Vale’s defense reigns
Viking pick up four sacks and three picks in win
By Ray Rodriguez
Argus Observer
Sunday, August 31, 2008 12:36 AM PDT
Vale—Defense reigned supreme for the Vale Vikings.
Vale rattled off four sacks, grabbed three interceptions, recovered a fumble, blocked a punt and allowed four yards passing in the second half in its 28-0 blanking of Homedale, Friday at Frank Hawley Stadium in Vale.
Homedale managed one drive into the red zone, and averaged a paltry 2.6 yards a rush.
“Their offensive line had trouble with our kids,” Vale coach Jeff Jacobs said. “It’s tough to simulate that properly in practice. That’s going to be our calling card — put pressure on the quarterback. I thought our secondary did a great job, they played solid defense.”
The monster of the secondary was safety Russell Seals.
Seals tallied double digits in tackles and nabbed two interceptions.
“Russ has been reluctant to understand his role,” Jacobs said. “He needs to know he’s one of the top dogs in the state. He’s very athletic, big and strong. He made some big plays for us.”
The offense was able to muster a few quality drives, overcoming some early jitters.
Jarrod Tucker rushed eight times for 106 yards and the Vale offense rattled off 296 total yards.
Vale kicked off the scoring at the 5:06 mark of the first quarter, taking advantage of a fumble by Homedale’s Rodrigo Villarreal.
After a false start penalty put the ball on the 8, the Vikings needed two plays before Austin Hood rumbled in from five yards out for the score.
The extra point run by Hood failed, and Vale was up 6-0.
At the 1:24 mark of the second quarter, Vale hit the scoring column once again, using a three-play, 77-yard drive.
Jeff Williams kicked things off with a 39-yard scamper and Tucker finished it off, as he grabbed a pitch right, broke a couple of tackles and cut to the middle of the field for a 40-yard jaunt to give Vale a 12-0 lead.
Quarterback Kyle Barras punched in the extra-point conversion run, and the Vikings held the 14-0 cushion at the break.
In the first half, Vale tallied 131 yards of offense on its six drives. Homedale also had six drives, but punted three times, turned the ball over twice and had a punt blocked.
Both teams fought through a scoreless third stanza, and Vale added two late touchdowns.
In the fourth quarter, the Vikings landed the knockout blows on a 1-yard run by Williams, and with 4:23 remaining, Barras capped the scoring on a 1-yard plunge into the end zone.
Barras, a sophomore playing in his first varsity contest, went 4-of-13 for 72 yards and added eight rushes for 36 yards.
“I thought Kyle did a good job of managing the offense,” Jacobs said. “Our big play capabilities put us in position for some scores.”
Vale has struggled out of the gates in the past couple of years with opening game setbacks.
Seals was happy to see the trend change for the 2008 season.
“For the last three or four years we haven’t won our first game, so it was good to start out with a win. Hopefully we can keep it going into the regular season,” Seals said. “It was a tough game. We made a lot of mistakes, but like Jacobs said, a victory is a victory.”
At the end of the day, it still is one game and Jacobs, although optimistic, expects some improvements from his group.
“There are some things we have to work on. The competition is only going to get better from here on out. I’m encouraged. I know we are going to be a good team,” Jacob said.
Vale (1-0 overall) travels to La Grande, Friday.
———
Vale 28, Homedale 0
Homedale 0 0 0 0 — 0
Vale 6 8 0 14 — 28
SCORING SUMMARY
First Quarter
Vale — Austin Hood 6 run (Run failed). 5:06
Second Quarter
Vale — Jarrod Tucker 40 run (Kyle Barras run). 1:24
Fourth Quarter
Vale — Jeff Williams 1 run (Run failed). 9:58
Vale — Barras 1 run (Barras run). 4:23.
———
TEAM STATISTICS
Homedale Vale
First downs 7 9
Total Yards 120 296
Rushes-yards 34-81 37-224
Passing yards 39 72
Comp-Att-Int 6-11-3 4-13-1
Fumbles-Lost 1-1 2-1
Penalties-Yards 5-30 9-60
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INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — Homedale, Villarreal 4-6, Cuellar 17-52, Merenes 9-23, Ryska 4-0; Vale, Tucker 8-106, Barras 8-36, Hood 9-36, Yraguen 4-0, Williams 7-86,Brett Ryska 1-3.
PASSING — Homedale, Ryska 6-11-3—39 yards; Vale, Barras 4-13-1—72 yards.
RECEIVING — Homedale, Acree 3-12, Sweet 1-14, Merenes 1-9, Cuellar 1-4; Vale, Hood 1-6, Seals 2-43, Yraguen 1-23.
