FOOTBALL: Vikings explode against Saints just before halftime

By News-Argus Staff
Published in Sports on September 19, 2016 9:57 AM

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By RUDY COGGINS

rcoggins@newsargus.com

KINSTON -- His customary red towel draped over his shoulder, Ronnie McClary Jr. watched in disbelief from the Southern Wayne sideline.

Within 3:33, a winnable ballgame completely slipped away.

Kinston reeled off 27 consecutive points in varying fashion and cruised to a 48-12 win on a seasonably cool mid-September Friday evening at Viking Stadium.

McClary Jr. said it was the little things -- not fully covering pass plays, not coming off the ball offensively to develop a rhythm in the running game. All correctable mistakes contended the first-year head coach.

"It was simple things that we've been practicing all week that we just forgot about," McClary Jr. said.

DeAndre Wright picked up his own fumble and rambled 62 yards to the house. The Saints trailed 8-6 and a sparse fan following roared its approval.

Then the unthinkable happened.

After a defensive stop, Kinston punter Jontora Kinsey got a friendly bounce that rolled dead at the Saints' 6-inch line. The Vikings (3-2 overall) forced a three-and-out, and scored two plays later. Bryon Harvey returned a "pick six" on SW's next offensive series.

A fumble led to another TD.

And an onsides kick, recovered and cashed in by the Vikings, capped the 27-point outburst with 1.4 seconds left before intermission.

Kinston 35, SW 6.

"The only thing we could do was get it out and just try to pound it," McClary Jr. said. "We do trust our running game and even though we got bad field position, we thought we could get it out, but we didn't. They just played better up front.

"They just made more plays than we did."

Instead of playing "Where's Waldo," the Kinston defense hunted for No. 8 -- Southern Wayne senior Manny Walker, who turned in a record-setting performance just seven days earlier against North Lenoir.

Walker didn't see any daylight.

The Vikings sacked Walker on five occasions and held the speedy utility player to 18 yards rushing on 16 totes.

"All we heard about was 8 (Walker) all week long. He set records last week and our goal was we didn't want that reputation of giving up that many yards," Kinston head coach Ryan Gieselman said.

"We take pride up front. We tell our guys if we're going to be successful, it starts with the O-line and D-line. That's what we preach day in and day out."

Kinston held SW to 161 yards of total offense.

Here are some game notes:

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

• Southern Wayne ran 52 offensive plays and averaged 3.1 yards per down. The Saints managed 2.86 yards per down on rushing attempts.

WHAT'S WITH THE FLAGS?

• Kinston and Southern Wayne combined to commit 25 penalties that resulted in nearly 300 total yards. The Vikings drew 16 yellow hankies that amassed 184 yards -- 47 less than their rushing output (231) for the game.

SERIES

• The Vikings won their fifth straight over the Saints and hold a 14-7 edge overall.

NO REST

• Southern Wayne (1-4 overall) opens Eastern Carolina 3-A/4-A Conference play Friday at New Bern, which is off to an uncharacteristic 0-5 start. The Bears have scored just 42 points in 20 quarters of action this season.