Vikings keep EOL championship alive with shutout over Nyssa
By Scott Ford
Argus Observer
Sunday, October 28, 2007 3:07 AM PDT
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| Vale’s Luke Skerjanec (46) runs right by a Nyssa Bulldog would-be tackler during football action in Nyssa Friday night. Vale won the game 45-0 and assured itself a spot in the 3A Oregon football playoffs. |
NYSSA - It did not take Vale long to make a statement against Nyssa Friday night, and the statement was loud and clear.
The Vikings scored two first-quarter touchdowns for the early 14-0 lead, and on the first play of the second quarter they found paydirt again to boost the lead to 21-0.
Vale cruised from there to a 45-0 blanking of the Bulldogs, which ended the defending 3A state champions hopes for a repeat.
But the win propelled the Vikings forward and into a key match up against Grant Union this Friday night in a game that will determine the Eastern Oregon League champ.
Grant Union took care of business as well with a 51-0 stomping of Riverside.
Vale’s Tyler Pirrie had a big night for the Vikings with three touchdowns on 6-of-11 passing for 95 yards. Adding to the totals, senior running back Cam Anthony plowed his way to 94 yards on the night.
The key to the win for the Vikings was the plays of the defense. Vale stepped up defensively and made it hard for Nyssa to get going offensively.
After going down 21-0 Nyssa stubbed its toe on its first possession of the second quarter when Roger Garza was popped by the Viking defense and coughed up the pigskin and Vale recovered on the Bulldog 25 yard line.
Three plays later, Vale extended its lead to 28-0 on a Pirrie pass to Russell Seals in the corner of the end zone with 10:14 to play in the second frame.
On the ensuing kickoff, the Viking kick coverage got the big hit on Kyle Schoorl causing him to drop the football on the turf and again Vale recovered the loose ball setting up a first-and-10 at the Bulldog 20 yard line.
And once again Vale only needed three plays to score as they copied the previous scoring play with a Pirrie to Seals completion to the corner of the end zone giving the Vikings a 35-0 lead with 9:28 to play in the first half.
Vale added a field goal at the 2:17 mark when Viking kicker Darin Johnson booted the ball 26-yards for the score, giving the Vikings a 38-0 advantage at the break.
Thing did not get any better for the Bulldogs in the second half of play as the Viking defense continued to dominate and keep Nyssa out of the endzone.
The Vikings came out of the locker room a little sluggish and their first possession ended with a punt and their next ended with an interception. But on the third possession of the second half, Vale found the promise land with a 50-yard jaunt around the right side by Skerjanec to end all scoring for the game and give Vale a 45-0 lead. With the 45-point spread the game went into hurry up mode, meaning the clock could only be stopped on time outs.
Nyssa head coach Larry Ramirez said that was the worst outing by his team all year. “Vale is a good team, they took away what we wanted to do,” he said. “You can’t give up that many points early in the game and expect to come back. We can’t have a slow start like that.”
Ramirez added the Viking defense applied good pressure on his team all night.
Viking offensive coordinator Sam Crockett said he was very proud of the job the offense and the “O” line did.
“Our line did a great job and they set the tone for the game.” He added he was pleased with the performance of Pirrie.
“They (Nyssa) did a great job of taking away the middle, so we attacked the edges and it worked well for us,” Crockett said.
Vale plays Grant Union at 7 p.m. Friday in Vale and head coach Jeff Jacobs said it will be the biggest game of the season for his team.
