La Grande, Ore. – The Valley City State University Viking defense extended its streak to nine straight quarters without allowing a point. And Walker Brondos' 24-yard field goal with in the third quarter was all the scoring in the game as the Vikings slipped past Eastern Oregon 3-0 Saturday afternoon in La Grande, Oregon.

In the first quarter, neither team could move the ball. Valley City State had 34 total yards in the quarter, and the Mountaineers had zero. The longest drive was the Vikings five play, twelve-yard drive that took a little over five minutes off the clock. Eastern Oregon's best drive came at the end of the quarter, and into the second quarter. They went 55 yards on 13 plays and took 5:23 off the clock. On the final play of the drive, Eastern Oregon's quarterback Elia Kirisimasi tried a jump pass from the Viking two-yard line. But Caleb Torke went high into the air and intercepted the ball in the end zone for the first of three turnovers for the Viking defense.

The two teams would exchange punts on the next five possessions. The Vikings second interception of the game came on the first play of the Mountaineers' second to last possession of the half. After taking over at their own 18-yard line, Kirisimasi tried to go down field with a pass. But Khali Toney came up with interception for VCSU to halt the drive on the first play at the Eastern Oregon 40-yard line. The Vikings would end up turning the ball over on downs at the EOU'a 25 yard-line with twelve seconds to go in the half. The Mountaineers ran one play as the half came to an end.

Eastern Oregon went three-and-out on the initial drive of the third quarter. On the Vikings first drive of the half, they would turn the ball over on a fumble. Eastern Oregon's Aiden Patterson would recover the fumble at the VCSU 46-yard line. Another three and out forced the Mountaineers to punt. The Vikings would get the ball back on their own 16-yard line. But a hand to the face penalty on EOU would give the Vikings the ball at the 31-yard line. Ethan Kastner would take over at quarterback for the injured Joey Cave. Kastner, who is from Tumwater, Washngton which is about five hours away from La Grande, led the Vikings on a 16 play, 62-yard drive that took over seven minutes off the clock. The drive, however, would stall at the Mountaineers seven-yard line. Walker Brondos nailed a 24-yard field goal the put the Vikings up 3-0 with 2:42 to go in the third quarter.

The Vikings tried and onside kick, it was caught on the before it hit the ground buy Gavin Gerhardt, seemingly giving the Vikings the ball at the Eastern Oregon's 49-yard line. But the VCSU was called for kick catching interference, a 15-yard penalty. That gave the Mountaineers the ball at the Viking 36-yard line. On the second play of the drive, Waylon Riedel fumbled, the Vikings' Aiden Russel recovered at the VCSU 21-yard line.

Neither team did anything offensively the rest of the third quarter and into the fourth. The best scoring chance for either team came midway through the fourth quarter when Eastern Oregon went on an eleven-play drive, moved the ball 50 yards and took 3:48 off the clock. But when the drive stalled at the Viking 25, Ethan Cutler tried a 42-yard field goal. But the ball went wide left, and the Vikings took over at their own 25-yard line with 1:08 to go in the fourth quarter. Valley City State ended up punting the ball away, but the defense again came up and stopped Eastern Oregon. A Tarren Larson sack started the drive, then after a short completion and an incompletion, the horn sounded the Vikings had a 3-0 win.

The defense held Eastern Oregon to 166 total yards on offense. VCSU had 199 total yards. Joey Cave was twelve for 19 for 68 yards passing while Ethan Kastner was twelve of 17 for 68 yards. Cave was the leading rusher with 34 yards on eleven carries.

James Dahn led then defense with nine tackles. Khalil Toney had seven tackles, one tackle for a loss and an interception. Gavin Gerhardt had six tackles while Ashton Raquino, Malachi Torres, and Aiden Russell all had five. As a team, the Vikings had six tackles for a loss, a sack, two interceptions, and a fumble recovery.

Valley City State is now 2-1 on the season. Eastern Oregon falls to 1-2.

UP NEXT: It is now homecoming week for VCSU. The Vikings will host Simpson University from Redding, California Saturday. Kickoff is slated for 2:00 p.m. at Dacotah Bank Field at Lokken Stadium.