Article by Bryan Eslick
Coming into their District 25-6A opener, Explosive Plays had been the path to victory for both Stony Point and Vandegrift offenses. Of the 34 combined First Team Offense drives ending in a Touchdown or Field Goal over the first 3 weeks of the season, the Tigers (14) and Vipers (12) had at least one explosive play on 26 of them (76%). On Friday night, the fans were barely able to make it into their seats before the fireworks started at Monroe Stadium.
On their first series, Vandegrift only needed 3 plays to reach the end zone when QB Brayden Buchanan found a diving WR Miles Coleman in the end zone for a 44-yard touchdown pass to put the Vipers up 7-0 fifty-nine seconds into the contest. Stony Point answered right back with an explosive play of their own when 4 Star RB Cam Cook broke out of a 4th and 1 scrum for a 61-yard touchdown run to even the score at 7. The Vipers started their next possession with Coleman taking a shovel pass for 25 yards, followed 3 plays later with a Buchanan 28-yard pass to Sr. TE Charlie Oliver to set the Vipers up on the Tigers 2-yard line. On the next play, RB Alex Witt took the hand off up the middle for the second Viper score of the night and a 14-7 lead.
The Tigers added a Noah Lopez 37-yard FG to close out the 1st quarter scoring at 14-10, and then the Vipers defense took over in the 2nd quarter. With a blitz by the Vipers Davis Scott closing in on Tiger QB Ivan Villegas, he was forced into a back foot throw that was intercepted by Andrew Scott (Yes, they are brothers) and returned 40 yards for a Pick Six touchdown to extend the Vandegrift lead to 21-10. Later in the quarter, Alex Foster tipped a pass off the hands of Tiger WR Gerard Edimo back to himself for the second Viper interception of the night. Two plays later Buchanan once again hit Coleman in the End Zone for an 18-yard TD pass putting the Vipers up 28-10 with 3:02 left in the first half. After a Stony Point 3 and out, Vandegrift drove the field over the final 1:48 of the half, but Hayden Arnold missed a 28-yard FG wide right as time expired to leave the halftime score at 28-10.
Second Half
Things slowed down in the second half with both teams exchanging third-quarter scores, the Tigers with a 27-yard FG by Hayden Cartwright and the Vipers with a 3-yard Wildcat TD run by Alex Witt for his second score of the night. The Vipers then salted away almost all the fourth quarter with two long clock-eating drives, a 12-play 50-yd drive that took 4:28 off the clock ending in a partially blocked 27-yd FG attempt by Arnold, and an 11-play, 53-yard, 6:10 drive that culminated with a 9-yard TD run by Sr. RB Reece Trevino to set the final margin at 41-13.
The Vandegrift defense held their third opponent to less than 200 yards of total offense (110 yds passing/75 yards rushing). Keeping the Tigers two high-profile players in check by limiting Braylon James to 1 catch for 11 yards on 5 targets, and Cam Cook to 115 yards on 14 carries (with 98 of those yards coming on the opening drive 61-yard touchdown run, and a 37-yard run in the second quarter) along with the Tigers only TD of the game. The Viper secondary frustrated the Tiger QBs with 3 interceptions on the night, the final one by Sr. Safety Hudson Lillie on the last play of the game on a pass headed towards James. The Defensive line and Linebacker Units did their part, with constant pressure and movement, forcing the Tigers into six false start penalties and thirteen negative yardage plays for the game. Daemian Wimberly, Oliver Yndo, Austin Spieles, Cruz Orta, and Ian Witt all took part in sacks of the Tigers QBs.
The Viper offense went over their season average of 398 yards/game, with 427 total yards. Brayden Buchanan finished 18-25 for 254yds and 2 touchdowns. Alex Witt led the RBs with 24 carries for 121 yards and 2 touchdowns, along with Reece Trevino closing out the game with 5 carries for 31 yards and a TD. Miles Coleman led the Viper receivers with 9 receptions for 145 yards and 2 touchdowns.
Week 5
Both Vandegrift and Stony Point head into their bye week before their next District 25-6A games on Friday, September 30th. The Vipers, 3-1 (1-0), head to Manor for their first-ever matchup with the 4-0 (1-0) Mustangs, while the Tigers, 3-1 (0-1), will host the 4-0 (1-0) Round Rock Dragons at the Kelly Reeves Athletic Complex.
