5 takeaways: Grimsley runs past Northwest Guilford in the rain

The No. 1 recruit in the nation for the class of 2026 only threw four passes for 82 yards on a rainy night against Northwest Guilford.

Grimsley didn't need any more from Faizon Brandon as the undefeated Whirlies (5-0, 2-0) rushed for five touchdowns, forced four turnovers and held the Vikings (4-1, 1-1) to just four first downs in a 47-7 victory at home on Thursday.

"It was just like last year ," Northwest coach Chris Rusiewicz said. "You can't have two punts that we don't get off — that was two scores — an interception returned for a touchdown, a 60-plus run from Mitchell (Summers) and then a bomb (35-yard touchdown pass from Brandon). That was five plays in the first half to put them up 34-nothing."

Here are my five takeaways from the game.

Grimsley capitalized

Northwest had a chance to seize early momentum after a muffed punt, but went three-and-out. The Vikings also recovered a Grimsley fumble with 11 minutes left in the second quarter, but fumbled the ball back to Grimsley on its ensuing possession less than two minutes later.

Grimsley took advantage of its opportunities, whether it was a pick-six by safety Ryan Debow or the two first-half touchdowns scored immediately following the botched punt plays between the Summers 16-yard touchdown run and the Brandon touchdown pass after the short kick gave them the ball at the Northwest 35.

The Whirlies also scored on a Brandon run following a fumble recovered by defensive tackle Andre Hill with 9:45 left in the second quarter to expand the lead to 34-0.

Debow, a senior, played middle school ball at Northwest Guilford Middle and played varsity in all of his first three years of high school at Northwest Guilford. As a junior, the hard-hitting safety was a News & Record second-team all-area selection after recording 83 tackles and two interceptions for the Vikings who finished 8-3 last year.

The 6-foot-1, 195-pounder joined a defense that entered giving up an averaging 127 passing yards per game and had five interceptions in four games. In this game, Debow played a role in Grimsley holding the Vikings to just 43 passing yards and his pick-six was one of three interceptions for the Whirlies. The other two were by Jasiah Hussey and Kosci Barnes.

"I mean, it felt great," Debow said. "Just to be able to talk about it after the game with my friends and joke around with them. I still love them boys, but just had to do it."

Rain throughout the game impacted the ground game on the grass surface at Jamieson Stadium. Generally, the rain favored the run game and Grimsley outgained Northwest 280-60 rushing and 362-103 in total yards.

Of its 60 yards rushing, 55 came on a touchdown run by Nathan Cox with 7:49 left in the third quarter.

Summers rushed 13 times for 144 yards and touchdowns of 71, 16 and 5 yards.

"I thought we were physical," Grimsley coach Darryl Brown said. "I thought they responded well late second quarter, early third quarter, but like I said, I thought we came out and established ourselves up-front on both sides of the ball and when you do that on any any night, but especially on one of these nights, it puts you in position to have success."

While Grimsley returns five players on offense and three on defense from the 13-1 team that reached the NCHSAA 4A fourth round in 2023, Rusiewicz thinks thinks group of Whirlies is better than last year's squad.

"That running back (Summers), he's better than he was last year," Rusiewicz said. "I think their O-line is better than they were last year, and then you have the quarterback (Brandon) who at any time can put the ball where it needs to go. But any time you can run the football, you are going to be that good and I can just tell you they are a very dominant run team and their offensive line is powerful."

In addition, the defensive front gained four-star Bryce Davis who missed the bulk of last year to a knee injury and the new-look secondary added Debow and generally has much more length and size to bolster Rusiewicz's point.

Northwest exposed

Northwest entered the game undefeated at 4-0, but weaknesses proved costly against easily the best team they've played so far.

The passing game only produced only 2 of 9 passes, both caught by leading receiver Rakem Hammock, whose 41-yard catch in the second quarter was the only spark for the offense in the first half.

Rusiewicz said a point of improvement is playing more intensely in practice and said there has been complacency. He also said that after the game last week against Western Guilford.

High School Sports Reporter