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BLUFF CITY – Grainger knew going into Friday’s game they were going to face one of the most prolific passing attacks in the state when they took on Sullivan East.

Senior quarterback Drake Fisher is ranked first in the state and 10th nationally by MaxPreps. The Grizzlies were able to hold him to 255 passing yards, his lowest output of the season, but he did throw four touchdowns to lead his team to a 35-0 win. East improves to 4-1 and 2-0 in the district while the Grizzlies fall to 2-3, 0-2 in league play.

It took only 72 seconds for the Patriots to score when they got the ball first as Fisher hit Tyler Cross for a 14-yard touchdown. The score went to 14-0 when Kade Roberts hauled in a 24-yard pass and ran into the endzone. In the second quarter, Cross picked off a pass at the Grainger 35 yard line and a few plays later, Donavan Smith-Peters plunged in from the one. Fisher found the promised land once more as he hit Will Alley who did the rest on a 33-yard scoring run to make it 28-0 at the half.

Only one score occurred in the second half. The Grizzly defense kept Fisher at bay as he missed his first four pass attempts in the third quarter but once he got going, he marched his team down field and kept a drive going when he converted a fourth down pass. Later, he found Corbin Laisure for a 12 yard score. That made the score 35-0 and that was the way things ended. Laisure led the receiving corps with 83 yards on five receptions.

Fisher finished 17-for-30 but struggled in the second half thanks to the Grainger defense as he was only 5-for-14 for 39 yards. He completed passes to seven different receivers with four TD passes going to different receivers.

Dawson Fowler returned to action after missing the last three games for the Grizz and made his presence known right away as he carried the ball 18 times for 127 yards. Grainger head coach Michael Manis was glad to have his junior running back on the field again. “Dawson had a great game and we are going to have to have him. He is our most explosive guy out of the backfield right now. Hopefully we can get him rested up tonight and the rest of the week.”

The Grizzlies will return home next week for a game against Northview Academy.

Claiborne 52, Cosby 0

NEW TAZEWELL – After a rough start to the season, the Claiborne Bulldogs have completely turned things around as they won their second straight game as they ran past Cosby Friday night 52-0.

The first two scores for the Bulldogs came on keepers by quarterback Zay Gerrells and Aiden Roark connected on both extra points to make it 14-0. Korbin Hatfield caught a pass at the one and then Gerrells was in on another keeper as the home team took a 21-0 lead. Tyrell Miles scored on a long touchdown with 38 seconds left in the half but the extra kick was no good. Cosby fumbled which was picked up by Jake Smith who didn’t stop until he took the ball 55 yards the other way on the last play of the first half. The extra point was missed but the Dawgs were in control at the break, 33-0.

Claiborne kept things going in the second half. Cole Jones was off to the races for the Bulldogs on a long scoring run and with such a commanding lead, head coach Nathan Medlin turned things over to his younger players which included his son Owen who led the offense the rest of the way at quarterback. He hooked up with Roark for a touchdown with 55 seconds left in the third quarter and then Roark booted through the extra point to make it a 46-0 affair. Kaden Lovin capped the scoring with a touchdown to make the final tally 52-0.

The Bulldogs will have their bye week next Friday and will return to action in two weeks as they host Chuckey-Doak.