VALLEY CITY, N.D. – Valley City State trailed by 20 points early in the second quarter and 16 points early in the third quarter and came back to tie the game early in the fourth only to see Eastern Oregon score with twelve seconds left in the fourth quarter to pull out a 46-39 win and spoiled Valley City State's homecoming.
The teams mirrored each other on their opening drives by going three-and-out. The they each had their next drive stopped by an interception.
Gavin Gerhardt picked off a Kallen Gutridge pass in the end zone. But on the third play of the Vikings drive, Monte Pettichord intercepted a
Brayden Medeiros pass and returned it 35 yards for a pick-six. The two point conversion failed and the Mountaineers had a 6-0 lead with 8:56 to go in the first quarter.
The Vikings would go three-and-out on their next possession. Eastern Oregon would start its next drive on their own 19 after a 47-yard punt by Christopher Roapozo. The Mountaineers would go 81 yards in nine plays and take 2:48 off the clock. Gutridge would find Dylan Shipley for a 26-yard scoring strike. Ethan Cutler added the extra point to give Eastern Oregon a 13-0 lead with 4:25 to go in the first quarter.
After another three and out by the Vikings offense, Eastern Oregon would go 70 yards on ten plays to add to their lead. Gutridge scored on a one-yard quarterback keeper. Cutler added the extra point to give the Mountaineers a 20-0 lead with14:58 to go in the first half.
The Vikings offense put together a 16 play, 70-yard drive to get on the scoreboard.
Jonathan Hunter capped the drive with a four-yard touchdown run.
Walker Brondos added an extra point to make it 20-7 Eastern Oregon with 7:05 to go in the first half.
On the Mountaineers next drive, the Vikings forced them to try a long field goal. Ethan Cutler nailed a 48-yard field goal to give Eastern Oregon a 23-7 lead with 3:49 to go in the first half.
On Valley City State's next drive, they would punch it in again with
Laggarius Marshell going in from three yards out. Brondos' extra point made it 23-14 Eastern Oregon with 1:44 to go in the half. The Vikings were helped by two pass interference penalties and one personal foul penalty on the drive.
The score at halftime was 23-14 Eastern Oregon.
The Vikings had the ball to start the second half and turned the ball over when Eastern Oregon's Cole Martin picked off a Medeiros pass at the Viking 24-yard line. Three plays later, Gutridge would score on an 18-yard run. Cutler's extra point made it 30-14 Mountaineers with 12:49 to go in the third.
That's when Valley City State's offense came to life. On the kickoff,
Exavian Westbrook would race 97 yards for a touchdown. But a penalty on VCSU would negate the touchdown. Then a personal foul penalty was called on Eastern Oregon which would give the Vikings the ball at the Mountaineers 44-yard line. Marshell would take it in from four yards out to cap the 44-yard drive. Marshell would score on the two-point conversion to make it 30-22 Eastern Oregon with 7:12 to go in the third quarter.
On the next drive for the Mountaineers, Cutler made a 47-yard field goal to make it 33-22 EOU with 3:54 to go in the third quarter.
Valley City State would cut the lead to five on its next possession. The Vikings would go 72 yards on six plays. The big play came on Marshell's 40-yard run to get the ball to the Mountaineer 30-yard line. A personal foul penalty on the play would take the ball to the 15. Three plays later,
Nick Mears scored from four yards out. The two-point conversion failed making it 33-28 Eastern Oregon with 31 seconds to go in the third.
The Mountaineers would go back up by eleven on their next drive that went 65 yards on seven plays. Gutridge hit Tyler Creswick for a 25-yard touchdown. The two-point conversion wax no good, making it 39-28 with 12:48 to go in the fourth.
Both teams punted the ball away on their next drive. Valley City State would get a 28-yard field goal from Brondos to cut the lead to 39-31 with 3:09 remaining in the fourth quarter.
Eastern Oregon would drive down into Viking territory on its next drive. Cutler would attempt a 45-yard field goal, but it was blocked by
Gavin Gerhardt, giving the Vikings the ball on their own 28-yard line with 2:41 remaining.
Valley City State, behind freshman quarterback Brayden Medieros, would go 72 yards on four plays. Medeiros would hook up with
Tyson Ball for a 35-yard touchdown pass. Medeiros and
Nick Mears would hook up for the two-point conversion to tie the game at 39-39 with 1:55 to go in the fourth.
The Mountaineers would go 69 yards on eight plays with Gutridge hitting Shipley with a 45-yard touchdown pass. The extra point by Cutler was good and Eastern Oregon would lead 46-39 with twelve seconds to go.
A personal foul penalty on the kickoff gave Valley City State the ball at the 50-yard line no timeouts and seven seconds to go. Medeiros and Ball would connect on a five-yard completion on the first play of the drive, but an incompletion on the second play ended the game with Eastern Oregon on top.
Brayden Medeiros was 22 for 37 passing for 201 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions.
Laggarius Marshell had career highs with 24 carries for 138 yards and added two touchdowns. As a team, the Vikings had 187 yards on the ground and 201 through the air.
Tyson Ball had five catches for 67 yards and a touchdown.
Aiden Russell led the defensive chart with twelve tackles.
Gavin Gerhardt had nine tackles, a pass breakup, and interception, and a blocked field goal. The Vikings did not sack Gutridge, but
Scot Rohde had two tackles for a loss and
Levi Olson added one.
The Vikings are 1-2 on the season and will wrap up the non-conference schedule next Saturday when they head to Redding, California and take on Simpson University. Kickoff set for 3pm Central Time.
