East Forsyth running back Cannen Rottweiler (24) runs the ball during the game with Grimsley in Greensboro, N.C., on Friday, September 5, 2025.
MARC PRUITT Staff Reporter
GREENSBORO -- Call it a statement win by the Grimsley Whirlies.
For the second straight week, Grimsley (3-0) took down one of the best teams in Forsyth County and looked impressive doing so. Its 48-21 win against East Forsyth Friday night came on the heels of a 31-17 win against West Forsyth last Friday.
Friday's win was Grimsley's 19th straight, the longest winning streak in the state. It's also the Whirlies 28th straight win at home at Jamieson Stadium, and its 53rd straight regular-season win.
The last time the Whirlies lost on their home field was against Indian Trail Porter Ridge in the second round of the NCHSAA 4-A state playoffs during the spring season of 2021. The last time they lost a regular-season game on their home field came on Oct. 4, 2019 against East Forsyth, some 2,163 days ago.
Friday's win against the Eagles was convincing. After falling behind 7-6 in the first quarter, the Whirlies rattled off 28 unanswered points to take command. They led 27-7 at halftime, and they got contributions from all their skill players in a balanced scoring effort.
Running back Micah Williams had three rushing (22, 7, 9 yards) touchdowns. Receiver Hudson Cooper had a receiving touchdown and also threw for a touchdown to Kaden Catoe on a double pass.
Brody Lowe, a freshman making his second straight start at quarterback for the injured Faizon Brandon, turned in another solid performance with 280 passing yards and two touchdowns.
They extended drives with big plays on third downs. Each one of the seven Grimsley kickoffs were touchbacks, giving East Forsyth 80 yards to drive on each one of those possessions.
The defense had an interception and recovered a fumble for a touchdown after a bad snap.
The Whirlies kept coming from all over the field like an F5 through Kernersville, and East Forsyth didn't have enough answers to stop it.
"I'm really proud of our guys," Coach Darryl Brown of Grimsley said. "You're not ever going to be perfect, but we played hard and we played together and that was a key for us."
The three takeaways:
Defense, special teams stand out
The Grimsley defense allowed just 138 yards in the first half, scored on a fumble recovery in the end zone, and kicker Chase Huelmantell made 6 of 7 extra points-the one he missed was the result of a bad snap and the kick being blocked-and put every kickoff into the end zone, giving East Forsyth a long field on every possession.
East Forsyth had scored 31 and 33 points, respectively, in its first two games.
"Coach (Joe) Rigsbee and his staff do a tremendous job with our defense," Brown said. "He orchestrates our defense. We have two senior linebackers who are our leaders that have played in a lot of games. Two corners that have played in a lot of games. We're kind of young up front on the defensive line, but we've got guys up there that we believe in. Collectively, they are giving great effort."
Brown knows the importance of making teams drive the length of the field, and a weapon like Huelmantell is a huge benefit.
"He does a great job," Brown said. "In high school football, when that ball is spotted on the 20-yard line and you make them drive 80 (yards), I like our defense in that situation. Someone has to drive 80 yards on us. He's been huge as a punter for us as well and we almost had that one tonight that could have been downed on the 1 yard line. Our coverage teams have done really well. We've just had a lot of different guys making plays for us."
Experience matters
After an impressive debut last week, the freshman quarterback turned in another solid performance against East Forsyth.
"Our team has really rallied around that situation with Faizon being out," Brown said. "Our seniors on offense, we have four senior offensive linemen and three of those are returning starters, senior receivers in Kaden (Catoe) and Khyan (Battle) to D.J. (Howerton) at tight end, to Hudson (Cooper) and Micah (Williams) at running back, we have that experience with them and they have elevated their games and stepped up and been encouraging for him. We haven't asked him to do anything really hard, but just kind of get the ball to those guys."
East Forsyth isn't going anywhere
East Forsyth (2-1) will still have something to say about the Central Piedmont 8A-7A Conference race. And there's always a chance that the Eagles and Whirlies can meet again in the NCHSAA 7-A state playoffs.
The Eagles have too much talent. They ran into a buzzsaw Friday night.
Cannen Rottweiler ran for 95 yards and a touchdown and also ran in a two-point conversion.
Jaire Richburg, who only had one reception for -3 yards in the first half, came alive in the second half with four receptions for 77 yards.
But the Eagles couldn't overcome their field position disadvantages and five possessions when they went three plays and out.
"We've got to do the little things when we play great teams," Coach Todd Willert said. "Just like last year (East Forsyth lost to Matthews Weddington in the fourth round of the 4-A playoffs), you get put out by a great team because those teams do all the little things to win. We didn't do the little things right tonight. We'll get back to it."
Area scores
Alleghany 51, W-S Prep 0
Bishop McGuinness 34, East Davidson 21
Carver 22, North Forsyth 0
Glenn 22, Parkland 8
Greensboro Grimsley 48, East Forsyth 21
Greensboro Page 31, Mount Tabor 19
Reagan 35, Reidsville 0
Reynolds 49, Atkins 13
Walkertown 44, West Rowan 21
West Forsyth 45, Indian Trail Porter Ridge 14
Eastern Alamance 32, Central Davidson 31
McMichael 34, South Stokes 7
Murphy 42, East Surry 6
North Davidson 46, Ledford 0
NE Guilford 41, West Stokes 7
North Surry 41, Patrick County (Va.) 17
Oak Grove 48, Salisbury 0
Southern Pines Pinecrest 13, Davie County 10
Starmount 34, Forbush 0
Watauga 61, Mount Airy 7
West Wilkes 44, Surry Central 0
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