The Shadow
STIFF ARM — Alleghany’s Christian Carter gets around the end in the second half Friday night at Mountaineer Field. (Gavin Dressler Photo)
STIFF ARM — Alleghany’s Christian Carter gets around the end in the second half Friday night at Mountaineer Field. (Gavin Dressler Photo)
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A 14-point minute just before the half took the wind out of the sails of Alleghany at Mountaineer Field Friday night.
Rahiim Cunningham plunged over from the three with 57 seconds left and Marc Lee cashed in a pick-six on the last play of the half in Northside’s 48-17 Blue Ridge District win.
The Vikings, the defending Group 3A state champion, put up 21 unanswered in the third period to put away a contest that was in serious question for the first 23 minutes.
“We made some mistakes and when you play against teams like this, the mistakes are amplified,” said Alleghany coach Gary Burdette. “Not that they can’t be overcome, everybody on any level from pee wee to the NFL makes mistakes.
But against good teams, they seem like they’re really amplified a whole lot more.”
And although the interception and return for a score was huge, Burdette said it was just one play in the game. “The football game is composed of a lot more than just one play,” said Burdette. “We made some errors, but they are correctable things — that starts with me.”
The Mountaineers threw the first haymaker on their second offensive series.
Christian Carter took a quick toss and went 76 yard untouched for a score.
After Northside countered with a touchdown, Alleghany made a another big offensive play.
Carter took a handoff from Matt Patterson, but lateraled back to his quarterback.
Patterson hit Derek Tremblay for 39 yards to the Vikings 18 with the flea-flicker throw.
Levi Seay booted a 28-yard field goal and the Mountaineers led for the second time, 10-7.
“We came in with a game plan and we thought obviously taking some shots downfield was part of that,” said Burdette. “We hit them on a big pass play, unfortunately sometimes we were our own worst enemies out there.”
Northside took the lead for good when Cunningham scored from the three, but the biggest play of the game came seconds later.
Carter and Patterson both ran for first downs, but the Mountaineers were almost out of time with the ball at the Viking 38.
With one snap left, Patterson’s throw away on a screen was picked by Lee. The 200-pound defensive end took it back all the way for a 21-10 halftime lead.
Cunningham’s third score and two Josh Hardister touchdown throws — one to K.J. Mitchell and another to Hayden Porterfield — balloned the lead to 35-10 in the third period.
The teams traded fourth-quarter touchdowns with Carter rumbling 30 yards down the home sideline and just hitting the pylon with 48 seconds left for the final score of the game.
Carter posted his fourth 100-yard game of the season, covering 152 yards on 14 carries, while Patterson and Tyler Broughman, who played the second half, combined to go 9-of-17 in the air for 82 yards.
Corey Williams was the ground leader for the Vikings with 112 yards, while Hardister was an efficient 11-for-19 for 165 yards and two touchdowns.
Northside (3-0 Blue Ridge District, 5-2 overall) now prepares for a league showdown at home against Lord Botetourt (2-0, 4-2) next Friday.
The Mountaineers (1-2, 3-4) go on the road to face William Fleming next week.
The Colonels moved to 5-1, 2-1 in the BRD, Friday night with a 28-0 shutout of Staunton River.
“We are going to put a plan together for these guys to be successful down the stretch,” Burdette said. “We still have three games that are very important to us and our season. I think we have a lot of character in some of our players that will be revealed over the next few weeks. They’re going to keep fightin’.”
