By Carl Holcomb
Moorefield Examiner
One of the oldest rivalries in the Potomac Valley Conference packed the stands and lined the fences in Petersburg last Friday as the Vikings hosted the Yellow Jackets in the 95th meeting since 1933.
The Vikings denied Moorefield a third straight hoisting of the little brown jug trophy as Petersburg scored 21 unanswered points in the second half to ground the Yellow Jackets 28-6 in the Burke & Herbert Brawl.
Despite the loss, Moorefield holds a 67-24-4 overall series record advantage against the Vikings.
Petersburg remains undefeated at 5-0 this season, while the Yellow Jackets fell to 0-5
“We were really worked up before the game. We were kind of tight and made a few mistakes in the first half which held us back. Once we got in there, we relaxed and regrouped and were ready to play in the second half. I loved our fire in the second half, but I want to see it for four quarters. If we can do that, then we will be a tough team to handle,” Petersburg coach Shane Shockey remarked.
“[Brawl]. This is only my second one. It’s big. Last year we were disappointed we got beat. It was good to come out and win this one on our home field. Our seniors work hard, they are troopers. I came in and changed the culture and changed everything on them last year. They bought into it and do anything I ask of them. They are reaping the rewards now.”
The Vikings grabbed the early lead 7-0 in the opening frame.
Moorefield responded in the second quarter as senior quarterback Brock Linville made his debut return with an 18-yard touchdown keeper, but the extra point kick from Levi Davis was blocked by Petersburg’s Matt McDonald to keep the Vikings ahead 7-6.
An inspirational halftime discussion fueled the Vikings in the second half to ignite 21 straight points for the win.
The Yellow Jackets started at their own 17-yard line to commence the third quarter and only gathered a few yards on runs by Caleb Flinn and Oliver Crites with Petersburg’s Evan Tawney and Logan Bachman making stops along with Jared Biggs to force a punt.
A brilliant catch was negated on a holding call, then Petersburg’s Kaleb Kuhn garnered four yards with a tackle by Moorefield’s Gage Wolfe..
Vikings quarterback Payton Metheny dashed 21 yards for a first down in Yellow Jackets domain at the 33-yard line with a stop by Thomas Simmons and Shawn Reed.
Petersburg’s Lukas Wolford cut back and forth, but only notched two yards with Reed making a stop.
A defensive penalty put the Vikings in the red zone and three plays later, Metheny rushed eight yards for the touchdown and the extra point kick was good for a 14-6 lead at 5:43.
“[Second half turnaround] Understanding better what the defense is doing. Coming into the first half, they changed what I saw on film. It was just understanding what they were doing and fixing the mistakes I made in the first half. [Brawl] Getting blown out last year, my freshman year, it sucked. Coming home and beating them was just a great feeling. It was a great way to make the city of Petersburg feel better about themselves,” Petersburg QB Payton Metheny noted.
A blindside block negated a big return for Moorefield’s Zakk Keplinger and made the next series start on the 10-yard line.
An incomplete pass and false start was followed by short runs from Flinn and Mathew Iman resulting in a punt.
Petersburg began on the Yellow Jackets 38-yard line and went to the air on the first play as Metheny located Kuhn for a touchdowns strike and the extra point put the Vikings up 21-6 with 4:18 left in the third quarter.
The Yellow Jackets went three and out as Iman and Flinn struggled to gain traction on tackles coming from Bachman and Kuhn which would lead to a punt.
The Vikings started on their own 20-yard line after a deep punt, then Tawney notched 15 yards plowing ahead before being brought down by Cyrus Kump.
Kuhn made a catch and spun away from the defense on a 50-yard play before being chased down by Simmons in the red zone at the 15-yard line.
Wolford slipped through the clutches of the Yellow Jackets for another Petersburg touchdown and the kick extended the Vikings advantage to 28-6 with 1:11 to go in the third quarter.
“I’m always proud of our toughness in any game and any quarter. We committed mistakes and penalties and they did not. We had 10+ to like 1-2 of theirs. Every drive either started in a hole or ended going backwards,” Moorefield coach Eric Linville stated.
“We’re still not 100 percent healthy and due to lack of playing time and practice, we are a little out of sync. It will come. We have the toughest schedule in AA. Only two losses combined for our first five opponents. It’s not going to get any easier, but we will continue to teach and push forward. We have between 7-9 freshman playing consistently on all three sides of the ball. The community is still behind us and we will do our best to make them proud.”
A holding penalty and a tackle in the backfield by McDonald led to a punt to a Moorefield punt to begin the final stanza.
Wolford moved the chains on an 11-yard run for the Vikings to the 41-yard line.
Facing third down, Petersburg’s Kuhn hauled in a leaping pass along the sideline for a first down spanning 21 yards to the Moorefield 34-yard line.
Petersburg utilized several plays to get deep into the red zone before coughing up the ball with Moorefield recovering the fumble on the two yard line.
Reed provided breathing room dodging tackles for a first down going 11 yards before being forced out.
The Yellow Jackets kept the momentum going as Crites plowed for 14 yards and moved the chains at the 27-yard line.
The Vikings surrounded Reed for a tackle and a little shoving created a penalty for Moorefield.
The Yellow Jackets couldn’t dig out of the hole even with a defensive penalty and had to punt, but there was a bad snap resulting in a fumble as Petersburg took over on the 9-yard line.
Petersburg had a bad snap with the ball slipping out of the hands of Nicholas Vance and Micah Ertel before Kaleb Kuhn smothered it back on the 20-yard line for an 11-yard loss.
Two plays later, Moorefield’s Bill Lewis snatched an interception, however, the ball was jarred loose by Kuhn with the Vikings recovering the fumble with 2:13 left.
The Vikings burned the rest of the time off the clock to seal the 28-6 Burke & Herbert Brawl championship and lifted the little brown jug trophy as the Petersburg fans cheered loudly on its return.
“It’s pretty exciting. We haven’t won this since our freshman year,” Petersburg’s Alex Halterman said.
“It’s special. Heated rivalry being cross town. They talk and we talk, but obviously the scoreboard shows who is better and that’s all I got to say, Petersburg’s Kaleb Kuhn added.
“It feels great. We haven’t won it since my freshman year. It is something special. At first we started off slow, but halftime we got pumped up and we came out ready. Our line fired off and we did what we had to do to stop the ball,” Petersburg’s Lukas Wolford concluded.
Moorefield has a bye week, while the Vikings look to make program history going for a sixth straight win to start a season with a game against Doddridge County on Friday.
