Published: September 01, 2007 01:02 am         

Patriots outlast Pirates

HICO — In the annual “Battle for the Bridge,” Midland Trail outlasted cross-county rival Fayetteville 42-35 Friday night in a hard-fought, passionate game.

The Patriots controlled the game in the trenches, holding a 473-190 rushing yard advantage, led by senior running back Anthony Grimmett and junior Dustin Nickell. Grimmett finished the game with a career-high 28 carries for 293 yards and five touchdowns. The 6-foot-2, 230-pound back rumbled for scores of 5, 26, 36, 30 and 43 yards.

Nickell finished with 10 carries for 132 yards, including a 94-yard touchdown scamper.

“My line really blocked for me tonight. The receivers, my other backs, just the whole team gave a great effort,” Grimmett said. “I really was ready and motivated for this game. All week I heard about how they were going to derail the train, but tonight, I showed up first and was ready to go, and I owe a lot of it to my teammates on how well we played, and because of that, the bridge stays here.”

“The offensive line did a great job tonight,” Midland Trail coach Joe Dean said. “You would never know how young the group was by the way they played tonight. They controlled the pace and tenacity up front and it showed. We knew that the group would be young. We only had one returning starter this year in senior Darrell Kincaid, and he’s really been a leader this year.

“I owe all the credit to my coaches, though. They really kept the substitutions going and kept the guys fresh, and I can’t speak enough of how they did tonight, and Grimmett ran the ball hard. He’s a great kid who’s a leader and really accepted the challenge of moving to running back from fullback. I can’t say enough about him.”

Fayetteville was led by running back Drew Weis, who went for 74 yards and a touchdown on nine carries, and quarterback Michaelangelo Hernandez, who stepped in at the beginning of the fourth quarter and gave a spark to the offense. He was 5-of-11 for 111 yards and two touchdowns.

The Pirates finished up with a total of 318 yards on offense.

Midland Trail (1-1) is off next week before traveling to Richwood on Sept. 14, while Fayetteville (0-2) squares off against the Lumberjacks next Friday at home.



Midland Trail 42, Fayetteville 35

F (0-2) 14 0 7 14 — 35

MT (1-1) 7 14 14 7 — 42

First Quarter

MT: Grimmett 5 run (kick good)

F: Roark 8 run (Hernandez kick)

F: Weis 11 run by Weis (kick good)

Second Quarter

MT: Grimmett 26 run (kick good)

MT: Grimmett 36 run (kick good)

Third Quarter

MT: Grimmett 30 run (kick good)

F: Trofy 15 run (kick good)

MT: Grimmett 43 run (kick good)

Fourth Quarter

MT: Nickell 94 run (kick good)

F: Hopkins 2 Pass from Hernandez (kick blocked)

F: Dempsey 11 pass from Hernandez (2-point conversion good)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — MT: Grimmett 28-293, Nickell 10-132, Jay Crist: 10-44. F: Weis 9-74, Trofy 6-29, Roark 5-16, Hopkins: 4-7.

PASSING — MT: Syner 2-3-7. F: Fruit 2-7-17, Hernandez 5-11-111, 2 TDs

RECEIVING — MT: Albury 2-7. F: Hopkins 2-63, Farell 2-37, Roark 1-15, Dempsey 1-11, Weis 1-2.