Northland Vikings need overtime to beat Beechcroft 17-14


 

Thursday night found me at Northland High School to watch the big Columbus City League rivalry game between Beechcroft and Northland. This is one of those rival games where records do not count for much because this game seems to be the Super Bowl for each team.

Defense had ruled the first quarter until the final 1:58, where David Tran found Khalil Samual for a 31-yard Beechcroft touchdown on fourth and six, making this a 6-0 Cougar lead.

Eighteen seconds later, Jayden Cherry raced 53 yards to lock things up with Jojo Djabo converging his P.A.T. to give Northland the 7-6 lead.

Tran found Samuel with 3:01 left in the half, then a Tran to Tyrell Russell picked up 14 yards, but no points would come as the Vikings defense held true. The first half would see the Cougars run 32 plays, picking up 119 yards. For the Vikings, they ran 14 plays, picking up 85 yards. The two teams combined to throw 16 passes, with the Cougars throwing 14 of them.

The Vikings used a 10-yard run to get the ball down to the Cougars 15-yard line. The run was by Brandon Love, but the drive would stall at the 10-yard line, leaving this a 7-6 game with 5:53 in the third.

Tran and Samual ended the third with a 13-yard pass play to give the Cougars a little momentum as the two teams headed for the final quarter.

Tran found Russell for 3 yards with 7:29 left in the game. Russell used his feet to pick up 13 yards, with 5:54 remaining. From there, the Vikings defense would get a nice play when Tyreek Lewis got to Robert Watkins for a short loss. Tran responded by hooking up with Russell for a 25-yard gain that took the ball down to the Vikings 10-yard line with 4:23 left. Russell took the ball 5 yards to the Vikings 5 yard line, with 3:40 left. The 21-play, 90-yard drive came to a close when Russell plowed in from 5 yards out. Cam Cooley converted the two-point conversion run, giving the Cougars the 14-7 lead with 3:07 left.

The Vikngs seem to come alive, and you could sense that they were going to score. Their bench and crowd were very loud—the biggest crowd that I have seen at any of the Vikings games I have attended. The Vikings offense took four plays to get to the Cougars 23-yard line, where Cherry blasted off like a rocket and made a nice little move to score. With the game on the line, Djabo walked onto the field and nailed the P.A.T. to lock the game up with 0:50 left.

In the finals (0:50), there was no scoring, and this one was headed to overtime. As we all waited for the overtime to start, I had the feeling that somehow someway the Vikings were determined to win this game. Just watching the players and coaches on the sidelines, everyone on the Northland side looked ready for war.

The Vikings got the ball first and looked to have a nice seven-yard gain on their first play, but a hold negated the play. The Cougars defense was strong on the rest of the drive, forcing the Vikings to bring Djabo out for a 33-yard field goal attempt. The 5-11, 180-pound junior calmly approached the ball, and boom was the sound as the ball flew over the crossbar, giving the Vikings the 17-14 lead. After the kick, it was almost like the Vikings defense looked at their coaches and said, Chalk this one up; this is our house and our win.

Russell was dropped for a 5-yard loss by Raheem Hill, and a sack by Justin Ofoni put the Cougars back six more yards. A incomplete pass and one final running play ended this one, securing the Vikings win.

My Stats

Cougars

68 plays

221 yards

Passing, 10-30, 1 TD, 1 INT

Vikings

30 plays

177 yards

Passing, 5-7

 For all of the photos copy and past the link below

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10230807542406563&type=3

Follow me on Twitter @HEARTLANDFAN15

 

 

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