Anyone second-guessing the direction of Northside football can breath a sigh of relief.
After a season opening win over perennial powerhouse Amherst County last week, the Vikings flexed their muscles in dominating style Friday night at Dwight Bogle Stadium as Northside rolled to a 44-0 win over the over-matched Knights.
Northside controlled the lines on both sides of the ball, leaving the young Knight team with an uphill battle all evening.
“Northside is a very talented football team,” Cave Spring head coach Tim Fulton said afterward. “We couldn’t keep the Northside offense off the field. We’re a young team and we need to execute better. We did a bad job of tackling tonight, but their size had a lot to do with that.”
Cave Spring got the opportunity for the quick upper hand when Northside fumbled the opening kickoff, setting the Knights up in the red zone. Three plays got nothing for Cave Spring against the stingy Viking defense and a 47-yard field goal attempt sailed just left. Northside gained momentum when quarterback Dominic Dunnaville picked up 64 yards after scrambling from his own 24-yard line to the Knights 12 midway through the first. Northside got on the board when Dunnaville hit junior Austin Fisher on a 6-yard strike for a 7-0 Viking lead.
The Vikings effectively put the game away with a 17-point second quarter that included a 14-yard touchdown pass to Harold Buckner, 61-yard strike to Sam Krizner and 35-yard field goal by Zach Large with one second left in the half that gave the Vikings the 24-0 lead heading to the locker room.
Krizner added a 12-yard TD run midway through the third quarter and a Tra’ Jackson 21-yard touchdown reception on the next possession put the Vikings up 37-0 and put the clock in continuous countdown. Northside added a fourth quarter score by Rahiim Cunningham for the final margin.
Dunnaville was 9-of-18 for 128 yards in the passing game to lead the Vikings. His performance was not lost on Viking head coach Burt Torrence.
“With Dominic you pick your poison. If you let him run, he has great speed on the edge. If you let him set up in the pocket, he’ll find a receiver.”
Torrence agreed that the two dominating wins to start the season have been a big plus for the Northside squad. “We’ve come out of the gate strong,” Torrence noted. “Now, we can focus on little things. We worked on strength conditioning in the off season. Things are getting better.”
– Bill Turner
