news-record.com

GREENSBORO - Although Northwest Guilford has six victories on the season, its coach is not convinced his team is playing at its best.

You would have a hard time convincing Smith of that. The Vikings took advantage of four Eagles turnovers and smothered Smith's offense to come away with a 35-6 victory on the Eagles' field. With the win, Northwest Guilford improves to 3-1 in the Metro 4-A conference with a big game at Page next week.

"We told them we wanted to peak right before the playoffs," said Northwest coach Joe Woodruff. "We are so far from that we can't even see the peak. There is so much more we can work on."

One area where the Vikings showed improvement was red-zone offense. Woodruff said that scoring inside the 20-yard line has been a problem all season, but against Smith the Vikings were 4-for-4 on those important opportunities.

"That's been our Achilles' heel all season," Woodruff said. "Of course it helps when the defense gives you the ball in great position. One time we got it at the 28 and scored, so I joked and said how about getting us a little closer, then we got it at 6."

The Vikings opened the game with a 5-play, 58 yard drive and needed only 1:30 to take a 6-0 lead. The highlight of the drive was a 32-yard ramble by running back Sean Pless. Chris Kennedy would punctuate the drive with a 1-yard plunge.

Smith running back B.J. Briley fumbled on the Eagles first play and Northwest recovered at the 28. This time Pless finished off the short drive with a 1-yard score and a quick 14-0 lead that silenced the small Smith crowd on senior night.

On Smith's next possession, the Eagles drove into Vikings territory after picking up a first down on fourth-and-eight. But the drive stalled on the next series and the Eagles punted. On their next series, quarterback Cody Davis rolled left and tried to pass, but the Vikings' Adam Scott was in his face. It looked like Davis' arm was moving forward, but it was ruled a fumble and Northwest recovered at the Smith 6.

"Our defense was just flying around the ball all night," Woodruff said.

Pless cashed in on the turnover three plays later and the Vikings' lead was pushed to 22-0 with 7:54 to play in the second quarter.

The Eagles mounted a drive on their next possession, with the help of a pass interference penalty against Northwest. After the penalty, Smith ran the ball five straight times, but then Davis dropped back to pass and threw the ball toward Quinton Able down the right sideline. Able and a Northwest defender fought for position like two basketball players getting ready for a rebound. The Northwest defender got his hand on the pass, but Able came down with it for a 34-yard gain. Briley scored from nine yards out on the next play and the Eagles looked to be back in the game by cutting the lead to 22-6.

But the Vikings weren't done. An unsportsmanlike penalty on Smith on the kickoff gave Northwest good field position at the 40-yard line. A few plays later, with the clock winding down, Northwest quarterback Dan Bernard found John Cruz down the right sideline for a 41-yard score as the clock showed all zeros. That touchdown gave the Vikings a 28-6 halftime lead.