Typically, Carroll County’s Wing-T offense works like a barrage of body blows in boxing. It gradually wears the opponent down with a slow, but methodical attack.

On Friday, the Cavaliers opted for the knockout, however, staggering Grundy with several quick uppercuts and roundhouse rights in a 42-14 Southwest District beatdown in Hillsville.

By virtue of the TKO over Grundy, Carroll moves on to face Richlands (7-1, 4-0 SWD) in what amounts to a Southwest District championship bout this Friday in Hillsville.

“It is a huge game. The winner of that game is going to be district champion,” Carroll County head coach Tom Hale said. “We are going to be playing a good football team, no doubt about it. We definitely have to be on our A game. If we can get some good breaks, we have a shot.”

Carroll County (6-2, 4-0 SWD) made its own breaks against Grundy, scoring on each of its first six possessions. Striking with big play after big play, Carroll put the Golden Wave down for the count with a 42-7 lead after three quarters.

While the Cavs traditionally control the clock, grinding for three and four yards at a time, Carroll put up three first-half touchdowns in just six minutes of possession on Friday. The Cavs scored on plays of 46, 12, 37 and 43 yards to open up a 28-7 lead early in the third quarter. Plays of 36 and 40 yards set up Carroll’s final two touchdowns.

“We had some quick scores. I think we played our A game tonight, especially offensively,” Hale said. “I knew they would be a good offensive team and they were. We bent a little there in the first half and they made us make some adjustments real quick. Then our offense kept scoring, which kind of took them out of their gameplan. They had to pass more and pass it deep, so it was an all-around good game for us.”

Despite running about half the number of plays Grundy did, Carroll gained 333 yards of total offense on just 33 plays, a little more than 10 yards per pop. Zack Surratt led the Cavs with 132 yards rushing and a pair of touchdowns on just six carries, while Blake Bowman completed 4-of-5 passes for 91 yards and a touchdown, all to Tyler Reavis.

Carroll’s offense had to strike quick considering how long the Cavalier defense was on the field. Grundy (4-4, 0-4 SWD) had the ball for 18 of the 24 minutes in the first half, running 37 offensive plays to Carroll’s 14 before intermission. And the Golden Wave looked like a traditional Carroll offense on the game’s opening drive, eating up nearly eight minutes of clock on a 14-play drive that covered 54 yards. It went for naught, however, after Tyler Reavis recovered a Tyler Berglowe fumble at the Carroll 16 with 4:22 left in the opening quarter.

Carroll responded with a five-play, 84-yard haymaker of a drive in which Surratt struck quick with a 19-yard run on a double reverse and a 46-yard score down the right sideline.

Grundy responded with another clock-killing drive as Berglowe’s 4-yard touchdown capped a 17-play, 71-yard drive that ate up nearly eight more minutes.

Again, the Cavs struck fast as Glen Love returned the ensuing kickoff 49 yards to the Grundy 40. A 17-yard run by Surratt helped set up an incredible 12-yard touchdown run by quarterback Blake Bowman, who rolled left on a bootleg and made three defenders miss. Ulises Moreno’s PAT put the Cavs on top 14-7 with 3:54 left in the half.

Carroll’s defense finally got off the field in three plays on the next possession, setting up Bowman for another big play. The Carroll junior QB scrambled left, then cut back right to find Tyler Reavis for a beautiful 37-yard touchdown pass and a 21-7 halftime lead.

“Just tremendous effort by Blake on the touchdown pass and his touchdown run. I mean he just broke tackles,” Hale said. “That was really a bad call by me. He made me look good.”

Considering Grundy’s whopping advantage in time of possession, Hale said the play of the first half was the fumble recovery on the Golden Wave’s long opening drive.

“That was huge because they came down and scored to tie the game up after they had the long drive and we got the fumble,” Hale said. “But the time of possession, what it did was keep our offense off the field. You could see what happened when our offense got the opportunity to be on the field. You have got to give Grundy a lot of credit, they had a good plan against us and they were making us work. But we got it adjusted and were able to get some pressure on their quarterback a little bit and made him throw the ball quick, which was key.”

The Cavaliers continued to strike quickly and often in the third quarter. Surratt’s second long touchdown, a 43-yard burst in which he was not touched, upped the Carroll lead to 28-7 less than two minutes into the second half. After a three-and-out by Grundy, Bowman hooked up Reavis on a 36-yard pass, paving the way for a 1-yard touchdown run by Moreno. The second of three Mason King extra points put the Cavs comfortably ahead 35-7.

Carroll’s second-stringers and backups took over from there and continued the Cavalier dominance. Ryne Ayers’ 40-yard run set up his own 8-yard touchdown scamper to put Carroll up 42-7, setting the continuous clock in motion. Backup defensive tackle Joe Anauo also added a sack.

“It is the kind of night where everybody is happy, the young kids got in there and did a good job,” Hale said. “It was like a machine that was just rolling. Everybody got to play and did their part tonight.”

With the big win, the Cavaliers have a world of momentum going into the Southwest District showdown with the Blue Tornado. Carroll County faced a similar situation four years ago when Richlands came into Hillsville undefeated and ranked No. 1 in Group AA in a battle for the SWD title. In one of the most physical games you’ll ever see at the high school level, Carroll eventually fell 7-6 to the heavily-favored Blue Tornado. Hale said the Cavs fed off the energy of an extremely loud and packed Tommy Thompson Field that night. He said a similar effort from the Carroll County faithful will be extremely beneficial to his team this week.

“I hope we have a crowd like that on Friday. Just that atmosphere I think we help us a long way, especially being at home,” Hale said. “We are no easy team to beat here. We play well here. I really hope regardless of what the weather is next week that we have a packed house on our side, because that is going to mean the world to our kids.”

Grundy 0 7 0 7 — 14

Carroll 7 14 21 0 — 42

First Quarter

CC — Surratt 46 run (Moreno kick)

Second Quarter

G — Berglowe 4 run (Mutter kick)

CC — Bowman 12 run (Moreno kick)

CC — Reavis 37 pass from Bowman (Moreno kick)

Third Quarter

CC — Surratt 43 run (Moreno kick)

CC — Moreno 1 run (King kick)

CC — R. Ayers 8 run (King kick)

Fourth Quarter

G — C. Justus 24 pass from Kelly (Mutter kick)

Team Statistics

G CC

First Downs 15 13

Rushes-Yards 40-110 29-242

Passing Yards 118 91

Fumbles-Lost 2-1 0-0

Penalties-Yards 1-10 0-0

Possession 30:15 17:45

Individual Statistics

Grundy

RUSHING — Berglowe 26-112, C. Justus 2-1, Kelly 12-minus 3.

PASSING — Kelly 9-18-1 118 yds.

RECEIVING — C. Justus 4-53, Oquinn 2-36, Rife 2-14, Ellis 1-15.

Carroll County

RUSHING — Surratt 6-132, R. Ayers 3-52, Caviness 4-23, Bowman 3-13, Moreno 4-12, Huff 2-10, Goad 2-7, Alley 1-0, Nester 1-minus 6, Team 2-minus 1.

PASSING — Bowman 4-5-0 91 yds.

RECEIVING — Reavis 4-91.