Grady defeats St. Pius

With the win, Grady (7-1) took sole possession of first place in Region 5-AAA, Division A, ahead of St. Pius (6-2).

Grady showed off its speed on the game’s first offensive play from scrimmage. Hoderick Lowe ran around the corner for 39 yards to the St. Pius 37-yard line to quiet the home crowd. However, Grady’s promising drive stalled, with the team eventually punting.

When St. Pius took over, it showed a little breakaway speed of its own. On first down, quarterback Trey White faked a handoff, drawing the attention of the Grady defense, and scrambled 35 yards to the 50. It worked so well that White kept doing the same thing over the next four plays — faking the handoff and keeping it — to get St. Pius into scoring position.

With 4:55 left in the first quarter, Blair Stuart connected on a 27-yard field goal for a 3-0 advantage. A few minutes later, Stuart had a 31-yard attempt blocked that would later be a deciding factor in the game’s result.

For Grady, there were several plays when its ball carrier appeared to break free for a touchdown, only to be tackled at the last second. With 3:38 before intermission, Grady finally got the home-run play when Caffey ran around the right end, hopped in the air to avoid a defender, and sprinted 70 yards for the touchdown and a 7-3 advantage.

Opening the second half, St. Pius closed the deficit to 7-6 on a 42-yard field goal by Stuart that was set up by back-to-back unsportsmanlike penalties on Grady.