10-12-23 Nimitz
First of all, remember that the game this week at Irving Nimitz is on Thursday.
Once we have that detail taken care of, let’s talk about the game.
Irving Nimitz is coming off a resounding win over the Irving Tigers last week, 28-7. Powered by a 21-point second half, the Vikings held the Tigers to one touchdown (in the second quarter) in their fierce rivalry game. Nimitz quarterback Pedro Maldonado completed one pass for seven yards but he ran for 158 yards on 13 carries. The Vikings’ other quarterback, Kaleb Yarbourough completed five of nine passes for 91 yards, to give Nimitz 98 yards in the air. That’s not a lot but it was twice as much as the Tigers’ 46 yards passing. Irving was held to three completions on 16 pass attempts. Actually there were two other completions but they were to the wrong team.
After the score was tied 7-7 at halftime Nimitz linebacker Luis Pena picked up a third quarter Tigers fumble and ran 23 yards for a defensive touchdown that lit the fuse for the Vikings’ 21-point second half.
In the game, the Nimitz defense held the Irving offense to 114 yards of total offense and 10 first downs. The Nimitz offense picked up 384 total yards and 21 first downs.
The good news for the Vikings is that they are coming off a decisive win and have a winning streak going. The bad news is that they lost all their other games this season. They were defeated by Colleyville Heritage (47-13), Fort Worth Paschal (42-34), Irving MacArthur (27-24), Richardson (38-14), Richardson Pearce (50-28) and Lake Highlands (49-7). After playing the Scots this Thursday, they will round out their season with Jesuit and Berkner.
Last year the Vikings went 1-9 so they’ve already matched their 2022 wins total.
In the meantime the Scots met the challenge last Friday of the district 7-6A leading Berkner Rams invading Highlander Stadium, a tough place for any HP opponent. The Rams were the only undefeated team in district and were averaging 33 points per game. The Scots fierce defensive held the Rams to 100 total yards and – incredibly – five first downs. Most importantly, the Scots defense itself pitched a shutout.
The key to slowing down the Rams last week was to confront their star running back, Jamary Williams, who came into the game last week with 752 yards and nine touchdowns in the first six games. The Highland Park defense held him to 44 yards on 13 carries. Boom!
Where the Rams got some traction was on special teams. The Scots knew the Rams kick return specialists were fast and electric, but when they ran back three kickoffs for touchdowns in the first half, the Scots were appropriately in shock. One of the KO returns was called back due to a yellow flag but the impression was made.
(At halftime Coach Jim Castellaw came down from the broadcast booth to be honored for his five decades serving the Scots. He’s one of the all-time great guys around here and deserves the honor.)
The 28-13 halftime score wound up being the final score. Although the third and fourth quarters actually happened, nobody bothered to cross the goal line.
And since the Scots didn’t score in the second half, they didn’t need to kick off!
Speaking of kickoffs, if you go the Nimitz game on Friday and realize you missed the Thursday kickoff, make sure you don’t miss this pre-game blog anymore. Especially the first sentence.