Northland Vikings tame the Columbus East Tigers 49-14

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David Burnworth | September 22, 2023

Before getting into the game I want to say the stadium was very dark making it difficult to see the player numbers and with no ball on the scoreboard coupled with the fact the P.A. Announcer never said where the ball was spotted all my yardage and player names was a mere guess.)

Last night after working my eight-hour shift and hitting the gym, I drove to Northland High School to catch what I and most was going to be the game of the year in the Columbus City League. The East Tigers 5-0 came to town to battle the 4-1 Northland Vikings. Well, things did not turn the way the nanoscopic crowd thought it would and that was because the Vikings made a loud statement with a 35-point blowout win.

The Vikings fumbled the ball away on their first drive when it appeared they were on their way to the games first score would recover nicely on their next drive with a  35-yard catch from Zion Moffett on a nicely thrown ball from Charles Woodfork Jr. From there one of the shiftiness running backs I have watched all season, Amir Brown used his breakaway speed to go 37 yards for the touchdown, followed by the first of seven point after kicks from Deion Russell made this a 7-0 game, with 7:48 left in the opening quarter.

On the ensuing kickoff, the Tigers deep man just watched the ball roll around on the ground allowing one of the hustling Vikings to fall on it at the six-yard line putting the potent offense back on the field. Brown easily darted in for the six-yard score to make this a 14-0 game, with 7:42 showing on the clock.

The stiff Viking defense made quick work of the Tigers offense again putting their offense back on the field, this time just 34 yards away from paydirt after a very short punt. It would take the Vikings just five plays to light up the scoreboard again with Woodfork using the nasty work from his offensive line to plow in from a yard to make this a 21-0 game at the 3:54 mark of the quarter.

The Vikings defense continued to make short work of the Tigers offense on the next drive with Tyreke Lewis highlighting the stand when he got to Darion Matlock for a two-yard loss after a completed swing pass. The Vikings ended the first quarter with two long gains. The first went for nearly 40 yards on a Zion Moffit catch and the second one on a 20-yard Woodfork run.

Marsean Bowles ended the Vikings drive when he picked off the Woodfork pass early in the 2nd quarter. The ensuing drive ended almost as fast as it started as it gained just 22 yards on seven plays. Woodfork would overcome a sack by Anothy Shields to throw a 20-yard touchdown pass to Jasir Smith to put the Vikings up 28-0.

The East offense would finally start moving when Tazuan Burns found Matlock for 22 yards. Later Burns hit Shields for a 22-yard yard touchdown and followed that up by again hitting Shields on the two-point conversion to make this a 28-8 game with 3:59 left in the half.

After a 33-yard run from Brown the Vikings slowly worked the ball downfield capping off a 15-play, 60-yard drive with a short Woodfork touchdown run to make this a 28-8 game as the teams made the long walk to the locker rooms.

At the 9;39 mark of the third the Tigers fumbled the ball and the Vikings made the recovery. It looked like Raphael Nnachetam made the recovery. Woodfork would hit Moffett for 15 yards to move the chains to get things going for the Vikings. Brown would cough the ball up a short time later with the Tigers Sir Mickinney pouncing on it. The Tigers would turn the ball over on the ensuing drive when Shields made a nice catch took a hit and coughed the ball up where Isaiah Alexis came up with it. Brown would pick up close to 30 yards and follow that up with a 52-yard touchdown run making this a 42-8 game.

In the final frame, Burns scored from a yard out to cut the Northland lead to 42-14. The games last score came from the Vikings on a 70-yard kickoff return from Moffett to give us the 49-14 game. I asked Vikings big lineman Bty’neil Jones Jr. if this was a statement win and he said ”

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