Vikings Score First Win
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By Anthony [email protected]
Valley was struck by tragedy Tuesday afternoon when special needs student Evelyn Bolen was struck by a bicycle on the school's track, resulting in her untimely death.[[In-content Ad]]However, Friday's home game against the Manchester Squires still went on, but with many guys playing with heavy hearts, especially senior running back Jordan Boggs.
"Jordan Boggs is a helper down in the special needs room, so it hit him pretty tough," Valley coach Jeff Shriver said. "It hit a lot of our guys pretty tough, because she was a very likeable young lady. Anytime there's a loss of life, and a tragedy like that, especially to young people, who start to think they're invincible, they really look around and realize they're not."
Despite starting the game on the bench, a third quarter injury to starting running back Derek Leckrone put Boggs into the game, and he took advantage.
In the team's 29-14 win, Boggs was instrumental, rushing for 101 yards and two touchdowns on just nine carries.
"Jordan was actually a little dinged up last week and didn't have a lot of contact in practice this week," Shriver said. "He was really questionable before the game. Really, our trainers left it up to him. When we had the injury with Leckrone, I went to Jordan on the sidelines and said, 'Hey, are you going to play or not?' And he said, 'Yeah, I want to.'"
Boggs entered the game at the 7:00 minute mark in the the third quarter, after Leckrone suffered an injured shoulder after running the ball 18 times for 108 yards.
"That's a huge loss for us," Shriver said of Leckrone. "He's a two-way starter and somebody who loves the game of football since he was a third, fourth grader out here at camp. Hopefully he gets back with us, because he's a big part of our team."
With Leckrone out, Boggs rushed the ball just one time for three yards on the drive. However, on the Vikings' next possession, which started at the Manchester 38-yard line, Boggs ran the ball on all three plays, the second going for 23 yards and the third going for a three-yard score, giving his team a 22-7 advantage.
The touchdown was Valley's 21st play of the third quarter, compared to Manchester's three. Following the score, Valley had held the ball for almost 10 minutes of 12-minute third quarter.
"To come out and eat a quarter and play just three plays of defense is tremendous," Shriver said. "I couldn't ask for more of an effort."
For Manchester, the quarter didn't only tire out their defense, but with a score coming with 50 seconds left, it took them out of their run-first offensive approach.
"We got owned up front - offensively and defensively," Manchester coach Brandon Baker said. "We knew exactly what they were going to do, and we prepared them for it. We just didn't do it."
With Valley up by 12 points going into the fourth quarter, Baker had to put his running attack, which was led by fullback Brady Miller's 74 yards and Kyle Henderson's 54, on the back burner. Instead, he turned to junior quarterback Dylin Kennedy, and initially that wasn't a bad thing.
With just under seven minutes remaining in the game, Kennedy found senior Corey Thomas over the middle for a 61-yard catch and run touchdown, cutting the deficit to 22-14 with 6:35 remaining.
The touchdown pass was Kennedy's second of the game, the first coming on the game's first drive to Ryan Binkley. On the night, Kennedy completed 10 of 17 passes for 127 yards, 110 of those going to Thomas on six catches.
But just as fast as they got back into the game, the Squires were whistled for a personal penalty on the ensuing kickoff, giving Valley starting field position at the Manchester 47-yard line.
"We had way too many penalties in key situations," Baker said. "We also jumped offsides a couple of times and had false starts on offense. Those are mental mistakes. We're not good enough to turn it on and off whenever we feel like it. We've got to be in it for four quarters."
Just as Valley did on their third-quarter scoring drive, the Vikings gave Boggs the ball three times, and following runs of 27, 5 and 20, Valley was right back in front 29-14.
"We need to get that killer instinct, realizing we're within a score at eight points," Baker said. "We've got to get the ball back, and we couldn't do it. Tribute to (Valley) for doing what they could.
"We need to decide if we're going to work hard and do things right or are we gonna breeze through," Baker added. "I really think we have a good football team. We just can't flip it on and off. We've got to be good for four quarters. Tonight, we weren't."
The end score leaves both teams with 1-2 records, but Valley is 1-0 in the Three Rivers Conference, while Manchester begins its TRC season at 0-1.
"We needed a win," a relieved Shriver said after his team's first win of the year. "There's the old saying in coaching, 'Rest a loser, work a winner.' Attitudes of our young men have not been real cheerful. And to be honest, our coaches haven't been too cheerful. We talked a lot about just being a little bit nastier, being a little bit more aggressive, being a little more physical."
The physical approach worked, as Valley ran the ball 46 times for 266 yards.
"We knew they were going to be bigger than us," Baker said. "We knew they were going to be physical. We preached and preached and preached that technique is going to win. If you lose your technique, you're going to get beat. And we got beat."
Shriver would have liked to have gotten win No. 1 under his belt in the first two weeks, but that 0-2 start didn't have him frowning on his team as much as some critics may have been.
"We're going to be a good football team," he said. "And for people who are not believing that, maybe they should see us in a week or two and pass judgement then, because we're going to get after it."
Valley's next test will be at Southwood Friday at 7 p.m., while Manchester will host Whitko at Manchester College Friday at 7 p.m.
