Last Friday night the Avery Vikings hoped to avoid a repeat of the previous week’s rout in Avery received the opening kickoff but was forced to punt to Polk. The Wolverines featured the all-around athleticism of quarterback Andre Overholt for the first of many times over the course of the evening, as the signal-caller scampered 23 yards into the end zone for the first Wolverine score of the game and a 6-0 lead.
Already facing an early deficit, Avery inflicted its first self-inflicted wound in the form of a fumble on its first offensive play of the ensuing series. Polk’s Chandler Miller recovered the ball at the Avery 25, and a 24-yard pass connection from Overholt to Kasey Jackson set up a one-yard plunge by Overholt to pull Polk ahead 12-0.
Avery’s next series ended much as the previous one. This time the Vikings turned the ball over as quarterback Alex Villanueva was picked off by Polk’s Ryan Thomas near midfield. A 34-yard scramble by Overholt on a 3rd and 23 kept the Wolverine drive alive, which was capped by an 11-yard touchdown pass from Overholt to Justin Blackburn. Following two unsuccessful two-point conversions on its previous scores, Polk chose to kick the extra point to build a 19-0 advantage.
The Vikings continued to shoot themselves in the foot on its next offensive series when, on the team’s second play, a center-quarterback exchange resulted in a fumble recovered by Polk inside the 20-yard line. The Wolverines immediately capitalized, as
After the first period, Polk had out-gained Avery in total yardage 147-43 and had forced three Viking turnovers. After the Vikings turned the ball over on downs to Polk, the Avery defense rose up when Tyler Buchanan forced a fumble that teammate Tyler Long recovered. Unfortunately, the Vikings were unable to capitalize when Villanueva was intercepted by Justin Blackburn at the Wolverines 9-yard line and returned to near midfield.
Avery’s defense had a hard time stopping the diversified Polk offensive attack.
In the final minutes of the half, Avery used a Dylan Aldridge punt to pin Polk deep in its own territory. The Vikings defense forced a
The Vikings hoped to mount a comeback with two quarter of action to be played, but the hopes were quickly dashed by the
After an Avery three-and-out, Polk mounted its longest drive of the evening, a 10-play, 70-yard march culminating in a second touchdown pass from Overholt to
The two teams combined for three turnovers over the next four minutes of play as the final quarter ensued. Late in the game, the Avery offense finally got untracked as Villanueva led the Vikings on a pair of touchdown drives. Remington Austin caught a 25-yard touchdown pass, while a Kenny Hicks two-point conversion run pulled Avery to within 46-14. After the Avery defense held Polk on a fourth down near the Viking red zone, Avery’s offense took over and drove 78 yards in eight plays. A 13-yard pass from Villanueva to Dylan Aldridge closed out the scoring.
“Avery was its own worst enemy tonight,” Avery head coach Darrell Brewer succinctly summed up after the loss. “Polk was a good football team, but we sure helped them along as well as we could.”
Avery’s record drops to an even 4-4 on the year, with a 2-2 conference mark. The Vikings travel to
