In a rare Tuesday night football game, the Tazewell Bulldogs defeated John Battle 41-18. Freshman quarterback Carter Creasy tossed three touchdown passes and ran for two more in helping the Bulldogs overcome trailing in the early stage of the game. The win moved the Bulldogs’ record to 5-5 overall for the season.
John Battle opened the scoring when Tyler Murray hauled in a four-yard touchdown pass from Braxton Emerson. The extra point failed and Battle led 6-0.
Tazewell answered in the second quarter with a 2-yard touchdown run by Ayvree Zeigler. Kaizon Taylor’s successful 2-point conversion run gave Tazewell an 8-6 lead.
The John Battle Trojans regained the lead on Emerson’s 11-yard run, giving the Trojans a 12-8 lead.
Tazewell answered six seconds later when Creasy hit Cassius Harris with a 38-yard touchdown pass, giving the Bulldogs the lead 14-12 at the half.
Creasy completed 18-of-28 pass attempts, including another touchdown pass to Harris for 21 yards and a 5-yard touchdown pass to freshman Logan McDonald. Creasy led Tazewell rushers with 82 yards on 14 carries, including touchdown runs of 1 and 7 yards.
Creasy finished with 234 passing yards. Harris led Tazewell receivers with seven catches for 102 yards. McDonald had 5 catches for 39 and Jared Mullins had five catches for 33 yards.
Emerson led the John Battle offense, completing 18-of-28 pass attempts for 125 yards and a touchdown. He also led John Battle in rushing, gaining 77 yards on 11 carries, including two TD runs.
Tyler Gillespie led the Bulldog defense with 7 tackles including 1 tackle for loss. Octavius Pridgen and Jacob Witt added one sack each for the Tazewell defense.
The Bulldogs await the compilation of the VHSL Class 2 playoff pairings. At present, Tazewell is likely to travel to Central-Wise in the opening round of the playoffs.