Valley was struck by tragedy Tuesday afternoon when special needs student Evelyn Bolen was struck by a bicycle on the school's track, resulting in her untimely death.[[In-content Ad]]However, Friday's home game against the Manchester Squires still went on, but with many guys playing with heavy hearts, especially senior running back Jordan Boggs.
"Jordan Boggs is a helper down in the special needs room, so it hit him pretty tough," Valley coach Jeff Shriver said. "It hit a lot of our guys pretty tough, because she was a very likeable young lady. Anytime there's a loss of life, and a tragedy like that, especially to young people, who start to think they're invincible, they really look around and realize they're not."
Despite starting the game on the bench, a third quarter injury to starting running back Derek Leckrone put Boggs into the game, and he took advantage.
In the team's 29-14 win, Boggs was instrumental, rushing for 101 yards and two touchdowns on just nine carries.
"Jordan was actually a little dinged up last week and didn't have a lot of contact in practice this week," Shriver said. "He was really questionable before the game. Really, our trainers left it up to him. When we had the injury with Leckrone, I went to Jordan on the sidelines and said, 'Hey, are you going to play or not?' And he said, 'Yeah, I want to.'"
Boggs entered the game at the 7:00 minute mark in the the third quarter, after Leckrone suffered an injured shoulder after running the ball 18 times for 108 yards.
"That's a huge loss for us," Shriver said of Leckrone. "He's a two-way starter and somebody who loves the game of football since he was a third, fourth grader out here at camp. Hopefully he gets back with us, because he's a big part of our team."
With Leckrone out, Boggs rushed the ball just one time for three yards on the drive. However, on the Vikings' next possession, which started at the Manchester 38-yard line, Boggs ran the ball on all three plays, the second going for 23 yards and the third going for a three-yard score, giving his team a 22-7 advantage.
The touchdown was Valley's 21st play of the third quarter, compared to Manchester's three. Following the score, Valley had held the ball for almost 10 minutes of 12-minute third quarter.
"To come out and eat a quarter and play just three plays of defense is tremendous," Shriver said. "I couldn't ask for more of an effort."
For Manchester, the quarter didn't only tire out their defense, but with a score coming with 50 seconds left, it took them out of their run-first offensive approach.
"We got owned up front - offensively and defensively," Manchester coach Brandon Baker said. "We knew exactly what they were going to do, and we prepared them for it. We just didn't do it."
With Valley up by 12 points going into the fourth quarter, Baker had to put his running attack, which was led by fullback Brady Miller's 74 yards and Kyle Henderson's 54, on the back burner. Instead, he turned to junior quarterback Dylin Kennedy, and initially that wasn't a bad thing.
With just under seven minutes remaining in the game, Kennedy found senior Corey Thomas over the middle for a 61-yard catch and run touchdown, cutting the deficit to 22-14 with 6:35 remaining.
The touchdown pass was Kennedy's second of the game, the first coming on the game's first drive to Ryan Binkley. On the night, Kennedy completed 10 of 17 passes for 127 yards, 110 of those going to Thomas on six catches.
But just as fast as they got back into the game, the Squires were whistled for a personal penalty on the ensuing kickoff, giving Valley starting field position at the Manchester 47-yard line.
"We had way too many penalties in key situations," Baker said. "We also jumped offsides a couple of times and had false starts on offense. Those are mental mistakes. We're not good enough to turn it on and off whenever we feel like it. We've got to be in it for four quarters."
Just as Valley did on their third-quarter scoring drive, the Vikings gave Boggs the ball three times, and following runs of 27, 5 and 20, Valley was right back in front 29-14.
"We need to get that killer instinct, realizing we're within a score at eight points," Baker said. "We've got to get the ball back, and we couldn't do it. Tribute to (Valley) for doing what they could.
"We need to decide if we're going to work hard and do things right or are we gonna breeze through," Baker added. "I really think we have a good football team. We just can't flip it on and off. We've got to be good for four quarters. Tonight, we weren't."
The end score leaves both teams with 1-2 records, but Valley is 1-0 in the Three Rivers Conference, while Manchester begins its TRC season at 0-1.
"We needed a win," a relieved Shriver said after his team's first win of the year. "There's the old saying in coaching, 'Rest a loser, work a winner.' Attitudes of our young men have not been real cheerful. And to be honest, our coaches haven't been too cheerful. We talked a lot about just being a little bit nastier, being a little bit more aggressive, being a little more physical."
The physical approach worked, as Valley ran the ball 46 times for 266 yards.
"We knew they were going to be bigger than us," Baker said. "We knew they were going to be physical. We preached and preached and preached that technique is going to win. If you lose your technique, you're going to get beat. And we got beat."
Shriver would have liked to have gotten win No. 1 under his belt in the first two weeks, but that 0-2 start didn't have him frowning on his team as much as some critics may have been.
"We're going to be a good football team," he said. "And for people who are not believing that, maybe they should see us in a week or two and pass judgement then, because we're going to get after it."
Valley's next test will be at Southwood Friday at 7 p.m., while Manchester will host Whitko at Manchester College Friday at 7 p.m.
Have a news tip? Email [email protected] or Call/Text 360-922-3092