Vikings Football Wins Division Championship

The Rogers High football team (8-1) secured another division championship Friday night after defeating East Greenwich High (4-4) 32-15 on at .

Despite sloppy play throughout the majority of the game, the Vikings did more than enough to earn the victory and another division title.

Thanks to a balanced running attack, the Vikings were able to dictate the pace of the game. Christian Savage and Christian Cancel paced the Vikings for well over 200 rushing yards.

However, the outstanding play of Shaun Moore in the first half and Reeyon Watts in the second half proved to be deciding factor in the outcome.

With only 18 seconds remaining in the first quarter, Moore scored his first touchdown of the game when Vikings quarterback Cody Platt executed a perfect rollout and pass, which landed perfectly in Moore's hands.

"Moore had a big game for us in the first half," Rogers Head Coach Frank Newsome said. "He made so many big plays that helped overshadow many of our mistakes tonight."

On offense, Rogers was indeed sloppy as they had commited three turnovers for the game. Overall, the Vikings fumbled seven times but managed to recover four thanks to Moore's alert play.

With 7:47 remaining in the first half and the Vikings threatening in the Avengers territory, Moore struck once again for the Vikings, executing a perfect reverse play that enabled him to the find the necessary room on the outside to get into the end zone. After the score, Rogers led 12-0.

Despite the great play from Moore, he missed four extra-point attempts as all of his kicks managed to miss wide of the uprights.

In the beginning of the second half, Rogers turned the ball over on their first drive when Savage fumbled on the Vikings 40-yard line. However, East Greenwich was unable to take advantage of any opportunities throughout most of this game.

"Even though we managed to put up points tonight, I thought we got lucky on many occasions," Newsome said. "If we are going to be successful in the playoffs, we need to tighten up and improve in many areas."

On the ensuing Vikings possession, Cancel managed to break free of the Avengers linebackers and rush down the field for a huge 62-yard gain, bringing them down to the 8-yard line of East Greenwich.

This play allowed Rogers to become more creative on offense and switch to a Wild Cat formation led by Watts, who was able to sneak into the end zone for another Vikings touchdown.

Without their starting kicker, Rogers was forced to attempt a two point conversion, which was successful after Platt rifled a bullet pass to Trevor Morgera, giving the Vikings a 20-0 lead.

Offensively, East Greenwich struggled mightily after converting only one first down the entire first half.

"As usual, everything comes down to defense," said Newsome. "I believe our first string played really well on the defensive end."

In the fourth quarter and the Vikings already up 32-0, Coach Newsome decided to remove his first string in favor of his JV squad.

Once Newsome made this change, the Avengers were able to finally muster some offense, but the deficit was still way too much for them to overcome.

With the victory, the Vikings are now division champs, finishing ahead of Burrillville (6-2) and Moses Brown (5-2). Now that the regular season is complete, it is time for the Vikings to wait and see who they face once the playoffs begin.

"No matter who we face in the playoffs, we need to come out with more intensity than we had brought tonight," said Newsome. "Although I am happy that we won our division, I believe that there are still many things we need to work on."