Northland Vikings sail to defensive win over Beechcroft Cougars 12-7

Tagged under: Beyond The Keystone, Game Photos, Gameday Hub, News

David Burnworth | October 22, 2022

(I am using the roster from hudl to get the Vikings players’ names. It is missing several players)

On a perfect Saturday afternoon in Columbus, Ohio the Northland Vikings hosted league rival Beechcroft in the regular season city league battle. For Beechcroft, a win gave them the undisputed city league title. For the Vikings, the big picture was a win and they would not only get a share of the city league title they would also get into the O.H.S.A.A. playoffs. I was able to set with two of the East coaches and a few of their players, so I was able to learn a lot of football from Coach Bell and got some quarterback knowledge from the starting East quarterback Tre Lindsay, who I have a big interview with, in a day or two.

The Vikings used a nice 7-play, 59-yard drive to take the 6-0 lead with David “Amir” Brown using the nasty work from his offensive hustled into the endzone from 7-yards out. A fumble on the two-point conversion try by Brown was recovered by Armand Vickers to keep this a 6-0 game with 8:18 showing on the first quarter clock. The drive featured seven running plays mostly going to the left side of the Vikings line where the linemen were able to dominate.

On the ensuing kickoff, Hunter Risley was able to recover it to put the Vikings offense back on the field. The drive ended as quickly as it began with Jovontice Shull recovering the Vikings fumble putting the Cougars offense on the field. Aurelius Scott, who was injured at least twice in this game would flash some nice speed when he sprinted to a nice 30-yard plus gain taking the ball to the Vikings 8-yard line. Scoot would somehow connect with Rosean Burns for a short gain of four. On the play, Scott was injured and left the game for a short time. The quarter ended with the score staying 6-0.

The promising-looking Cougars drive ended with zero points thanks to Kevin Bell getting Burns for a short loss. At this point of the game, the Vikings looked very much like an animal that was cornered, and any mistake they made would cost them their playoff life.

Brown would get a nice run close to 10-yards to take the ball down to the Beechcroft nine. After a little mishap that cost them a short loss, the Vikings used a 10-yard pass from Terryn Thomas to Calvin Moore to make this a 12-0 game, with 4:52 left in the half. On the ensuing kick off the Vikings somehow came up with the ball as it was fumbled by the Cougars. Special teams hurt the Cougars more than once in this one and the hurt would also come to the Vikings special teams units. Both teams seem to be out of synch at this part of the game.

Thomas would give the ball right back to the Cougars via an interception by Tyrell Russell. Thomas seems at his best when he drops back and quickly throws the ball. The two times I have watched him he seems to struggle if he hesitates in his throw. Daymon Busby would stop Killebrew after a three-yard gain when it looked like the play was going to be a big one for the Cougars. After making a nice catch Jaymil Radford was tossed to the ground after a short 3-yard gain. Scott, back in the game showing little signs of being hurt earlier connected with Radford, who picked up 17-yards this time. The last 1:07 of the half would bring the loud crowd two good plays, with Northland recording both. A sack on Scott by Lewis was followed by a 15-yard run by Brown.

On the second-half kickoff, the Vikings kicked the ball to an open space where it looked like they were going to fall on it but for some reason, all of the players from both teams seem to freeze until Radford dropped on the ball to give the Cougars offense a chance to close the gap. Tyreek Lewis threw Burns down for a loss of three just a minute into the quarter. Scott threw a short pass to Jerome Killebrew, who made a big run picking up 25-yards. Anytime Scott was in trouble he seemed to find Killebrew, who almost always did something big on the play. The 9-play, 68-yard drive came to an end on a 5-yard run by Scott, who went right up the gut of the Vikings defense for the score. With Elijah Otchere-Boakye doing the holding DeShawn Henderson nailed the point after kick making this a 12-7 game, with 8:09 left in the quarter.

Armand Vickers came up with back-to-back big plays when he got to Mekhi Kilburn for a loss of four and then he sacked Thomas for a loss of two. The defense would continue to be the main theme in this one with the Vikings defense taking its turn when Lewis got to Russell for a loss of four. The quarter ended with the score still 12-7.

Scott worked his magic again by escaping a tackle for loss and then throwing a short pass to Killebrew for 15-yards. The Vikings defense seemed to stop after the escape making the gain very easy. With 2:37 left in this highly contested defensive battle, Bry’neil Jones would get to Killebrew for a loss of five and then he recovered a Scott fumble. Woods would get a sack on Scott and then to secure the win Quavion Porter tackled Scott before he could do any damage to force a turnover on downs.

Cougars

56 plays

274 yards

Passing, 13-25

Vikings

56 plays

117 yards (Minus 1 in the 2nd half)

Passing, 2-10 1 TD 1 Int

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