By Carl Holcomb, Moorefield Examiner
It looked like it would be a picnic for the Cougars in Petersburg having sealed a state playoff fate and feasting on a series opening touchdown in five plays, but the Vikings were like little pesky ants constantly attacking to steal the regular season finale cake with a 38-31 win.
There was no easy walk in the park as these teams battled it out to secure a better foothold in the playoffs.
Class AA Petersburg improved to 7-3 and enters the state playoffs as the No. 10 seed and will travel to No. 7 Midland Trail (9-1) on Friday.
Class A No. 12 East Hardy fell to 5-5 for the season and will face No. 5 Sherman (8-2) for the state playoffs opening round on Friday with the game being hosted at Riverside.
“[Keys] We had a lot of injuries on our offensive line and one of our starters got sick right before the game. Our guys, our backups, stepped up and they played when we needed them to. We were able to run the ball late in the game when we needed to. Those backups on the offensive line were keys to our win. We had a rough three game stretch, but we are starting to get our swag back. Once we get into the playoffs, I think we will be dangerous. It feels great. I told them last year we were 1-3 against our local rival teams and this year I wanted to be better and we finished undefeated against our local teams this year,” Petersburg coach Shane Shockey noted.
The Cougars were rolling on the first drive getting quickly to midfield moving the chains thrice on carries by Garrett Van Meter and another first down marker mover by Nehemiah Graham.
On the fifth play of the opening possession, Graham dashed 33 yards for a touchdown and Levi Price added the extra point kick to put East Hardy up 7-nil at 9:18.
Petersburg wasted little time answering in five plays of their own after a big kickoff return by Kaleb Kuhn crossed midfield at the 43.
Evan Tawney notched eight yards and was forced out of bounds by Price.
The Vikings grabbed a first down at the 30 on a play by Lukas Wolford which included the ball being jarred loose and out of bounds by Graham.
Petersburg kept the moving as Kuhn caught a pass from Payton Metheny for six yards, then added six more yards entering the red zone.
Tawney capped off the drive with an 18-yard touchdown and Metheny added the game-tying extra point kick at 7:44.
Vikings group tackling slowed down the Cougars on the next drive and a catch by Micah Ludwig was a couple yards shy of the first down marker for a fourth down situation.
East Hardy had some trickery in the basket with a fake punt sending Van Meter scrambling four yards for a first down.
Graham collected eight yards on two touches, then Van Meter snatched a first down near midfield.
Van Meter eluded capture for eight yards inside Vikings domain.
Ludwig hauled in a pass from Trevor Roof for six yards, then Roof made a keep for another yard.
Graham escaped the clutches of the Vikings for a huge gain totaling 25 yarded to get deep inside the red zone at the 10-yard line.
However, Van Meter fumbled on the next play and Petersburg’s Garrett Dolly recovered it on the 2.
