The Avery Journal-Times Border Battle has belonged to the home team the previous two years. On Friday night, the Avery Vikings continued to enjoy the home sweet home element of the Border Battle.The Vikings overcame early miscues to take a 51-20 victory over the Cloudland Highlanders for their second victory in the renewed series.
“They came out and hit a big play on us early,” Viking coach Darrell Brewer said. “We have been worried about them all week and with a young football team you never know how it is going to go. I told them last week that sometimes a good football team has to come from behind and we did that tonight.”
For the ‘Landers, they saw a chance to capitalize on the early Viking mistakes slip away despite a hard fought effort.
“The penalties and fumbles really set us back,” ‘Lander coach Robbie Turbyfill said. “We had a chance to keep momentum early on, but we couldn’t maintain it. Avery was able to run successfully on us and we had stressed the pass so much that our run defense suffered.
In the first quarter, it looked like the ‘Landers might just walk away with the contest. After being forced to punt, the ‘Landers Trey Hitechew picked off Avery quarterback Alex Villanueva. On the ensuing possession, Seth Miller lateralled to Seth Houstma who found Logan Morgan downfield for a 63-yard touchdown with the extra point giving the ‘Landers an early 7-0 lead.
Both defenses settled down for the remainder of the quarter as Avery forced the ‘Landers to punt once and forced a fumble that was recovered by John Masters, while the ‘Landers got interceptions by Morgan and Miller and also held the Viking to a punt.
The Vikings blocked a ‘Lander punt at the start of the second quarter by Keith McKinney which went out of the back of the end zone and cut the ‘Lander lead to 7-2. After the ensuing free kick, the ‘Landers forced another turnover as Miller recovered a Viking fumble. Cloudland could not take advantage of the field possession as they fumbled it back to the Vikings as Tyler Long recovered.The first play of the next drive saw Kenny Hicks rumble in from 11-yards out to score, and Colton Blackburn ran in for the two point conversion to give Avery a 10-7 lead. The ‘Landers moved the ball to midfield on their next possession, but was stopped when they attempted a fake punt. The Vikings make use of the short field as they scored six plays later when Nathaniel Buchanan scored on a run from 5-yards out giving Avery the 17-7 lead at halftime.
After the break, it was all Avery. The ‘Landers forced a Viking punt, but on the first play of the ‘Lander offensive series Long intercepted a Miller pass to set the Viking offense up at the Cloudland 26-yard line. Eight plays later saw Villanueva run in from three yards out to make the score 24-7 with the extra point made. The Viking defense forced another ‘Lander turnover on the next possession as Masters got his second fumble recovery of the night. That set up Villanueva’s 20-yard touchdown pass to Remington Austin as Andres Castandei’s extra point was successful giving them a 28 point lead. In all, the Vikings scored 31 unanswered points.
The ‘Landers got a break on their next possession as they kept the ball after a penalty overturned a Viking fumble recovery. Cloudland took advantages as Morgan ran in from 25 yards out to score. The extra point was unsuccessful as the score was 31-13 at the end of the 3rd. Avery’s offense kept clicking on all cylinders in the final period as Villanueva found Blackburn for a six yard touchdown pass, and after the Avery defense forced another ‘Lander turnover Villanueva hit Hunter Shields for a 46-yard touchdown.
Cloudland managed to get back on the board after
Trey Hitechew found some running room and went 95 yards on the ensuing kickoff. The scoring was capped off as Dustin Childress got in the act on the Vikings final drive as the extra point made for the 51-20 final.For the Vikings, it was an impressive showing and a statement that they will never give up.
“We played as a team, and I believe our boys are growing up a little bit,” Brewer said. “This football team even in our losses this year these guys have never quit. They play hard. This is going to be a good football team.”
Villanueva led the way for the Vikings with 19 of 32 passing for 205 yards with three touchdowns and three interceptions. He also added a touchdown on the ground, and drew high praise from his coach.
“He didn’t look like a sophomore tonight did he,” Brewer said. “Alex is a special kid and we feel like he won’t do anything but get better.”
Blackburn had 68 yards on eight carries for Avery, while Buchanan added six carries for 32 yards and a touchdown. Hicks and Childress each had a rushing touchdown. McKinney had six catches for 53 yards and also was credited with a blocked punt for the Vikings while Andy Gonzalez had seven catches for 63 yards. Shields, Austin and Blackburn all had a receiving touchdown.
For the ‘Landers, Hitechew had 195 return yards on five attempts, while Cole had 49 yards on 11 carries. Morgan had a touchdown on the ground and one through the air with 88 combined rushing and receiving yards, while Miller was 9 of 13 passing for 53 yards and one interception. Houstma was credited with a touchdown pass as well as three catches for 23 yards.Cloudland lost Tony Chambers for the second half after he received two personal fouls right before halftime and Lucas Whitehead suffered an injury early in the second half.
“There is a lot of stuff that we can work on,” Turbyfill said. “There was stuff that we did good we can point out, but there was a lot of things we are going to have to work on this week in practice.”
For Brewer, Friday’s victory over the ‘Landers is a special one for him.
“This game is something that everyone in both communities cares about,” Brewer said. “It’s got a little special extra meaning for me. It is a hard game to play because I hope these guys go 9-1 every year. I always have a little soft spot in my heart for Roan Mountain. I wanted our team to come out and play well. It is like playing your family. You want to compete, but you want to do well and come out on top. That is the way I feel about this game.”
The Vikings will enjoy their off week this coming Friday while the ‘Landers travel to Stoney Creek as they take on conference and county rival Unaka.
