MOUNT BERRY, Ga. - The No. 17 Vikings dominated the Maryville Scots in their penultimate game of the season. They continued through conference play undefeated and secured the automatic qualifier in the NCAA tournament. They made life difficult for the opposing team and completely shut down their air attack, sending the crowd home happy on senior day with a final score of 36-7 to clinch their seventh SAA Championship.
After honoring the seniors on the football team, the Vikings' special teams got things going for the good guys, stopping the Scots within their 20 for the first possession of the game. The Scots immediately took to the air and had a big gain down to their 40-yard line. After the big play for the Scots,
Cade Petty made a play of his own, getting into the backfield and making their quarterback uncomfortable. The Vikings followed up the pressure with a tackle for loss.
Brooks Thompson ended the drive for the Scots by breaking up the pass to gain, and the Scots were forced to punt.
Berry started their possession by handing the ball off to
Josh Rogers for a short gain. They took their time getting down the field, moving the ball methodically on the ground. But the Scots came prepared and forced the Vikings to punt.
The Scots started their next drive with a false start. Adding insult to injury, they kept the ball on the ground and gained nothing. With nothing going for them on the ground, the Scots went back to the air and moved the chains with a pass down to their 35. Finding success in the air, the Scots made another big gain to move the chains down to Berry's 35. A rush by their QB put them within striking distance at the 20. Eventually, the Scots got themselves on the scoreboard following a screen pass. They completed the extra point to go up on the Vikings 7-0.
Berry started their next drive at their 32, looking to respond.
Colby Sikes got it to start and had a good run, gaining 6 yards.
Josh Rogers got it next, but couldn't make any progress, bringing it to third down as the quarter ended.
The Vikings began the second quarter with 5 yards to gain. Christian Lewis went for it, but the Scots brought him down before the marker, forcing the Vikings to punt. Looking to run up the score, Maryville started their drive with a run for five yards. Following the decent gain, they couldn't complete a quick pass, bringing up a third down. The Scots had a false start, extending the 5 yards they needed to gain to 10. Looking to do so in the air, the Maryville quarterback took the snap and waited for a play to develop, but
Alex Mincey stayed with him and earned himself a huge sack.
The Scots punted and gave the ball back to Berry on their 43. The Vikings had a slight setback on a false start, but
Christian Lewis covered the difference, finding
Eli Warrington deep to flip the field on a 24-yard gain. The Vikings stayed in the air, finding Brenden Gray up the middle, setting the Vikings up around the 30. The Vikings crept down the field,
Andrew Hunter punctuating the effort by moving the chains down to the 15. The Alabama native went away from his legs, and Brenden Gray again made a reception, setting the Vikings up at the three. From there, almost inevitably,
Andrew Hunter ran it in.
Nate Lyons showed off the arm and found a man to complete the two-point conversion and put the Vikings up 8-7.
Now down one, the Scots needed to put together a drive to get back on track. They got off to a rough start, the snap going high, allowing
Carver Cole to carve through the defense for a sack. A screen pass got them back to the original line of scrimmage, but the Scots couldn't convert, and the Vikings got it around their 30.
The Vikings took the field with momentum on their side. Andrew Hunter took a shot deep to
Khamari Smith to try to kick things off for the Vikings' possession and got yardage due to a pass interference. Finding success, the Vikings kept it in the air.
Christian Lewis found
Nate Lyons to put Berry around the 35. On the next play, the Calhoun native found
Cameron Coleman in the flat, breaking off another big gain down to the 20.
Andrew Hunter came in and did what he does best, bouncing to the outside and running it to the 2. He kept it for another score for the Vikings as they went up 15-7.
With a minute left in the half and now down an even larger margin, the Scots started their drive on their 13. They moved it down to the 26 on a screen pass. Keeping it in the air, they kept the ball moving with a big pass to their 46. The defense got them to a third down and hyped up the home crowd, hoping to get them to a fourth, but the Scots were unfazed and responded with a deep pass to get within ten yards of the Vikings' end zone.
The Scots lined up with 14 seconds left. The Vikings applied pressure to the Scots quarterback, forcing him to throw a prayer down the middle.
Christopher Lewis heard and answered, snatching the ball out of the air and bringing it down to their 40. Rather than forcing anything, the Vikings elected to take a knee and entered halftime up 15-7.
After honoring the seniors in the Vikettes and in the marching band, the Vikings opened the second half with the ball on their 18. Maryville kept them contained, only allowing four yards and forcing the Vikings to punt it away.
Looking to close the gap, the Scots immediately took a shot deep to get their drive started. The pass was almost on the money, but
Steven Pickett was there and prevented the big play. The Scots tried the air again, but
Ben Brookshire got into the backfield for a sack. After the setback, the Scots couldn't convert on third and long, but the punt was promising, putting the Vikings on their 3.
Andrew Hunter created some space for the Vikings, moving the chains to their 13. The Vikings worked down to Maryville's 20, and
Josh Rogers did the rest, making a man miss to put the Vikings up by two scores at 22-7.
The Scots managed to return the ball to their 30, but their struggles continued, going three and out. To add insult to injury, they shanked the punt, setting the Vikings up at Maryville's 45. It didn't prove to be too costly, as Maryville forced a fumble and got the ball at their 28. Looking for a spark, Maryville kept the ball on the ground and ran out the clock for the quarter.
On third down, trying to get themselves back within striking distance, Maryville looked to throw, but
Dawson Livingston got into the backfield for a sack, stalling out the Maryville possession.
The Vikings got the ball on their 26 and with the game all but over, looked to keep it on the ground.
Josh Rogers had the ball for two rushes. After he earned a fresh set of downs, they gave the ball to
Colby Sikes, who got himself free and hit pay dirt, running it in from 59 yards out to make it 29-7.
Now in do or die, Maryville couldn't get much of a drive going before David Attochu forced a fumble, and
Dreshawn Stevens ran it into the red zone, setting the Vikings up at the 17. From the excellent positioning,
Jay Kanazawa got himself into the end zone and the Vikings cemented themselves in the driver's seat, making the score 36-7 with 12 minutes left as they went on to secure the huge win and earn an automatic bid into the NCAA Championship.
The Vikings will head to Georgetown, Texas, looking to finish the season strong against the Southwestern University Pirates next Saturday, November 15th.
