Rolesville’s ‘revenge tour’ on pause: Rams fall to Grimsley in HS football showdown

If Grimsley High School quarterback and top 2026 recruit Faizon Brandon is at all fazed by any distractions off the field, he didn’t let it show on the field Friday. Brndond helped his Whirlies upend Rolesville 35-20 in a big early-season meeting between a pair of teams with state title aspirations.

Brandon tossed a pair of field-stretching touchdowns to Hudson Cooper, who had a breakout game of his own while eclipsing 200 yards on just four catches. The second of those strikes, an 82-yard catch and run in the third quarter, was the dagger for Grimsley (2-0), which went ahead 35-13 with that touchdown.

Brandon’s mother filed a lawsuit on her son’s behalf last week, looking to overturn the state’s policy on athletes at public high schools profiting from their name, image and likeness (NIL).

Rolesville (1-1) opened the season a week ago with a resounding road win at perennial Charlotte-area power Butler, and with a handful of players with Power Four offers the Rams look every bit like a state title contender.

But they fell behind early Friday after Jasiah Henry picked off a short pass and returned it 66 yards for a touchdown and a 7-0 Grimsley lead.

Rolesville rebounded on an Amir Brown run early in the second, and the teams traded another pair of touchdowns. But the Whirlies added some separation at the end of the first half on a Mitchell Summers run from inside the 5-yard line.

In the third, Summers added a second TD before the Brandon-to-Cooper connection hit for the second time to extend the visitors’ advantage.

Brown picked up his third touchdown of the game for Rolesville in the fourth quarter. Where the first two were on the ground, his third came on a short pass from Braden Atkinson.

Rolesville will look to rebound in Week 3 against East Wake, while Grimsley will attempt to remain unbeaten when it hosts fellow unbeaten Reagan.