WS Chronicle

Photo by Timothy Ramsey

BY TIMOTHY RAMSEY 

THE CHRONICLE

The Vikings of North Forsyth seemed to have a victory in hand during the final minutes of their game against Asheboro.

With a six point lead with under three minutes on the clock they only had to stop the Blue Comets offense one last time to achieve victory.  Asheboro not only tied the game with seconds left on the clock they won the game outright after going into overtime.

Asheboro received the opening kickoff and initially was driving deep into Viking territory until quarterback Jamel Carl was intercepted by cornerback Semaj Transou. North Forsyth puts together a productive drive of their own all the way into the Blue Comet redzone.  Viking quarterback Richard Ryce connected with Brandon Davis put North Forsyth up 6-0.

The Blue Comets came right back on their next possession and scored a touchdown of their own.  Carl atoned for his earlier interception and hit his receiver down the sideline for the tying score.

North Forsyth looked to go back on top later in the quarter as they drove deep into Blue Comet territory once again but this time failed to convert.  With their offense still clicking, Asheboro attempted to put points on the board before the half but was intercepted once again.

As the end of the first half neared the Vikings had a golden opportunity to take the lead back.  An intentional grounding call pulled them out of the red zone and they failed to score once again inside of the 20.

North Forsyth assistant coach Corey Stewart said his team gave up too many big plays and they have to work on that going for-ward.

“We missed a lot of opportunities and killed ourselves with penalties inside of the red zone,” said Stewart.  “I feel like it should have been like 20-6 at halftime but we kept stopping ourselves.

At the start of the third penalties played a major role in halting the first North Forsyth drive forcing them to punt.  Upon receiving the ball, Asheboro committed yet another turnover by fumbling on their first play, giving the ball back to the Vikings.

Asheboro head coach Blake Brewer says coming out of the half, he felt his team had a little more confidence than when they started the game.

“The saw that they could play with them and after they looked at the varsity film from last year they saw they had a lot of speed and earlier in the season we didn’t play well against speed,” Brewer said.  The first half showed that we could play with them and give us a boost of confidence.”

During the fourth quarter, the penalties began to mount on both sides making it difficult to move the ball.  The Vikings then ran the old school hook and lateral play to perfection that brought them all the way to the 13-yard line.

Running back Chris Myers punched it in from 3 yards out for a 12-6 lead.

With their backs to the wall, Asheboro manufactured a drive that included a fourth down con-version and a long pass to put them inside the red zone.  As the clock ticked under 20 seconds, Carl lobbed a pass up to 6-foot-3 receiver Latrell Moore in the end zone and he brought it down to tie the game forcing overtime.

North Forsyth took the ball first during the overtime and was intercepted on their first play. Sticking to the run game, the Blue Comets won the game on a designed run from the quarter-back.

Coach Stewart added, “They played hard and that was our first overtime game.  You can always learn something from those like mental toughness.  The boys didn’t quit and stayed with it and that’s all you can really ask for from kids at the end of the day. Somebody had to lose, and it just wasn’t our night.”