Published: October 30, 2009 12:06 am      

Bulldogs hope to start building winning pattern

TAZEWELL, Va. — Few teams can match the consistency of the Tazewell Bulldogs or Grundy Golden Wave.

Coach Bobby Wyatt makes it clear he intends to push the Dogs into a different pattern. The win-lose-win-lose habit that has marked the 5-4 Tazewell season this far needs to stop.

“We had a good victory over Marion last week and we need to go into the playoffs with a two-game winning streak and then build on that — keep it going,” said Wyatt, whose Bulldogs (2-3 in the district) came within an overtime extra point of earning the regional title in 2008.

An impressive 17-7 home triiumph over the Scarlet Hurricane boosted Bulldog prospects while Grundy was pounded 42-14 at Carroll County.

Aaron McReynolds scored a four-yard touchdown, Mike Elkins got a six-pointer with an end zone fumble recovery and Luke Allison drilled a 33-yard field goal for the Bulldog scoring against the Scarlet Hurricane.

Tazewell’s defense, sparked by Shaquille McDonald, Chris Short, and Juwan Stout up front, with key support from Tyler Crouse, Jon Corner, Zach Pauley, and Allison, held Marion to 68 rushing yards.

Like Tazewell, Grundy (4-4, 0-4) is also playing with a split personality. Greg Rowe’s Golden Wave opened impressively with four straight wins but has since plummeted, with four straight losses, all in the Southwest District.

Rowe would say the same ‘the losing must stop’. Grundy and Graham (17.0) are tied with two weeks remaining in the regular season in the Region IV Division 3 rankings.

Grundy plays Richlands next week while the Bulldogs have their bye week prior to the start of the Virginia High School League playoffs.

Meanwhile, Tazewell (20.1) sits fourth, behind Cave Spring (26.3), Richlands (24.0), and Marion (20.3). among the six teams which will make the ‘playoffs. Patrick County also still has a shot at postseason play.

“Coach Rowe always does an excellent job,” says Wyatt. “Like us, Grundy has been fighting the numbers game for the past couple of years. That always makes it tougher when you don’t have as many people to choose from as some of the teams on your schedule.”

For the season’s first month, Grundy scored an average of 36.7 points per game but during the four-game SWD portion of the schedule that number has dropped to less than half that total, an average of 18.2 points per contest.

The Bulldogs are scoring 21.7 points per game and yielding 26.4 per game, a defensive average adversely affected by three key contests (52 points by Gate City, 46 by Graham, and 42 by Richlands).

Now the Bulldogs need a victory to keep late-season momentum alive.

Marion (5-3) has games left Lebanon and Abingdon so the possibility exists for Tazewell moving up a slot on the VHSL scale before the playoffs start.

“It’s a big game for both of us,” notes Wyatt. “Grundy needs to keep pace with Graham — they are fighting for position. With this being our last game and Marion playing two more, that’s still not settled.

“If Marion loses either one and we win tonight, then we would both finish 6-4. If that happens, we should have the advantage on points. If Marion wins both, even if we do win, it will be very close. The main thing is, we have to take care of business tonight.”