Glenvar dominates Gretna, 41-6, to win Region 2C championship
Two undefeated teams will be playing in the southwest corner of Virginia this Saturday for a chance to participate in the Class 2 state football championship game. After Saturday’s results one of them will be handing in the equipment and the other will be practicing for a game in Salem Stadium on December 13.
The Glenvar team will be making the three hour-plus drive to Big Stone Gap Saturday to take on host Union High. Both teams are 13-0 after winning their respective region championships last weekend. Glenvar won Region 2C with a 41-6 win over Gretna on Friday night and Union held on to squeak by Ridgeview in Region 2D, 21-14, last Saturday afternoon. Ridgeview had the ball in the red zone late in the fourth quarter but wasn’t able to get in the end zone.
Most likely Glenvar folks were rooting for Ridgeview, as the Highlanders would be home this week had the Wolfpack pulled out the win. Union finished the regular season with a better power rating than Glenvar, 27.4 to 27.0, while Ridgeview came in at 25.4. So, Union gets to play at home at Bullitt Park at 2 pm this Saturday.
Glenvar has been to Union once before. In 2015, the year after the Highlanders won the state championship, Glenvar was 12-0 when the Highlanders traveled to Union for the region championship game and lost, 28-27, failing on a two-point conversion try late in the game. The year before Glenvar beat the Bears at Highlander Stadium, 19-9, on the way to Glenvar’s only football state championship.
Union has a rich history of football success. Union has won three region championships since Powell Valley and Appalachia combined to form Union High in 2011. Prior to that Powell Valley had won eight state championships from 1959 to 2010 and Appalachia won five titles under former coach Tom Turner, who was head coach from 1980 until 2005.
Tom Turner is the father of Travis Turner, who has been head coach at Union since the school opened 15 seasons ago. Travis Turner has been in the national news lately after going missing the weekend before Thanksgiving. Turner is wanted on child sexual abuse charges and has not been seen since walking into the woods on November 21st. Assistant coach Jason Edwards has coached the team for the past two weeks, a 12-0 win over Graham and last week’s victory over Ridgeview.
“I feel awful for his family, it’s just devastating,” said Glenvar coach Kevin Clifford. “There’s a lot of heartache in that area right now.”
Clifford knows Turner, having coached with him in the VHSL football all-star game in the summer of 2015. Kevin was the head coach after winning the 2014 championship and Turner was an assistant, working together for five days.
“I liked him,” said Clifford. “We all fall short. Before anyone passes judgement they should look in the mirror.”
Clifford feels the situation in Big Stone Gap won’t have an effect on this week’s game.
“It’s nothing we can control, so it won’t have an impact on us,” he said. “They might use it as a rallying point.”
There’s no questioning that Union has a good team. They’ve held their opponent to a touchdown or less in eight of their 13 wins and have scored over 40 nine times, including a 62-6 win over Daniel Boone High of Tennessee and a 67-0 win over John Battle in their regular season finale.
“They’ve been great all year,” said Clifford. “They’re a lot like us, big and physical. They love their football down there, it will be two or three deep along the fence all around the field.”
Glenvar has been equally impressive this season. The Highlanders have six shutouts this year and in six other wins they’ve allowed just one score. No game was more impressive than last Friday’s 41-6 win over Gretna, a team that had scored 57 and 56 points in the two playoff games that allowed them to reach the region final. Gretna was the region’s second seed after top-seeded Glenvar.
“We played hard team defense,” said Clifford. “Our coaches did a tremendous job preparing for this game and our kids like being challenged. They played great team football.”
Things didn’t start off great for the Highlanders when a fumbled punt gave the Hawks the ball at midfield. However, Tre Dawyot’s interception ended the possession and two minutes later Glenvar quarterback Brody Dawyot, Tre’s brother, found Tre down the seam for a 23 yard touchdown pass and the Highlanders led 7-0 after the first quarter. A key play in the drive was a pass from Brody to Cale Vaughan on fourth down as Vaughan made a diving catch to keep the drive alive.
Glenvar got things rolling in the second quarter. Brody Dawyot had recovered a Gretna fumble late in the first period and Glenvar’s Ranger Swanson broke free for a 24 yard TD run just a minute and four seconds in the second quarter. Zane Smith kicked the extra point for the 14-0 lead.
Gretna was stopped on downs in their next possession and the Highlanders took it in again. Dawyot passed to Haden Henderson, who was forced out at the one yard line, and Brody took it from there for a one yard TD run and it was 21-0 with 4:21 until halftime.
Glenvar scored one more time before the half. It was Dawyot(Brody) to Dawyot(Tre) again for a 24 yard TD pass with just 45 seconds before intermission and Glenvar was in control, 28-0, as the teams headed for the locker room.
The Hawks’ only score of the game came five minutes into the second half on an 11 yard TD pass. However, any hopes of a comeback were squashed when Swanson bolted 69 yards for a touchdown and a 35-6 lead just 20 seconds later. Ranger would score again in the third period on a 29 yard run and that set the clock running continuously as the Highlanders waited to accept the Region 2C championship trophy on a cold, but satisfying, Roanoke County night.
Brody Dawyot finished 12 for 20 passing for 126 yards and he ran nine times for 60. He accounted for three scores, two by air and one by land.
Swanson continued his playoff prowess with 192 yards rushing on nine carries. Tre Dawyot had six catches for 80 yards, Cooper Mullins had three receptions and Jace Forster had two.
On defense Brody Dawyot had 16 tackles with three sacks, two tackles for losses and a fumble recovery. Nick Wilson had 12 tackles with three for losses, a sack and a blocked kick. Vaughan had 15 tackles, Rawlin Hanks had nine and Tre Dawyot had the pick.
This is the first time in Glenvar history they have been 13-0. They finished 14-1 in 2014 but lost on the last night of the regular season and they were 12-0 the following year before Union ended their hopes for a repeat championship.
The winner of Saturday’s game will play the winner of a semifinal game between defending Class 2 state champion Strasburg and Poquoson. That will be played at Poquoson Saturday.
The state championship game is at Salem Stadium on December 13.
