Heritage “Slashes” past Northside in a 40-7 victory
Jim Hickam Field, Roanoke VA – The Heritage Pioneers got it done on both sides of the ball Friday night, punching in six TD’s and forcing three Viking turnovers. “Give Coach Bradley and his players the credit, they just beat us up,” Vikings Coach Fisher said. “We’ll come to practice Monday and try to start again.”
It was Heritage’s QB/DB 2 Aiden Slash (13/95 rush yards 2TD’s, 10/14 101 pass yards 1TD) that led the charge. The sophomore scored the first TD of the night along with two more using his speed and his arm.
Slash wasn’t Heritage’s only weapon. RB/LB 2 Jeff Mosley (12/91 rush yards 1TD) picked up a TD late in the fourth quarter.
Fellow Sophomore RB/LB 11 Zaid Holloway (4/58 rush yards 2TD’s) acted as the Pioneer’s finisher, punching in two three yard TD’s. It was a night for Sophomores, as the Vikings got into the act as well. Northside QB 2 Angel Rigney (7/38 rushing, 11/15,112,TD,INT) connected with WR 10 Mikel Harvey (4/14 rush yards, 2/3 27 rec. yards) in the fourth.
Rigney launched an arching 29 yard pass deep into the end zone and Harvey pulled it in with an overhead catch for the Vikings only score of the night. “Coming off of two losses in a row for the first time in a long time I told them [Heritage] we could come out here and fight our butts off or we could feel sorry for ourselves,” Heritage’s Coach Bradley said after the win, “our kids did a good job.”
The Pioneer’s next score came after the longest drive of the game consisting of 18 plays and four penalties, three of which were against Heritage. The only Viking penalty came at the worst possible time for the home team. It was a 15 yard facemask on third down, giving Heritage the first. After the Pioneer’s broke into Viking territory, a holding penalty brought up fourth down, but Slash drilled QB/DB 10 Jaylen Armistead for ten yards and the first to set up Holloway’s first TD. 12-0 Heritage.
Heritage’s defense imposed their will on the Vikings for most of the night, setting up two TD’s off turnovers. The first came after Holloway’s score. Rigney’s receivers were locked up so the sophomore took it himself, jumping over a few downed lineman before taking a hard hit from Pioneer OL/DL 55 Treandre Clark. The ball was knocked loose and recovered by the visitors, setting up a 13 yard Slash TD pass to RB/LB Quentz Petty. “I was really proud of our defense,” Coach Bradley said.
The second turnover to touchdown came in the third quarter immediately after a Rigney TD pass to Harvey was pulled back due to a false start penalty. Back to the turnover; the Pioneer line muscled through the Vikings line leaving room for WR/DB 12 Braylen Horsley to dart in for a big hit on Rigney. Senior B/RB 12 Aiden Overstreet scooped up the loose ball, and sprinted downfield 33 yards before Northside’s 12 Darrion King caught up to prevent the TD. Two Slash passes later and Holloway was in the end zone again, increasing the Pioneer’s lead to 33-0 with the entire fourth quarter left to play.
The next drive was all Vikings as the home team finally strung together enough big plays in row to score. First, Rigney hit 14 Javin Gibson for 11 yards followed up by a jumping pass to 23 Ryker Workman for another 19 yards to set up Northside’s only TD of the night.
Despite their huge lead, Heritage and Mosley weren’t going to let the Vikings get the last word. The Junior picked up 53 yards over four carries, scoring the last TD of the night to reach the final score of 40-7.
Next week Heritage takes on Amherst County at home and Northside Heads to Franklin County to face the Eagles – Graham Whitaker
Game Stats
Rushing:
Heritage – Aiden Slash 13/95yds 2TDs, Jeff Mosley 12/91yds 1TD, Zaid Holloway 4/58yds 2TD’s, Jaylen Armistead 2/11yds, Kemondre Fleshman 1/2yd Northside – Angel Rigney 7/38yds, Mikel Harvey 4/14yds, Darrion King 3/10yds, Austin Slash 2/7yds, Jayden Cole 1/6yds, Vernon Ragnone 2/1yd, Chris King 1/0yds
Passing:
Heritage – Aiden Slash 10/14 101yds 1TD Northside – Angel Rigney 11/15 112yds 1TD 1INT, Javin Gibson 0/1 0yds
Receiving:
Heritage – Tavion Clark 4/8 55yds, Jaylen Armistead 2/19yds, Quentez Petty 1/13yds TD, Chris Reed 2/2 8yds, Zaid Holloway 1/6yds Northside – Javin Gibson 4/4 37yds, Ryker Workman 2/2 27yds, Darrion King 2/2 3yds, Austin Slash 0/5 0yds
Punting:
Heritage – Marcus Gafford 3/27yd avg Northside – Dakota Kelly 4/26yd avg, Angel Rigney 1/29yds
SCORING
1st Qtr:
Heritage – 13yd Ayden Slash rush: PAT failed 5:13
2nd Qtr:
Heritage -3yd Zaid Holloway rush: 2 ptr failed 4:59
Heritage -13yd Ayden Slash pass to Quentez Petty: Marcus Gafford PAT 1:51
3rd Qtr:
Heritage -16yd Ayden Slash rush: Marcus Gafford PAT 3:11
4th Qtr:
Heritage -3yd Zaid Holloway rush: Marcus Gafford PAT 11:09
Northside -29yd Angel Rigney pass to Austin Slash: Fite PAT 6:57
Heritage -23yd Jeff Mosley rush: Marcus Gafford PAT 3:51