The Avery Vikings relied on a potent offense to jump out to a first half lead against the West Wilkes Blackhawks Friday night in Miller’s Creek. The defense made sure it stayed that way, as it pitched a second half shutout to propel the Big Red to a 54-27 victory to earn its first triumph of the 2009 season.Avery wasted no time in putting points on the scoreboard. On its opening drive the Vikings marched 65 yards over five plays, the highlight being a 50-yard touchdown strike from sophomore quarterback Alex Villanueva to wide receiver Andy Gonzalez. An Andres Castanedas point after kick gave Avery the early 7-0 advantage.
Avery’s defense held West to a three-and-out on its first series, forcing a Blackhawk punt. The Vikings picked right up where they left off with its ensuing series, this time hitting pay dirt in only three plays while covering 61 yards of real estate. Villanueva did the honors with his legs this time, scurrying 57 yards for a Viking touchdown. The PAT put Avery ahead by two touchdowns with less than four minutes elapsed in the opening stanza.
The early lead was huge in building positive momentum and confidence to a club coming off a difficult loss the previous week.
“Anytime you can score quickly it helps you. It’s like we carried the positive momentum we took from how hard we played at Robbinsville and just picked up where we left off,” Avery head football coach Darrell Brewer said after the victory. “Anytime you can put a couple of quick scores on somebody, it gets into your opponent’s head. It was good for us as a young football team too. We’ve been preaching to them over and over that we’re a good football team, and now they’ve seen it and believe it for themselves.”
West Wilkes regrouped with its second series as the offense found its rhythm. Senior quarterback Logan Hallock completed three passes on a drive, the last of which went to Andrew Marley for a 25 yard touchdown. The successful PAT cut Avery’s lead in half at 14-7.
In need of a score to retake momentum, the Avery offense methodically marched the football down the football field, chewing up 65 yards of turf over11 plays in a drive that consumed over four and half minutes of time off the clock. A key play that sustained the drive was a 4th and 1 carry by fullback Nathaniel Buchanan to move the chains. Villanueva capped the drive when he dove into the end zone from a yard out to boost the Big Red advantage to 21-7 with two minutes left in the quarter.As the second stanza began, the Blackhawks again charged downfield to the tune of a 12 play, 80 yard drive the resulted in a one-yard touchdown toss from Hallock to Andrew Adams. The score cut the Viking lead back to a seven-point cushion at 21-14. Following an Avery interception, West took full advantage of the situation, finding the end zone again on a 19-yard pass from Hallock to wide receiver Dalton Moore. The PAT was blocked by Avery, preserving a slim 21-20 edge early in the second period.
Rather than taking a downward spiral as occurred the previous week at Robbinsville, the Vikings responded almost with disdain at the West comeback. The Big Red offensive machine kicked into high gear to put more points on the board. Avery covered 74 yards with only three pass plays, the final of which a 41 yard touchdown connection from Villanueva to wide receiver Keith McKinney. The PAT pushed the Vikings ahead by a 28-20 score with
Following the latest Avery score, the Viking defense made a huge play. On the first play of its ensuing series West quarterback Hallock broke containment for a 31-yard run. The Viking defense stripped the signal-caller of the football at midfield as he was being tackled, however, and the Big Red recovered the loose pigskin. The Avery offense expressed its appreciation by returning to the West Wilkes end zone just 38 seconds later when Villanueva tossed his third touchdown pass of the half, this time a 25-yard dart to Taylor Potter. The PAT failed, but the Vikings led 34-20.
Faced with the prospect of a blowout loss, the West Wilkes special teams electrified the partisan Blackhawk crowd when Dalton Moore received the ensuing kickoff, maneuvered between Avery tacklers, and raced 82 yards for a touchdown. The extra point kept West hanging around and trailing by only seven at 34-27, a score which was unchanged for the remaining
As the second half began the Vikings made a number of adjustments. One change was defensively, changing the front line from a three-man front to a four-man front line.
“We tried to play a three-man line and try to cover their quarterback who runs so well. Finally we chunked the line because we weren’t getting to him and decided at halftime to go with a four-man line and put pressure on him,” Coach Brewer stated. “We felt that getting to the quarterback was our best chance at winning, and in the second half we were able to get to him. He still made some great throws in the second half, but we were hitting him and he was hearing footsteps with almost every pass.”
Another halftime adjustment came in utilizing a Wing-T offensive formation to shorten the game and pound the football at the tiring West Wilkes club.
“We felt like we were in a little better shape than they were and could pound them in the second half,” the coach elaborated. “Also, anytime a defense gets into a rhythm it can be good to change the look they see. It’s completely different for them from the first half, and is almost like they’re playing another different football team.”
With its first possession of the second half, the Vikings worked to add to their lead, but the drive stalled at the Blackhawk 11 yard line. The Big Red defense forced a sack and pushed the ball all the way to West’s own goal line, where a short punt gave Avery possession at the Blackhawks 35-yard line.
A short five-play drive, all rushing plays, resulted in a return trip to the end zone for the Vikes, as Villanueva scored from two yards out to increase the Avery margin to two scores at 41-27.
Needing to score, West moved the football into Avery territory with its ensuing possession as the final quarter began. The Vikings defense stiffened, however, and again made the Blackhawks punt the pigskin away.
The back-breaking drive which effectively removed doubt from the outcome was a 84-yard march bolstered by a 41-yard pass completion from Villanueva to Gonzalez and topped off by a Taylor Potter one-yard plunge into the end zone. With
Avery’s special teams partially blocked a West Wilkes punt following yet another stalled drive on the next Blackhawks possession. The Vikings added icing on the cake when Keith McKinney scored on the next play following the block, a 24-yard jaunt to provide the final margin for Avery’s first victory of the young season.
The Avery offense was dominating in gaining 592 yards (365 passing, 227 rushing) and the defense recorded seven quarterback sacks for the game. The Avery defense stifled the Blackhawks offense when it counted most, allowing only 57 total yards for West for the entire second half.
A star may very well have emerged in sophomore Alex Villanueva, who accounted for 455 yards in total offense and had a hand in six of Avery’s touchdowns.
“Alex is a very intelligent football player. He’s a student of the game and doesn’t carry himself like an underclassman,” Coach Brewer explained. “He made a couple of mistakes at Robbinsville, but he learned quickly from them right then. When he makes mistakes, he’s not likely to make the same mistakes again. He threw some great footballs tonight and has the potential to be something special in
Kenny Hicks led the Vikings with 96 yards rushing on 11 carries, while Andy Gonzalez hauled in five passes for 142 yards and teammates McKinney and Potter accounted for over 140 yards receiving and a pair of touchdown catches combined.
“I knew the kids would play hard. Take talent and everything away. If you have kids that will play hard, you’re going to win some ballgames,” Coach Brewer said. “I thought we executed our game plan well and ran better routes. We came out with a fire, and we told the team that we have a game under our belts and the time for being a young football team is over. I think we got better.”
The Vikings will look to make it two straight wins when they try to snap a three-game losing skid to the Watauga Pioneers in the Battle for the Bucket this Friday night at MacDonald Stadium.
