It’s been an interesting week for Valley High School Football. On Monday, the JV team finally got some action with Holy Cross visiting. The reason I say finally is that every year, there’s a junior varsity schedule but every year, other teams don’t have enough players to field a junior squad. Thankfully the Vikings do and they’re always ready to play even if they can’t.
I got there late because I started a new position and didn’t know they were playing. When I found out it was a beeline to Viking Harbor in time to get some photos from the fourth quarter. The photos from the Valley 12-6 win are below.
Then Friday night, Valley’s toughest test to date came to town. John Hardin High School, a former 6A powerhouse, rode into Viking Harbor to do battle with the ever improving Vikings. 6A, for those that don’t’ know, is the equivalent of Trinity or Manual. As such, the experts predicted that Valley would lose 40-14. Last year’s contest really wasn’t a contest with John Hardin prevailing on the field and their fans being rambunctious and defamatory toward the visitors. Expected, yes, but at John Hardin, everyone sits on the same side so, as you can imagine, tempers got hot.
This year, Valley got down early on two John Hardin touchdowns in the first quarter and an additional one in the second. But toward the end of the half, the Viking marched and scored to close the score to 21-6 at the break. Then, Valley came roaring back. The offense started to click and the defense punched John Hardin in the mouth, forcing 3 fumbles. In the last :45 seconds, Valley marched the field and scored to close to 21-20. The Viking went for the two-point conversion for the win. John Hardin stopped it and squeaked by with the win. But these Vikings played a whale of a game and fans went away proud of the way these young men comported themselves. Woe be to Breckenridge County. They come into Viking Harbor next and they’re going to face a very angry Valley team.
Girton Images 