It took 31 minutes and a Grayson County touchdown for Carroll County to wake up Friday night.

But after Omar Laretta’s 4-yard touchdown tied the game at 6-all late in the third quarter, the Cavaliers answered with 19 straight points to earn a hard-fought 25-6 win on Homecoming Night in Hillsville.

After turning the ball over twice in the first half and looking nothing like the team that hammered Tazewell a week earlier, the Cavaliers held a precarious 6-0 lead at halftime. A steady downpour of rain began to blast Tommy Thompson Field in the second half, but winless Grayson County (0-5) didn’t care, moving 45 yards on eight plays after Laratta intercepted a Blake Bowman pass at the Carroll 45. Laretta’s 4-yard touchdown run with 4:37 left in the third tied the score at 6-all.

With the game now tied and the Blue Devils outplaying the punchless Cavs, Carroll finally came to life on the next play as Zack Surratt took the ensuing kickoff and broke loose down the right sideline on an 85-yard touchdown return. Dillon Caviness, who scored on a 1-yard plunge in the first quarter, added touchdown runs on 25 and 24 yards in the fourth quarter as the Cavs finally awoke from their slumber.

“I thought when they went in and scored and made it 6-6, our kids’ eyes came open real quick. They realized they better pick it up and get going there,” Carroll County head coach Tom Hale said. “I am real proud of the way we picked it up. I am not proud of our effort in the first half. We had opportunities, we didn’t take advantage of them. At this point of the season we don’t want to be like that.”

Carroll County (3-2, 1-0 SWD) looked ready to roll after stuffing Grayson deep in the own territory early in the first quarter, then driving 37 yards on just five plays, capped by Caviness’ 1-yard touchdown for a 6-0 lead with 3:54 remaining in the first half.

The Cavs got the ball back in good field position just three plays later after Surratt picked off an Ethan Hash pass at the Carroll 38. Even though the Cavs lost a fumble three plays later, they got it back after just two more plays when Surratt intercepted Hash for a second time. What would have been a 50-yard return was negated by a block in the back penalty, however. Again, Carroll couldn’t capitalize as the Blue Devils killed a promising Cavalier drive when Surratt fumbled four yards away from the goal line on the first play of the second quarter.

“We just weren’t ready to play. We had opportunities in the first half. I know it was one of those situations where you are not taking advantages of your opportunities and then you start to get tight,” Hale said. “You start tightening up and things weren’t going right for us.”

Neither team threatened again in the first half, but Grayson seized momentum on the fifth play of the third quarter when Laretta picked off a Bowman pass at midfield and returned it to the Carroll 30. A clipping penalty moved Grayson back 15 yards, but Hash hit Logan Watson and Jason Thompson on passes of 7 and 21 yards to set up Laretta’s 4-yard touchdown run, tying the game at 6-all with 4:37 left in the third. Carroll broke up a 2-point conversion pass to keep game tied.

Then Surratt changed everything on the next play with his long kickoff return for a score to put Carroll back in frontn 12-6 just 17 seconds later.

“It’s just like you feed off that momentum there. He returned that kick and our kids got fired up and we never looked back after that,” Hale said. “I have to give them a lot of credit for the way we played in the second half.”

A 13-yard sack by Kile Wengerd killed Grayson’s next possession. With old ‘mo now on its side, Carroll capitalized by running 12 straight times for 74 yards, capped by Caviness’ 25-yard scoring burst up the middle. The drive ate up nearly seven minutes of clock and gave the Cavs an 18-6 lead with 7:43 left.

Jacob Mollet’s 8-yard sack highlighted a three-and-out stop by Carroll’s defense on the following possession. A roughing the kicker penalty extended the Cavaliers’ ensuing drive, leading the way for Caviness’ third touchdown of the game, a powerful 24-yard scoring scamper straight up the gut of the Grayson defense. Caviness accounted for more than half of Carroll’s offense, running for 120 yards on 15 carries. Carroll managed just 230 yards of offense for the game.

“Dillon ran the ball hard. He got after it,” Hale said. “They were taking away the perimeter stuff, so it is one of those nights again where you feed it to the guy until they stop him. He had a real good night.”

Grayson only finished with 168 yards of total offense, but gave the Cavaliers fits all night.

“I was worried about it all week. I told the kids you can’t look at their record,” Hale said. “It is a rivalry. We are from opposite counties and those kids want to beat us.”

Carroll will a bye this week before resuming Southwest District play Oct. 9 at Abingdon.

Grayson 0 0 6 0 — 6

Carroll 6 0 6 13 — 25

First Quarter

CC — Caviness 1 run (kick failed)

Third Quarter

GC — Laretta 4 run (pass failed)

CC — Surratt 85 kickoff return (kick failed)

Fourth Quarter

CC — Caviness 25 run (kick failed)

CC — Caviness 24 run (Moreno kick)

Team Statistics

GC CC

First Downs 12 13

Rushes-Yards 28-46 40-202

Passing Yards 112 28

Passing 12-22-2 2-6-1

Fumbles-Lost 3-2 2-2

Penalties-Yards 6-70 4-25

Possession 24:16 23:44

Individual Statistics

Grayson County

RUSHING — Laretta 11-34, Watson 7-22, Perkins 1-6, Hash 9-minus 16.

PASSING — Hash 12-22-2 112 yds.

RECEIVING — Thompson 4-55, Harvey 3-19, Watson 3-15, Laretta 1-12, Warren 1-11.

Carroll County

RUSHING — Caviness 15-120, Surratt 11-39, Bowman 6-19, Moreno 4-13, Huff 3-13, Team 1-minus 2.

PASSING — Bowman 2-6-1 28 yds.

RECEIVING — Reavis 2-28.