Knocking on the doorstep of playing for a State Championship the past several seasons, the Colonial Forge Eagles ventured into Tidewater territory yet again as they opened the 2019 campaign, taking on a Grassfield Grizzlies squad out of Chesapeake that figures to be much improved.

Not even five minutes into the contest, the host Grizzlies proved to be a genuine threat to the visiting Eagles, getting on the board first on a 32-yard pick-six from Ethan Buenviaje. However, there would be no more scoring the rest of the night for Grassfield and Colonial Forge was able to finally shake them with a pair of touchdown in the game's final six minutes to notch a 27-7 victory.

Returning All-Commonwealth District 1st Team QB Madden Lowe of the Eagles overcame the early miscue by connecting on touchdown passes of 22 and 7 yards to Avery Johnson-Edmonds and Desmond Cook, respectively. That put Colonial Forge up 14-7 at half-time.

However, numerous penalties throughout and being stopped on 4th down in the red zone in the second half kept the Eagles from increasing their lead until midway through the final period of play. After a Grassfield punt, Colonial Forge proceeded to march 45 yards in four plays - all runs - and capped it with a 17-yard touchdown run from Jaelan Black.

Both Black and Jamal Thomas enabled Forge to salt the game away with their ground attack. On the game's final play, junior defensive back Elijah Sarratt returned a Grassfield interception 66 yards for a touchdown. It was Sarratt's second interception of the fourth quarter.

Colonial Forge Class of 2021 WR/DB Elijah Sarratt chats following his team's 27-7 season-opening victory at Grassfield on Thursday, August 29, 2019.

Sarratt - the younger brother of former Colonial Forge standout Josh Sarratt, who's now playing his College Football at VMI - had two fourth quarter interceptions, including a pick-six on the final play of the game to help the Eagles pull away from the host Grizzlies.

Colonial Forge has now beaten Grassfield three straight years, not allowing a point by their defense in any of those meetings. They next take on fellow Class 6 Top Ten team Freedom-Woodbridge on the road on September 13th.

Colonial Forge Head Football Coach John Brown chats following his team's 27-7 victory at Grassfield in Chesapeake on Thursday, August 29, 2019.

Down 7-0 early, the Eagles rallied with 27 unanswered points - 13 of which came in the fourth quarter - to beat Grassfield for a third consecutive year.

Since taking over for his father, Hall of Fame Coach Bill Brown, as the head man of the Eagles, John is 12-1 overall. Bill remains on the staff as an assistant.

Next up for Colonial Forge is a September 13th road date at Freedom-Woodbridge, which is ranked No. 3 in the state in Class 6.

Matthew Hatfield serves as Publisher for VirginiaPreps.com, part of the Rivals.com Network, and is a regular contributor to the ACC Sports Journal. Check out Hatfield’s Twitter page for more sports related updates, and you can also read his work in the Suffolk News Herald. To contact Matthew, please e-mail hatfieldsports2k4@yahoo.com, and don’t forget to listen to him weeknights from 6-7 PM on The 757 at 6 as well as every Saturday at 10 AM to Noon on ESPN Radio 94.1.