Mistakes Costly As Salem Tops Northside 38-14

Salem's Luke Owen outraces the Northside defense for a 46-yard TD punt return in the second quarter Friday night, paving the way for the Spartans' 38-14 win over the Vikings.
Salem’s Luke Owen outraces the Northside defense for a 46-yard TD punt return in the second quarter Friday night, paving the way for the Spartans’ 38-14 win over the Vikings.

The Salem Spartan football team is famous for scoring plenty of points.

The last thing an opponent needs to do is give them some help.

Turning the tide with a pair of costly Viking fumbles to start the second half, Salem used the advantage to pull away with the 38-14 win Friday night at Jim Hickam Field.

“You don’t need to help Salem, and we did,” Northside head coach Burt Torrence said after the game. “It’s a rivalry game and you can’t make those kind of mistakes.”

Torrence was referring to the huge turnaround in the opening minutes of the third quarter when the Vikings controlled field position and were looking to tighten up a 17-7 halftime deficit.

Salem had received the second half kickoff and were backed up to their own 9-yard line after a third down penalty. After a Spartan punt, Northside took over at the Salem 46 and the Vikings were moving the ball before standout Tra’ Jackson fumbled after a 15-yard run, turning the ball over to the Spartans at the 18-yard line.

Salem went three-and-out, but Northside shot themselves in the foot again when Jackson misplayed a bad bounce on the punt, with Salem recovering on the Northside 26. Four plays later, Salem pushed in the dagger on any Viking momentum when quarterback Noah Beckley hit Vincent Pinello on a 16-yard strike that staked Salem to the 24-7 lead with 5:13 left in the third quarter.

The Spartans went up 31-7 on a Donte Clayborne 6-yard TD scamper to start the fourth quarter, essentially ending any comeback designs by the Vikings .

Salem was not without its own share of miscues, including giving up a 44-yard fumble return by Viking Logan Altizer with 3:46 left in the game that cut the Salem lead to 31-14.

After a failed insides kick, Salem’s De’angelo Ramsey took it to the house on the first play with a 52-yard run that settled the final margin.

Salem’s defense had set up an early Spartan lead when they held Northside on the Vikings’ opening drive of the game, leading to a methodical Spartan drive capped off by running back Alex Ramsey’s 3-yard plunge.

The Spartan faithful’s celebration was still in full gear when Jackson took the ensuing kickoff and raced 95 yards to tie things at 7.

“Tra’ is a go-to guy for us,” Torrence noted. “He had the miscues, but that’s not going to happen often with him. He’ll be big for us all season.”

“That’s two weeks in a row we’ve had a kickoff returned for a touchdown,” Salem head coach Stephen Magenbauer noted. “We need to fix that. We’ve got a lot of young guys playing right now. Our coaches had them ready and they played well tonight. Believe me, this is a very tough place to play.”

Luke Owen had put Salem up 14-7 with 7:00 left in the second quarter after he dropped a punt a near midfield, then emerged from a scrum to go 46 yards into the left side of the end zone. Salem kicker Nate Craft closed the first half scoring with a 24-yard field goal in the final moments of the second quarter for the 17-7 Spartan lead heading to the break.

Salem now moves on to host Hidden Valley next Friday night, while Northside travels to face undefeated Lord Botetourt in Dakleville.

Bill Turner

Latest Articles

- Advertisement -

Latest Articles

- Advertisement -

Related Articles