By Billy Tyler
The Latta High School Vikings football team, under the direction of first year head coach Brandon Iseman, traveled to face off against the Allendale-Fairfax Tigers Friday night in a battle for the Division I Class A Lower State Championship. This is the deepest run the Vikings have made into the playoffs in approximately 19 years.
Allendale-Fairfax won the coin toss and deferred to the second half, so Latta received the opening kickoff.
The first quarter of play was a defensive battle between the teams with little movement for either offense. The Latta defense held strong on an Allendale-Fairfax fourth and goal at the half-yard line in the second quarter and took over on downs, but the Viking offense could only manage to move the ball out to their own 37 yard line before fumbling the ball away where the Tigers recovered. Both defenses held strong in the first half with a score of 0-0 at halftime.
The Tigers received the opening kickoff in the third quarter and returned it to their own 30-yard line.
The Viking defense was still determined to hold the Tigers off and forced a punt with 7:36 left in the third quarter.
The Viking offense still struggled to get much movement in the third quarter and had to punt the ball back to the Tigers with 6:07 left in the quarter. This punt was downed at the Allendale-Fairfax 15 yard line. The Tigers drove the ball down the field and set up a first and goal at the end of the third quarter with the score remaining 0-0 when the buzzer sounded.
The Viking defense was stubborn on the first three downs of the fourth quarter, but the Tigers finally found the endzone on 4th and goal with 10:28 left in the game. They attempted a 2 point conversion but fell short by great play of the Viking defense. The Tigers attempted an onside kick but the Vikings were ready and took the ball at the Tiger 46 yard line.
The Viking offense still struggled to get anything going and was forced to punt once again. The punt landed in the endzone and the Tigers took over at their own 20 yard line.
The Tigers managed to move the ball for a few plays before the Viking defense got stingy and forced another punt. Latta took over at their own 5 yard line and tried to get something going on offense. Colby Lee’s pass was batted into the air and intercepted by the Tiger defense which set up a first and goal situation.
The Tigers scored with 5:55 left in the game and could not convert the 2 point conversion try which left a 12-0 score on the board.
Latta received the kickoff but the Viking offense still struggled to advance the ball, and the Tigers took over on downs at the Latta 45 yard line. The Tigers moved the ball down and scored with 4:08 left in the game and converted the 2 point conversion to go up 20-0.
The Vikings did not want to give up just yet and drove deep into Tiger territory to set up a first and goal at the 10 yard line with 1:05 left in the game. The Tiger defense intercepted Lee’s pass and returned it for a touchdown and converted on the 2 point conversion to give the final score of 28-0.
The Vikings ended up with 4 turnovers in the game; 3 interceptions and 1 fumble. The Vikings finish the season at 9-4.
