It was a tale of two halves for the Avery football team in their battle with Watauga at Jack Groce Stadium on Friday night. The first two quarters were likened to a horror story, as Avery’s offense and defense appeared at times grossly overmatched and unable to get on track. The second half of play was the stuff of inspirational classics, as the team put on a late charge in an attempt to snatch victory out of the jaws of defeat. Unfortunately the tale could not end happily for the Big Red as the Pioneers held on for a 28-14 victory before a capacity crowd.Throughout much of the first half defenses were dominant. Watauga’s opening drive of the game was abruptly ended by a Baine Martin fumble, which was forced and recovered by Avery’s Christian Montgomery. On Avery’s first possession following the turnover, the Vikings moved the football inside the Watauga 30 yard line, only to be turned away on a fourth down pass completion.
The throwing arm and rushing legs of Watauga quarterback Devan Corum was tough for the Vikings to contend with throughout the game. Corum and his teammates marched downfield late in the quarter inside the Avery 40, but a Corum pass was picked off by Vikings DB Travis Thomas, as the defense forced its second Pioneer turnover in as many drives.
Watauga used its own ball-hawking defense to wrestle momentum away from the Avery club. Two plays following the Thomas pickoff, Alex Fox intercepted Avery quarterback Adam Pate near midfield.
Avery’s defense held the Pioneers to a three-and-out following the turnover, and the teams proceeded to trade punts over much of the next eight minutes of action. The most successful drive for either team occurred in the final two minutes of the half as Watauga marched 74 yards over four plays, taking only 1:16 of elapsed clock time. Corum began the drive with a 19-yard scamper, and found Baine Martin on a slip screen with its next play. The running back scampered 41 yards to move the Pioneers to the Avery 14-yard line. Two plays later Corum found wide receiver Travis Oliver on a post route in the end zone. The Sam Grubbs point after kick provided the only scoring as the Pioneers led 7-0 at halftime.
Avery received the second half kickoff looking to get something going offensively, but was could only muster a single first down before having to punt to Watauga. The Pioneers took its first offensive series and made the most of it, driving 75 yards over nine plays. An 18-yard touchdown run from Baine Martin and subsequent PAT doubled the Watauga advantage to 14-0 at the 4:56 mark in the third quarter.
It appeared that everything that could go wrong did so for the Big Red through the quarter, as Dennis McMenamin picked off a Pate pass at the Avery 35 on the Vikings’ first play after the Watauga score. The Pioneers capitalized on the turnover when Corum ran to the end zone from nine yards out for a commanding 21-0 lead with 57 seconds left in the period.
Following the ensuing kickoff, the Vikings spread offense sparked to life. A 34-yard run by Adam Pate on the first Avery play moved the Vikings into Watauga territory. Another 16-yard run from Pate on the final play of the third quarter was followed by a 32-yard pass completion to wide receiver Chris Childress to set Avery up at the Watauga 5-yard line. A five-yard quarterback run to the left pylon by Pate finally put the Vikings on the scoreboard, with the Sutton Stanley PAT leaving Avery with only a 14-point deficit at 21-7 with 11:12 left in the game.
With Avery finally moving offensively, it was the defense’s turn to rise up, and they did so in dramatic fashion, holding Watauga to a three-and-out near its own 20-yard line. Linebacker Jordan English picked up a shanked punt following an Avery rush on punter Dennis McMenamin and rambled 21 yards to the Watauga 2-yard line, where two plays later Pate barreled over the goal line on a seven yard run to draw Avery to within a score at 21-14 with 8:25 still showing on the game clock.
At their most crucial point of the game, the Pioneers composed themselves offensively and did their best to hold on to the slim lead. An 11 play, 32-yard drive that began at the 8:15 mark consumed almost seven minutes off the game clock. The Avery defense bent but did not break, finally forcing Watauga to turn the ball over on downs at the Avery 32 yard line when English tackled Baine Martin for a loss on fourth and short.
With under a minute and a half remaining, the Vikings were deep in their own territory but had the opportunity to tie the contest. The hopes were immediately dashed when Avery fumbled the ball on its first play. Watauga’s Tanner Wilson pounced on the loose football and the Pioneers added an insurance touchdown on a Corum seven-yard touchdown run to provide for the final margin.
Watauga outgained Avery 320-170 in total offense, but the yardage defensively was a marked improvement from the average of 500 yards in total offense gained by Avery’s two previous opponents.
“I was proud of our kids. I felt like our kids played their tails off tonight,” Vikings head coach Darrell Brewer said in the post-game press conference. “This was the best defensive effort we’ve had all year. At times offensively we looked pretty good, but we made too many mistakes and too many turnovers.”
The Vikings return to action this Friday night when they host the Johnson County Longhorns. Earlier schedules had this week listed as an open date, but the Vikings will instead have their bye week on September 19th.
