Vinton County Vikings rout Meigs Marauders 42-6

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

David Burnworth | September 10, 2022

Last night I made the drive from Columbus to McArthur to watch the battle between the home team Vinton County and the visitors from Pomeroy, Meigs Marauders. Both teams come in 1-2 on the season as they enter TVC-Ohio conference play. I was able to take this one in from the roof of the press box, where I was able to learn Meigs were without five starters.  I have to thank the guys from BNG Media Vinton County for the invitation to be on the roof and to everyone up there for treating me like I belong.

The Vikings would cap off their five-play, seventy-one-yard drive with a forty-yard run from Zeke Molihan then Cooper Hayburn converted the point after kick the score stood 7-0, with 9:41 left in the opening quarter. On the Marauders ensuing drive a bad snap caused quarterback Griffin Cleland to take an eighteen-yard loss where he had to jump on the ball to keep his team from having a turnover. Not even a minute later they would turn the ball over when Logan Eskew put the ball on the ground and recovering it for the Vikings was the alert, Owen Hire. From there Moliihan connected with Matt Hembree for the twenty-four-yard score making this a 14-0 game, with 8:39 remaining on the clock.

The Vikings defense would get a sack on Cleland by Dawson Brown at the 8:17 mark that resulted in a loss of nine for the Marauders. The rest of the quarter would breeze past with the biggest play coming from Lance Haybron, who busted off a nice eleven-yard run. The offensive line was making things very easy for the Vikings backs. The drive would end in the 2nd quarter on a thirty-five-yard field goal from Cooper Hayburn, who is a soccer player committing himself to football. The kick made this a 17-0 game with 9:32 left in the half.

The Vikings defense would come up big again this time it would be Gabe Raschke getting a nice pick on the pass thrown by Cleland, at the 8:30 mark. After the offense was shut down by the Marauders the defense would again come up big for the home team with Josiah Thacker pouncing on the Meigs fumble. The ensuing drive would last for five plays and a total of forty-three yards ending with Layne Haybron galloping in for the eighteen-yard score to make this a 23-0 game, with the point after kick being missed. The final 3:17 of the half would bring the large crowd two big plays, one each from both teams. Raschke would record a sack for the home team, with Dustin Vance getting a sack for the visitors.

Wyatt Humphreys looked to have gotten to Molihan for a nine-yard loss but a flag was thrown on Meigs with the result taking the loss away giving the Vikings a first and ten on the fifteen. Layne Haybron would blast in from a yard out to give the Vikings the 30-0 lead. The drive lasted for eleven plays totaling seventy-nine yards.

After Hire got to Cleland for a loss of four on a quarterback run, Cleland would find Payton Vaninwagen for a fifty-six-yard touchdown to make this a 30-6 game, with 4:21 left in the hard-hitting third quarter. The clock showed 1:52 left in the quarter when Raschke would get a nice pick on the Cleland pass. From there it would take the Vikings ten seconds to light the scoreboard up again with Molihan dashing in from twenty-five yards to give us a 36-6 game.

Owen Hore would throw Cleland down for a two-yard loss as the Vikings defense continue to show that they were not going to make things easy for the Marauders banged-up offense. Garrett Brown would help set the final Vikings final score up with his seventeen-yard-power run, with 7:22 left in the game. The final score would come from the PAFOOTBALLNEWS PAYER OF THE GAME Zeke Molihan on a thirty-eight-yard run to give us the final score of 42-6.

Unofficial stats

Meigs

47 plays

64 yards

Passing, 6-13-1 TD 1 INT

Vinton County

52 plays

416 yards

Passing, 3-6 1 TD

For all of the pics
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