by John Howley / sportingpumpkin.com
RUSHVILLE — When Teays Valley went back to its base defense, the tide swung in the Vikings’ favor as TV picked up a 49-22 win at Fairfield Union Friday night.
“In the first half we were trying some things on defense for the future,” TV coach Mark Weber said. The idea was to help the Vikings prepare for different looks the team could see in the postseason.
The Falcons found some ways to exploit the different defensive look and had a 22-21 halftime lead.
“That put us in a really bad spot, quite honestly, and they really exposed it,” Weber said. “In the second quarter, I said to go back to the base. The defensive coordinator did an excellent job getting back to the base.
“Once we got back to the base in the second half, it was like a new game. If we would have been in the base from the beginning, they probably wouldn’t have scored a point.”
The Vikings opened the game with a 10-play drive that ended with senior quarterback Tyler Love scoring from 11 yards out.
FU answered with an eight-play drive which ended with junior quarterback Hayden Collins scoring from 12 yards
After the Vikings were forced to punt, Collins broke through on the fourth play of the drive to go 63 yards for the score.
TV answered with a four-play drive of its own that saw Camden McDanel score on a 34-yard run.
After forcing the Falcons to punt, TV needed only one play to take the lead as Love connected with Harrison Payne on an 80-yard scoring play.
The Falcons drove down inside the TV 20 with less than a minute left in the half and were looking to add three points before the break. Junior kicker Isabella Neal’s 32-yard attempt was blocked, but a roughing the kicker call gave the Falcons a first down. Trace Pennell took the ball on the next play and scored from seven yards out, then ran in the two-point conversion to put his team up at the break.
Teays Valley took control in the second half. Fairfield Union’s first three possessions ended in punts, the next on downs and a lost fumble ended the fifth possession.
The Vikings, on the other hand, scored on four of their five possessions.
McDanel ran one in from three yards out, Love and Payne connected on a 52-yard score, McDanel broke a 57-yard scoring run and Peyton Weiler caught an 11-yard scoring pass from Matthew Farmer.
“I love how we’re playing team ball. Everybody is getting the ball,” Weber said.
TV spent most of its time running the ball (31 carries for 252 yards), but was effective when the passing game was called upon as the Vikings picked up 207 yards on just five receptions.
“Whatever the defense gives you – so if they’re only going to sit one corner on our fast receiver, boom,” Weber said.
McDanel was the team’s leading rusher with 132 yards on eight carries and Payne caught three passes for 177 yards.
The Falcons got all their yards on the ground as they ran for 317 yards on 63 carries. Collins accounted for 213 of those yards.
“Our defense, we’ll shore that up this week,” Weber said. “This Covid stuff has made everything weird. It’s been a weird week trying to practice and we’re following the protocols. It’s a give, take type thing.”
• The win for the Vikings was the 50th with Weber at the helm making him the winningest coach in Teays Valley football history.
Up next
Teays Valley (4-0, 1-0) will look for its second league win next week with a trip to Liberty Union (2-2, 0-1), which fell 20-10 to Amanda-Clearcreek (3-1, 1-0).
Weber, said the Vikings’ focus will be only on the Lions this week as no opponent cane overlooked.
“I think the league is really good this year. If you try to look two weeks down the road, you will split, you will break,” he said. “And, really, it’s the Vikings. I don’t care who we’re playing, we’ve got to know what we’re doing. The Vikings can beat the Vikings, so we can’t let that happen.”
Teays Valley 49, Fairfield Union 22
By Quarters 1 2 3 4 F
Teays Valley 7 14 7 21 49
Fairfield Union 7 15 0 0 22
First Quarter
TV — Tyler Love 9 run (Cale Clifton kick), 7:20.
FU — Hayden Collins 12 run (Isabella Neal kick), 2:48.
Second Quarter
FU — Hayden Collins 63 run (Isabella Neal kick), 11:47.
TV — Camden McDanel 34 run (Cale Clifton kick), 10:34.
TV — Harrison Payne 80 pass from Tyler Love (Cale Clifton kick), 3:41.
FU — Trace Pennell 7 run (Trace Pennell run), 0:03.
Third Quarter
TV — Camden McDanel 3 run (Cale Clifton kick), 3:22.
Fourth Quarter
TV — Harrison Payne 52 pass from Tyler Love (Cale Clifton kick),10:57.
TV — Camden McDanel 57 run (Cale Clifton kick).
TV — Peyton Weiler 11 pass from Matthew Farmer (Cale Clifton kick), 1:35.
TEAM STATISTICS
TV FU
First downs 16 18
Rushing yards 31-252 63-317
Passing yards 207 0
Comp.-Att.-Int 5-8-0 0-3-0
Total yards 459 317
Fumbles-Lost 1-1 2-1
Penalties-Yards 10-93 5-37
Punts-Ave. 1-32 3-28
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING –Teays Valley — Camden McDanel 8-132, Gavin Karshner 4-11, Tyler Love 6-32, Harrison Payne 1-5, Peyton Weiler 6-29, Landon Thompson 6-43. Fairfield Union — Hayden Collins 32-213, Blayne Carpenter 9-47, Grant Boch 4-10, Jayden Pritchard 13-41, Trace Pennell 4-5, Jakob Markwood 1-1.
PASSING – Teays Valley — Tyler Love 4-7-0-196, Matthew Farmer 1-1-0-11. Fairfield Union — Hayden Collins 0-3-0-0.
RECEIVING – Teays Valley — Harrison Payne 3-177, Peyton Weiler 2-30.
