutive Bluefield punts in the second half and ending the fourth drive with a back-breaking interception.
It was an appropriate ending for a Beaver squad that committed 15 penalties for 132 yards and lost the turnover battle 2-0.
“Mentally you’ve got to make those plays to beat a good football team and we didn’t,” Bluefield head coach Fred Simon said. “It’s a good learning experience. We’ll see if we overcome that because either we do or some of them will ride the pine next week. I hate to say it but it’s our job to get them fired up to play too and we didn’t have a great game tonight.”
When Bluefield wasn’t beating itself Palmer made sure to pick up the slack.
His 34-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter gave the G-Men their first lead of the night with 7:14 to play. Over there next 4:46 of game time the sophomore passer threw a second-and-21 strike to Kassius Johnson-Bradshaw for a 79-yard touchdown while his brother Gage pushed across a 1-yard score with 2:28 to play that put Graham ahead 40-26.
“Growth is what you’ve got,” Graham head coach Tony Palmer smiled. “He probably grew two or three inches since last year. I’m proud of all the guys, not just Garrett. Numerous people made plays. Gage made plays, Kassius made plays, A.J. (Bradshaw) made plays, the Lane boys. We don’t like to single anybody out here at Graham high school.”
Bluefield piled up 463 yards of total offense topping the G-Men’s 347 yards but that was more indicative of the opportunities Bluefield failed to capitalize on.
Marching 62 yards in six plays, the Beavers struck first when Jeremiah Jones scored from six yards out just 1:11 into the game. The opportunity to build on that drive came following a Graham punt but a 16-yard strike from quarterback Max Simpson was caught and fumbled by receiver Pax Calhoun at the Graham 40.
Seven plays and 60 yards later Garrett Palmer tied the game with a 1-yard run but Jones had the answer again on Bluefield’s next drive, punching it in from a yard out.
A 14-play, 83-yard drive that ended in the Beavers’ third rushing touchdown with 3:37 to play in the half, this one from Jazhaun Brown, pushed the advantage to 20-7 but a quick drive that featured a 37-yard completion from Garrett to Gage and a penalty at the end ultimately brought the G-Men within a score at the break.
That momentum carried into the second half with Palmer hitting Kaeden Banks for a 17-yard touchdown catch with the ensuing PAT knotting the game.
Facing double coverage much of the night, Calhoun had an answer, collecting a 47-yard scoring strike from Simpson for a 26-20 lead but afterwards the Beaver offense went cold, picking up just 26 yards on its next three drives, good for 1.8 yards per play during that stretch.
“We made adjustments at halftime,” Palmer said. “They were causing us problems in the first half. They went a certain alignment on us and we weren’t prepared for that. We had to make our adjustments … We went from a four front to a five front. That made all the difference. We had to gobble up blockers and let our guys run to the ball.”
With Bluefield driving for the tying score, Graham’s Javon Lane undercut a route and returned the pass all the way to the Bluefield 1 where Gage Palmer punched it in for the final G-Men score of the night and a 40-24 advantage.
Bluefield scored once more on 1-yard run by Simpson with 40 seconds left and recovered the ensuing onside kick but a pair of heaves to the red zone were batted away by the G-Men, preserving the win.
“We needed to score when we threw the pick and that hurt us,” Simon said. “If we score then the momentum changes. When we get the pick now we’re down two scores and it hurt us. It really hurt a lot.”
Jones led Bluefield with 104 yards on 14 carries with two touchdowns while Simpson completed 12-of-26 passes for 205 yards with a touchdown and interception. Calhoun hauled in four passes for 104 yards and a score.
Kassius Johnson-Bradshaw led the G-Men with 95 yards receiving while Garrett Palmer was the leading passer and rusher for the G-Men.
Up next for the Beavers is a visit from the defending Class AAA state champs and county rival Princeton which blanked Capital 63-0 Friday night to open its title defense.
“I think mentally being in the game,” Simon said in response to preparing for the champs. “Mentally practice, mentally do our job and not read the newspaper articles or the sports stuff and get yourself on there posting stuff. I think we’re posting how great we are, well you’re not great until you win it all at the end of the season.”
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