Tide seeks rare 2-0 start

 Bully Prevention Week officially gets under way today at Galax High School. It is assumed that football players are excused from the anti-intimidation stuff, at least until after the Maroon Tide’s meeting with Alleghany, N.C.

Galax will try to open the season with two wins for the first time since 2002 when the Maroon Tide hosts the Trojans in a nondistrict game set to kick off at 7:30. A week after giving Northwood a 45-0 wedgie, Galax will try to make sure Alleghany (0-2) gets stuffed in a locker for the second week in a row, the Trojans having taken a 34-14 defeat last Friday at Grayson County.

Scouting the Tide last week may have been an exercise in futility for the Alleghany staff, which never really got a good look at what would stop Galax. The Maroon Tide scored six touchdowns on its nine offensive possessions, with each scoring drive lasting an average of 1.8 plays and 18 seconds. Galax’s one sustained march, a 12-play, 50-yard effort, was one of only three possessions that produced no points.

But even that drive started with a touchdown on its first play, a 51-yard Jordan Vaughan scamper that was called back on a holding penalty.

Despite the offensive output, Galax coach Mark Dixon was frustrated with his team’s penalty totals – nine flags for 70 yards.

“It’s going to cost us big,” Dixon predicted after the Northwood game.  “I don’t know what we’ve got to do to get the message across, but what we’re doing now isn’t working.”

On the bright side, Galax played turnover-free football, featured a balanced offensive attack with 171 rushing yards and 146 passing, and had one back (Vaughan) with 100 rushing yards by halftime.

Alleghany will be led on offense by the duo of Kyle Hoffman and Luke Hampton. A 6-foot-4, 215-pound junior quarterback, Hoffman is throwing for about 70 yards per game, with Ryan Billings and Hunter Greene his top two targets.

Hampton is a 6-foot, 192-pound junior runningback averaging 98 yards per game after last week’s 15-carry, 116-yard effort against Grayson County.

Defensively, Adam Gambill is a 6-3, 220-pound lineman leading the team with 17 tackles. Hoffman isn’t far behind with 14 tackles.

                     WEEK 2

Alleghany, N.C.       at        Galax

           (0-2)                             (1-0)

                         Friday, 7:30

Radio: WWWJ 1360AM

Last week

Alleghany lost to Grayson County 34-14

Galax defeated Northwood 45-0

Last meeting

2009 – Alleghany won 31-12

Last Galax win

Galax is 0-1 in the series

Common opponents

None to date

The series

2009–Alleghany, 31-12

Overall

Alleghany leads 1-0

The season

Alleghany, N.C.                                   Galax

L to N. Stokes NC 30-0        8/20

L to Grayson Co. 34-14       8/27            D Northwood 45-0

at Galax                              9/3             Alleghany, N.C.

at N. Wilkes NC                   9/10            at E.Montgomery

Open                                  9/17            at Radford

Wilkes Central NC               9/24           Craig County

at Forbush NC                    10/1            Open

E. Wilkes NC                     10/8             Grayson County

at Ashe County NC           10/15           at Fort Chiswell

Elkin NC                           10/22            at Covington

at Starmount NC              10/29            Bland County

W. Wilkes NC                     11/3            at Narrows