ORWIGSBURG — The Williams Valley Vikings entered Friday night’s District 11 championship with a 10-1 record, but if you asked them, they had yet to play a complete game this season.
That changed on Friday in Orwigsburg.
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“We’ve played Southern Columbia half a game of football, Upper Dauphin half a game of football, North Schuylkill half a game of football,” Williams Valley Coach Frank Gaffney said. “We haven’t played a complete game yet. Tonight was the first complete game you’ve seen, and that’s the team we’ve been waiting for all year. I’m glad it was today.”
That complete-game effort resulted in the Vikings claiming a District 11 title for the fourth straight season. One year after needing a monumental second-half comeback to topple Schuylkill Haven, the Vikings dominated rival Tri-Valley 40-7 to win the District 11 Class A championship.
The Vikings ran wild in the game with 328 rushing yards, led by star junior Fletcher Thompson, who totaled 20 carries for 249 yards and three touchdowns — averaging 13 yards per carry. Cole Hubler contributed nine carries for 63 yards and a score, while Trevon Bair added eight carries for 21 yards.
From the opening minute, it was clear that it was going to be Williams Valley’s night.
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On the first play from scrimmage, Thompson took an inside handoff, made one man miss in the second level with a cut, and went 66 yards untouched for a touchdown just 13 seconds in.
The Vikings never looked back.
Trevon Bair scored a touchdown early in the second quarter from three yards out to extend the lead to 14-0. Seconds later, he recovered an onside kick for the Vikings.
The thought process behind the onside kick from Vikings coach Frank Gaffney?
“I have no idea. That was not me. No. 24 (Bair), that was him,” Gaffney said. “I trust him with everything.”
“He’s one of the most brilliant football minds I’ve ever been around,” he added. “Including coaches. He sees things in the game before a lot of people do, and he’s allowed to make calls.”
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For Bair, the decision came down to spotting a crease in previous Tri-Valley kickoffs that he believed the Vikings could take advantage of.
“I saw the opening and I was like, ‘(Owen) Mace, you gotta kick it this way,'” Bair said. “I knew we needed that spark to just keep our momentum going. If we wanted to win this game, we had to keep our momentum going, and that’s what we did all night.”
“I’ll never take it for granted,” Bair said of the trust Gaffney and his teammates have in him. “I’m just so blessed to be surrounded by a great head coach. Just for him to put his trust in me like that, it makes me feel really good. My teammates trust in me, and my coaches trust in me. We’re doing great things. We have a chance to make complete history this year, so for him to be able to trust me like that, I literally can’t say anything but thank you to him.”
Williams Valley needed just two plays following the onside kick to take a 21-0 lead as Hubler housed a 32-yard run, putting the Vikings up three scores with just under six-and-a-half minutes remaining in the first half.
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The disastrous first half for Tri-Valley appeared to be getting worse on the third play of its fourth drive. Just moments after Williams Valley found the end zone for the third time, Bair made another impact, this time picking off Bulldogs quarterback Trey Porter.
Williams Valley was unable to take advantage of the turnover, however, eventually having to punt the ball away.
Tri-Valley finally found success on its fifth drive of the night. After taking over at its own 26-yard line, the Bulldogs moved the ball downfield — aided by 30 yards of defensive pass interference penalties — before Porter connected with running back Landon Horoschak for a 15-yard touchdown, cutting the deficit to 21-7.
The touchdown, coming just before halftime, served as a potentially important one for Tri-Valley, which was set to receive the opening kickoff to start the second half.
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Coming out of halftime, the Bulldogs put together another extended drive, with chunk plays of 12 yards and 11 yards, as well as an 8-yard completion from Porter to Carter Troutman, to move the ball into Williams Valley territory.
But on the eighth play of the drive, with the Bulldogs looking to continue having success through the air, Vikings cornerback Mason Bowser stepped in front of a receiver and picked off the pass, setting up Williams Valley at its own 38-yard line.
After missing out on taking advantage of the earlier interception, the Vikings converted their second turnover of the night into points. On fourth-and-goal from the Tri-Valley 2-yard line, quarterback Cayden Witmer connected with Bowser for a score, giving Williams Valley a 27-7 advantage halfway through the third quarter.
Williams Valley converted on a third turnover with 32 seconds remaining in the third, as Thompson ran for a 19-yard touchdown to extend the lead to 34-7. Thompson had forced a fumble on a strip-sack at the Vikings’ 34-yard line a few plays earlier.
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While the Vikings’ offense posted 373 yards and scored 40 points, the Williams Valley defense was just as big of a story. The Vikings allowed just 134 yards, including 36 rushing yards on 31 carries by Tri-Valley, while forcing four turnovers and recording four sacks. The seven points they allowed were the fewest since a 12-6 win over Schuylkill Haven on Oct. 2.
“I think each week we’ve been building more and more of a unity,” Thompson said. “Found out who we are as a team. And I think Coach Gaffney came in here, completely changed the defensive program around.”
Thompson added a third touchdown in the fourth quarter — a mirror of his first score of the night — taking an inside handoff, cutting inside at the second level, and racing to the end zone to seal the 40-7 victory.
“Just pushing ourselves to the max, knowing that it wasn’t gonna be an easy game,” Thompson said of Williams Valley’s preparation coming into the game. “We just gotta keep it rolling from now on. We gotta be stronger, mentally prepared and don’t let off that pedal. Because for the past couple of years, we kinda did that.”
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Williams Valley will take on the District 12 champion Belmont Charter next Saturday in the PIAA Class A state playoffs. Belmont Charter (4-6) defeated Delaware County Christian on Friday night, 42-13.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: Sports.yahoo.com
