Defense wins games. The offense entertains the fans.
Friday night at Viking Stadium, the Northside defense rose to the occasion to get the win, while the Viking offense pulled just enough big plays from their arsenal to keep the fans enthused.
In the end, Northside came away with the 19-7 win over Magna Vista in the 3A West quarterfinal that sends the Vikings on the road Saturday to take on 3A East #2 seed Loudoun Valley, a 34-6 winner over Central-Woodstock.
Northside’s defense set the tone from the outset Friday night against the Warriors. Magna Vista did not get its initial first down until less than two minutes were left in the first half and the Warriors only moved the chains six times in the entire game. Magna Vista had scored 93 points in its first two playoff wins in shootouts over Liberty and Western Albemarle.
“Defense comes first, ” Northside head coach Burt Torrence noted afterward. “We wanted to establish the defense early. This week we worked on technique football. At the end of the day, these guys responded. They’ve learned the value of buying into the program.”
After a battle of field position and punts that dominated the opening half, Northside got on the scoreboard first when freshman Tra’ Jackson pulled in an over-the-shoulder catch from quarterback Dominic Dunnaville and raced 32 yards to the end zone to put the Vikings up 7-0 after the Zach Large PAT with 1:33 left.
Magna Vista wasted its best opportunity of the half moments later when they drove inside the Viking 30, but turned the ball over on downs.
The Warriors tied things up midway through the third quarter. After converting on fourth down to the Viking 10-yard line, Magna Vista quarterback Shoalin McGuire rolled to his right on third down and hit a leaping George Ramey along the back line of the end zone for the 9-yard TD toss.
Northside came right back, using a Dunnaville 32-yard strike to wide receiver Ben Plunkett that set up the Vikings at the Warrior 11. Two plays later Northside workhorse Sam Krizner scored from 9 yards out to give the Vikings a 13-7 lead.
The Vikings got some breathing room early in the fourth quarter. A Magna Vista interception gave Northside the ball near their own 35. Two plays later Dunnaville connected on a 61-yard bomb with a striding Harold Buckner to put Northside in control 19-7. The Viking defense took over and Magna Vista never threatened the rest of the way.
Northside’s success on the big passing plays was set up by Krizner’s running. The 5’9″ senior tailback picked up 103 rushing yards.
“Sam set it up for us,” Torrence pointed out. “If they (Magna Vista) had laid back to cover the pass, Sam would have had 300 yards tonight. They had to come up to stop him and that allowed us to go deep.”
The Vikings won their third straight playoff game at Viking Stadium and now go on the road to hopefully win two more.
“We got the rough end of a very tough bracket,” Torrence added. “Now, we’re battle tested. I’m proud of these guys. They laid it on the line.”
– Bill Turner
