Box Score Box Score
Valley City State fell to Mayville State 10-16 on Saturday, Sept. 28^th. In a hard-fought defensive battle, the Comets had the edge with the games only two takeaways and a blocked punt recovered for a touchdown. Mayville's Daniel Nevil led the team with 22 rushes for 122 yards averaging 5.3 yards per carry which helped the Comets dominate the time of possession.
 
Valley City falls to 1-3 and 0-2 in the conference. Mayville climbs to 3-2 and 2-1 in conference play
 
1^st Quarter
VCSU wins the coin toss and elects to defer to the receive the second-half kickoff. Mayville started the game with a 5 play, 20-yard drive that resulted in a blocked punt by Ty Combs. With excellent field position at the Mayville 12-yard line, the Vikings struggled to get things going. Starting with a holding penalty on the first offensive play of the game, the Vikings settled for a field goal attempt from the Mayville 13. After missing the kick Mayville took over from their own 20. The Comets then put together an 8-minute, 15-play drive that went 80 yards, capped off with a Javeion Davison touchdown run. With 5 seconds left in the first quarter, the Vikings' quarterback Noah Chambers threw an interception at the Mayville 43.
 
2nd Quarter
After the Comets interception, Mayville was only able to get one first down before being forced to punt back to the Vikings. Starting from their own 21 yard line, Laggarius Marshell started the drive with a 65 yard rush that a few plays later led to an Avery Thorsgard rushing touchdown. After a successful extra point, the score was tied at 7-7. Following the Viking kickoff with 10:40 on the clock, the Comets were quickly forced to punt. During that 4^th-and-5 play the Viking we flagged for roughing the punter resulting in an automatic first down. Following the penalty the Comets marched down on a 54-yard, 16-play drive that ended in a successful field goal with five seconds remaining in the quarter. Mayville entered halftime with a 10-7 lead.
 
3rd Quarter
Starting the third quarter, the Vikings received that ball but were quickly forced to punt. During the punt the Vikings kick was blocked into the endzone and recovered by the Comets resulting in a touchdown. After a missed extra point, with the score 16-7, the Vikings drive got off to a quick start with a 46 yard Avery Thorsgard rush down to the Comets 20. Following that play, the offense only went backwards with a chop block penalty, later resulting in a punt during a 4^th and 23 play. Starting at their own 5-yard line the Comets drove 81 yards before attempting a 30-yard field goal. The attempt was no good and the Vikings took over on their own 20-yard line.
 
4th Quarter
Mayville started the fourth quarter with the ball and the first three possessions resulted in punts. Starting from their own 35-yard line with 8:53 on the clock, the Vikings moved the ball to about midfield where quarterback Noah Chambers threw an interception down at the Mayville 30-yard line with 7:32 remaining. The Comets proceeded to go three-and-out and punt the ball back down to the Vikings. The Vikings received the ball on their own 37-yard line with 5:07 remaining, where they put together a five-play, 33-yard drive ending in a successful 47-yard Yzan Lorenzo field goal. With 3:07 on the clock the Vikings kicked off to Mayville hoping for their defense to get them the ball back. After one first down, the VCSU defense forced a punt and put their offense back on the field with 54 seconds to go. With no timeouts remaining, the Vikings ran out of time and ran a hook an ladder final play of the game that ended around midfield.
 
VCSU totaled 228 yard of total offense, 71 yards in the air, and 157 yard by rush. Quarterback Noah Chambers was 6-for-16, good for 66 yards along with four rushes for 20 yards. Laggarius Marshell led the Vikings with 66 rushing yards followed by quarterback Avery Thorsgard with 56 rushing yards. The offense only controlled the ball for 16 minutes and 17 seconds. Gavin Gerhardt led the defense with 15 tackles, four of them solo. Loke Iese, Levi Olson, and Taquez Chatmen followed with 12, nine, and nine tackles respectively.
 
The Comets totaled 279 yards of total offense with 33 yards in the air and 246 yards by rush. Daniel Nevil led the Comets rushing with 122 yards on 23 rushing attempts. On the defensive side of the ball Devon Woods led the Comets with 5 tackles including 4 solo tackles.
 
UP NEXT: VCSU football is on the road playing at Dickinson State University, who was voted #1 in the NSAA Preseason Coaches' Poll. Kickoff will be at 3:00 p.m. CT.