Vikings Head West For Narrow Victory

Sometimes the lengths one goes for a victory is a metaphor, but for the Vikings on Saturday, the length they went was four hours.

That was the roundtrip driving distance for what has been claimed as the first ever matchup between the Vikings and the Eagles of Franklin County Tech, and it was well worth it as Nashoba was able to bounce back from a disappointing opening week with a 7-6 victory. 

The lone touchdown for the Vikings came on a 20 yard completion to tight end Ben Hoenshell, the first of his two receptions on the day.

Nashoba's scoring drive was indicative of their approach toward eating up the clock throughout the day, driving 85 yards for the score and taking just over nine minutes to do it.

Unlike their , where they relied heavily on a passing attack that didn't materialize, their strategy in Turners Falls came down to a pair of captains: Tom Bavis getting the yards and Nick Connor getting the first downs.

The strategy proved so effective that Connor's half a dozen first downs was equal to the Eagles' entire offense. However, Nashoba Valley head coach Rob Beaudette wanted any future opponents to know that the Vikings aren't completely reliant on this one-two punch.

"They're seniors, and different weeks they're going to take different roles agains different teams," said Beaudette. "In the end, it was mainly the offensive line and Connor saying 'hey, we're going to take this one home."

At first, Nashoba's dominance in time of posession might have been a moot point as the Eagles were able to convert good field posession after the Vikings touchdown into a tally of their own punctuated by a one-yard quarterback sneak from Jake Earl.

However, a two-point conversion try fell short, and their only other real scoring threat, a drive into the red zone coming from a 45 yard Max Williams scamper, was thwarted with an interception from Dracut junior Cameron Dumais.

"They chewed up alot of clock, and made it tough on us, especially in the first half," said Franklin County head coach Joe Gamache. "They did a nice job of controlling the clock and chewing up yardage. I think our defense did a good job of bending while not breaking, but we just didn't get the ball enough to do something on our side."

Nashoba's clock management strategy was so prevalant that actually took a knee on a third down at the one-yard line and what Beaudette claimed was an intentionally fake attempt at a quarterback sneak on fourth down to leave Franklin County with 23.7 seconds left in the contest and 99 yards to go.

The Eagles actually were able to nearly make Beaudette pay for his gambit as Earl lateralled to Williams, giving the running back enough time to find the quarterback downfield, but the play wouldn't work a second time, ending the contest.

Williams and Bavis tied for leading rusher honors on the day, with each rusher earning 68 yards on the ground, while Williams' 40 yard last minute pass to Earl also equalled the total from Nashoba quarterback James Murray's four completions on the day.

Next week, the Vikings remain on the road, but a little bit closer to home, taking on Groton/Ayer. Meanwhile, Franklin County will look to bounce back against Mohawk Trail Regional.