On Thursday evening at a chilly MacDonald Stadium, the Avery Vikings junior varsity team squared off against an undefeated junior varsity club from Mountain Heritage High School.Avery led the 8-0 JV Cougars by a touchdown until the waning moments of the contest, but a late touchdown pass and two-point conversion proved the difference in a 15-14 Heritage victory.
The Cougars had been dominant in their performances throughout the regular season, outscoring opponents 261-87 during the season, and had not allowed a single point in the first quarter of any game all season long.
Mountain Heritage scored on its opening drive with an 8 play, 80-yard drive that expired over four minutes off the first quarter clock. Heritage quarterback Tyson Tomberlin found Dalton Woodie for a 19 yard scoring strike to give the Cougars an early 7-0 lead.
Avery showed that it would not be intimidated by the unbeaten visitors from Burnsville. The offense immediately answered the touchdown by scoring on an 8 play, 72-yard drive of its own. Vikings quarterback Alex Villanueva found wide receiver Andy Gonzalez for a 36-yard touchdown pass play. The successful extra point tied the game at 7 apiece with 1:19 left in the first period.
For the remainder of the half, the contest was a field position and defensive battle. Avery held the Cougars offense, forcing it to turn the football over on downs on two separate drives and forcing a fumble for a turnover in the half’s closing seconds. The Vikings fared similarly against the Heritage “D”, turning the ball over on an interception to kill one drive and punting on another. The half ended with the teams knotted 7-7.
On the second play of the third quarter the Vikings committed a costly turnover when Villanueva was intercepted in the flat by Heritage’s Dalton Woodie at the Avery 30-yard line. The Big Red defense again rose to the occasion, however, holding the Cougars on downs inside the red zone to get the football back for the offense.
Avery’s second possession appeared to have promise, but the Cougars stripped the ball from the hands of Gonzalez after a completed pass, recovering the football to stifle Avery momentum. Avery held Heritage to a three-and-out after the turnover, however, and a bad snap on the punt attempt again gave the Vikings an opportunity to seize momentum.
For the vast majority of the contest Thursday night, Avery looked to be the team that was undefeated rather than its opponent, stopping the potent Cougar offense time and again. With its last drive of the third quarter, the Vikings capitalized on the Heritage mistake. Taking only four plays to cover the short field of 35 yards, Villanueva found Gonzalez again on a 22-yard touchdown.
For the next nine minutes of play, the clubs exchanged possession by either turning the football over on downs or punting the football. With under three minutes left, Avery was faced with a difficult 4th and 2 decision: whether to attempt to get the first down to maintain possession, or punt the football and rely on the defense to make one final stand. Avery chose the latter option, pinning the Cougars back to its own 27-yard line with 2:25 left to play and needing a touchdown.
Mountain Heritage proved why it had not lost a contest this season in orchestrating a final scoring drive. The offense took to the air as quarterback Tomberlin was 4 for 7 passing on the possession, capping off a dramatic effort with a 40 yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Drew Letterman. The Cougars rolled the dice and went for a two-point conversion to take the lead and was successful as Tomberlin completed a pass to Woodie to give Heritage the one-point edge at 15-14 with 1:04 remaining.
Avery had one final opportunity to drive for the winning score in the final minute. On a drive that began from its own 20-yard line, the Big Red marched across midfield after a 22-yard pass play from Villanueva to Kenny Hicks.
Heritage dug in from that point, however, forcing an incompletion and sacking Villanueva. On fourth down, Avery mistakenly thought following the sack that it was third down and spiked the football to kill the clock. The play resulted in a turnover on downs back to the Cougars, who then took a knee to run out the clock and escape with the win.
Avery quarterback Villanueva was 9 of 23 passing for 161 yards and a pair of touchdowns, while he and running back Kenny Hicks each had 24 yards rushing. Wide receiver Andy Gonzalez caught five passes for 102 yards and a pair of scores. Tomberlin was 9 for 17 passing for 147 yards with two touchdown passes for Mountain Heritage, while Matthew Kardulis led the Cougars with 72 yards on nine carries.
Avery’s junior varsity record stands at 3-6 on the season. The squad will look to end the year on a winning note this Thursday when it concludes its schedule in Ledger against the Mitchell Mountaineers.
