Prep football: Vanden Vikings rebound after tough loss, knock off rival Wood
The Vanden Vikings were admittedly a little sluggish in the first half on the road against the Wood Wildcats in Vacaville on Thursday. But they snapped into shape after halftime — and reminded the Sac-Joaquin Section they might be a force in the Division IV postseason.
Vanden outscored Wood 28-7 in the second half to pull away in a 49-21 victory to improve to 7-1 on the year.
The only blemish on their record came in the previous week’s game against Vacaville, a frustrating 28-13 loss that had big implications on the standings, which carried over into the first 24 minutes Thursday against Wood.
“We weren’t executing in the first half,” Vanden head coach Sean Murphy said. “Shooting ourselves in the foot, silly mistakes, costly penalties, and we weren’t playing with any emotion. I think we had a hangover from last week and we weren’t executing. Second half, we executed on both sides of the ball and stopped shooting ourselves in the foot. That was the difference.”
The Vikings had three interceptions from sophomore cornerback Chris Clark, including a 38-yard pick-six in the third quarter.
“He’s been working extremely hard in practice,” Murphy said of Clark. “He had a very emotional week, so to see him come out and perform well like that — he had a great effort.”
That emotion Murphy mentioned turned into cheer in the fourth quarter on his team’s sideline when it was clear the game was in hand thanks to the explosive scoring in the second half. Meanwhile, the defense only allowed two touchdowns on the night, with Wood’s other score coming on an interception return from Diego Madriz.
Vanden got touchdowns from four other players.
The game started with Vanden senior Kasai Cox taking the opening kickoff for a touchdown. Running back Raheem Holt added a rushing score, offensive lineman Mason Wedertz recovered a fumble in the end zone, standout running back Elijah Fisherman scored on a fourth-down run from the 5-yard line, and senior receiver Leon Robinson made a one-handed catch with a defender draped on him before carrying him into the end zone for a 56-yard touchdown.
“What it does is it keeps us on track to have a high seed in the playoffs,” Murphy said. “So for our guys, for their goal, to move on in this section, that’s important.”
Vikings quarterback Tre Dimes had 202 passing yards with one touchdown pass, his beautifully thrown deep ball to Robinson. Fisherman had 137 yards on 14 carries.
For Wood, who came into the night 2-0 in the Monticello Empire League before falling to 5-2 overall, running back Manny Delatorre had two receiving touchdowns to go along with a big game on the ground.
Vanden finishes off its regular season schedule with games against Fairfield and Rodriguez, who are both below the Vikings in the standings. Vacaville’s slate concludes with Armijo and Wood, who would both have to beat the Bulldogs for Vanden to come away with the MEL title after Vacaville’s win last week.
For Wood, they play Rodriguez of Fairfield before finishing their regular season schedule with crosstown Vacaville on the road.
