Graham travels to Galax looking to clean up sloppy offensive execution
Sep. 1—BLUEFIELD, Va. — Graham High School head football coach Tony Palmer is happy that the G-Men opened the 2023 season with a third consecutive regular season win over Bluefield for the first time in the Virginia school's program history.
And aside from a defensive unit that held Graham's arch-rival to one touchdown — that's about it. So much for the afterglow.
Palmer has been in strictly business mode this week as Graham (1-0) prepares to travel to Galax (0-1) for Friday's non-district showdown with the long-running New River Valley football power.
Graham's 14-9 nailbiter victory over the Beavers established this week's practice agenda.
"I thought we were extremely sloppy offensively and played very well defensively," said Palmer, whose team is the defending VHSL Class 2 state champion.
"I think they had 67 [net] yards on 48 attempts rushing for the night," Palmer said.
"But we turned the ball over too many times in red zone opportunities. We dropped touchdown passes. Penalties. It was just an ugly performance offensively."
The Maroon Tide lost 39-21 to Glenvar last week, but Palmer will not have his team's sense of urgency misled by something as trivial as opening night numbers.
The VHSL Class 1 Tide may ebb and flow from season to season but like the ocean, Galax is always a big part of its regional landscape.
"They have a very good football team. I think Galax looks the same every year. You put on the film from five years ago, the linemen look new but everything is exactly the same," Palmer said.
"They've got strong kids, they're fundamentally sound and they're well-coached. It'll be a tough challenge for us."
The game is slated to kick off at 7 p.m.
Other Friday Games
Richlands (0-1) at Union (1-0), 7 p.m.
The Bears defeated Lee High 34-0 last week.
Gate City defeated Richlands 34-7.
PikeView (0-1) at Liberty Raleigh (0-1), 7:30 p.m.
Independence flattened Liberty-Raleigh 68-0 last week. Summers County defeated the Panthers 47-22.
Man (1-0) at Mount View (0-1), 7:30 p.m.
Man defeated Logan 35-7 last week. Mount View was defeated 54-6 by River View.
East Ridge, Ky. (1-1) at River View (1-0), 7:30 p.m.
River View defeated Mount View 54-6 last week. East Ridge, which opened its season with an 8-0 win versus Betsy Layne, lost 26-6 to Prestonsburg.
Narrows (1-0) at Holston (1-0), 7 p.m.
The Green Wave defeated Auburn 46-12 on the road in last week's opener. Holston defeated Eastern Montgomery 41-8.{/span}
Giles (1-0) at Radford (1-0), 7 p.m.
Giles defeated Blacksburg 35-8 in last week's home opener. Radford beat George Wythe 42-7.
Montcalm (0-0) at Twin Valley (1-0), 7 p.m.
Montcalm was open last week. Twin Valley opened with a 28-16 win over Phelps, Ky.
Bland County (0-1) at Smith Mountain Lake Academy (2-0), 7 p.m.
Craig County beat the Bears 32-6 at Bastian last week. {/span}Smith Mountain Lake Christian Academy defeated Fishburne Military of Waynesboro 56-8.
Saturday Game
Riverheads (0-1) at Tazewell (0-0), 1 p.m.
The Bulldogs took an open date last week. Riverheads, which is now a Class 2 football team after a dominating stretch as a Class 1 team, opened with an 8-7 loss to Woodstock Central.
