By Blake Chadwick

The new normal for football in the City League — no fans, a lot of points and a lot of relief. 

Just two weeks ago the athletes in the City League didn’t know if they were going to have a season. Some even transferred out to surrounding districts that approved this football season. 

Those who stayed were there to battle. 

“It felt good being back out there on the field, though, knowing that two weeks ago they took it from us in the snap of a finger,” Northwest senior kicker Carson Arndt said. “So yeah, we are playing every game like it’s our last because we saw how fast they took it from us last time.” 

Northwest kicked off its season against West on Saturday afternoon, and a game that was scripted to be a blowout started off slow for the Grizzlies. 

The Grizzly defense opened with a stop but the offense stalled out on their first drive.

The Grizzlies quickly bounced back as their defense got a stop and gave the ball back to their offense. And after a 65-yard Julius Bolden touchdown, the Grizzlies never looked back. 

Mason Ross didn’t disappoint in his first start at quarterback, completing 8 of 11 passes for 119 yards and three touchdowns. 

Bolden had three touchdowns and finished with 154 yards on seven attempts.

In the other City League game on Saturday, the South Titans came to play. 

“We made some mistakes here and there, but we played really good,” senior Naz Breeden said. 

South cruised past Southeast to a 52-0 victory. 

Quarterback Tj Neal had himself a good game throwing for two touchdowns and rushing for another one. 

The defense also played tough as they forced three turnovers and shut out Southeast. 

For the last game for the first week of City League football, East played North on Monday.

After three touchdowns from senior AJ King and a few more from Caquoy Patterson and Daylan Jones, the incredible East wide receiver corps did their job.

And so did the rest of the East offense and defense, which handled North 80-0.

“It felt good to finally be back on the field, and it was a good game for us,” senior Darius Cooper said. “… A shutout for us on the defense, which showed we can play together and it wasn’t just a single person.”