Published: August 29, 2008 02:12 am            

Vikings outlast Cougars in OT

DECATUR — Central Academy coach Ronnie Sciple has now officially coached in two high school football games.

But if Sciple coaches the rest of his life, it's unlikely he'll get a win any harder-earned than the one he got here Thursday night at Newton County Academy.

In a contest which featured 33 penalties and lasted 3 hours, 29 minutes — Central overcame a 20-0 deficit to outlast "host" Calvary Christian School 36-28 in overtime.

"We just had so many mistakes," Sciple said after his Vikings committed 22 penalties and had three turnovers. "But we didn't quit and found a way to win. I've gotta be proud of them for that."

Central, in its first season in the MPSA 8-man league, is now 2-0. The Vikings have already topped their number of wins and total points scored from last year's injury-riddled, 1-9 campaign.

Calvary, meanwhile, fell to 0-2 with a second hard-luck loss in as many weeks.

"You've gotta (Central) a lot of credit," first-year CCS head man Kirby Newell said. "They absolutely didn't quit and it started in the second quarter. We jump out 20-0 and they go on about a 9-minute drive that just got us all out of sync."

In fact, that 19-play, 9-minute drive didn't even result in points for the Vikings, who turned it over on downs at the Calvary 3-yard line. But Central's defense held and the Vikings got the ball back in good field position, scoring their first points of the night on the final play of the first half.

"We wore down at the end, and I know they did, too," Newell said. "But the bottom line is they won the line of scrimmage battle.

"I thought we played well, especially early. But our kids were absolutely worn out at the end."

In the overtime period, Central's Trevor Eaves scored on a 10-yard run on the Vikings' first play. He also ran in the two-point conversion from 8 yards out after the Vikings picked up their 21st penalty of the night.

Calvary's last-ditch effort ended when quarterback Kyle Koch scrambled from the 6 on fourth down before coming up about a yard shy of the goal line.

In the first period, however, it was the Kyle Koch show as the junior accounted for three TDs.

Calvary recovered an onsides kick to start the game, then Koch hit Jonathan Bartlett on a 40-yard strike on the first play from scrimmage. Four plays later, Koch weaved in from 4 yards out for a touchdown and Cory Holdiness ran in the two-point conversion for an 8-0 lead.

On the Cougars' second drive, Koch hit eighth-grader Desmond Grayson on a 54-yard pass-and-run for a touchdown and a 14-0 lead; then Calvary made it 20-0 with 1:18 left in the period on a 65-yard scoring jaunt by Koch.

After Central's 19-play drive shifted the momentum in the second quarter, the Vikes got on the board on the final play of the first half on an 11-yard scoring toss from Hunter Campbell to Eaves.

That made it 20-6, and Campbell's 19-yard touchdown pass to Ferris McGuire pulled Central within 20-12 at the 6:09 mark of the third quarter.

Less than 2 minutes later, Calvary struck again when Bartlett made a great catch on a 25-yard TD strike from Koch. Mo Dale ran in the two-point conversion to put the Cougars ahead 28-12.

Central got within 28-20 on a 4-yard touchdown run from Campbell and Andrew Mitcham's two-point dive with 11:21 left in the fourth quarter.

A safety pulled the Vikings within 28-22, and when Eaves returned the free kick all the way to the Calvary 10, it looked like Central was in business again. But Dale picked a Central pass out of the air on the next play, returning it to the Calvary 40 and seemingly putting the Cougars back in control.

Central got it back with 5 minutes left and Eaves needed just one play to knot things up — busting a 49-yard touchdown run to make it 28-all.

Both teams dropped potential game-winning touchdown passes in the final 2 minutes; and Central had a 52-yard touchdown on a hook-and-ladder on the game's final play nullified because of a penalty.

Eaves, who ran for 229 yards in a Week 1 win over Ben's Ford, had trouble with his footing on a wet field at NCA early. He had 8 yards on eight carries before the 49-yard touchdown burst — but finished with 67 yards rushing and 175 all-purpose yards.

Campbell led Central with 69 yards on 15 carries while Mitcham ran for 50 yards on 13 attempts. Campbell was also 9-of-22 passing for 114 yards. McGuire caught three balls for 51 yards and Eaves caught three for 46.

Koch ran for 110 yards on 16 carries and was 11-of-20 passing for 153 yards to lead Calvary. Bartlett caught five passes for 80 yards.

The Cougars managed 306 yards of offense — 205 of them in the first half.

        

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