Belmont rallies past Grier, advances to county middle school title game

BELMONT - For the second straight week, Belmont Middle School faced an early deficit.

And for the second straight week, Belmont rallied for victory, this time advancing the Wildcats into their fifth Gaston County championship game in 10 years.

On Wednesday at South Point High's sun-splashed Lineberger Stadium, Belmont edged Grier 16-12 after trailing 6-0 at halftime. The week before, Belmont trailed at Bessemer City before taking a 14-8 win that gave the Wildcats the Division II title and homefield advantage in Wednesday's semifinals.

Belmont (7-0) advances to meet Southwest (7-0) next Tuesday at 6 p.m. at Hunter Huss High for the 2018 Gaston County Conference title game.

"It's been unbelieveable," first-year Wildcats coach Ian Gibson said. "These kids have worked so hard and they've faced adversity two straight weeks and they've responded."

Grier (5-2), whose only previous loss came against Southwest (34-22) three weeks ago, scored on J.J. Moore's 47-yard quarterback keeper with 4:01 left in the opening half.

But the Wildcats scored touchdowns and made two-point conversions on their first two drives of the second half.

Cam Medlock scored all 16 points for Belmont.

Medlock's first touchdown - a 2-yard run - capped a five-yard drive after Ashton Carter recovered a Grier fumble.

Medlock's second touchdown - also a 2-yarder - capped a 61-yard drive that included first down runs of 20 and 17 by Medlock on the first plays.

"He ran hard and we blocked well for him," said Gibson, whose offensive line was led by left guard Sullivan Absher, right tackle Logan Davis and center Ben Adams.

Medlock finished with 81 yards rushing on 13 carries for a Belmont offense that finished with 83 yards total.

Grier finished with 142 yards total offense, led by Moore's 70 yards rushing and 70 yards passing.

Moore threw a 37-yard touchdown pass to Dabrion Dykes with 4:07 to play to account for the final margin.

After Belmont recovered an onsides kick, Grier stopped the Wildcats on downs at the Knights 32.

Moore completed a 33-yard pass to Dykes to move it to the Belmont 40 but time ran out before Grier could get off another play.

Belmont has previously won county titles in 1999, 2000, 2009, 2010 and 2016 and finished runner-up in 1993, 1996, 1998, 2003 and 2015.

Richard Walker: 704-869-1843; twitter.com/jrwalk22