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The football team (1–2) edged out the Einstein Titans 54–41 Friday to pick up their first win in a record-setting game.
The Vikings reached 50 points for the first time in the past 14 seasons. The team’s ground attack also made its way into the record books with 347 rushing yards, the third-highest single-game total since 2009, and seven rushing touchdowns, the most in a game over the last six seasons.
Quarterback Matt Clayton and running back Gunnar Morton combined to score all of the team’s points. Clayton passed for 180 yards and a touchdown and ran for 100 yards with three scores, while Morton rushed for 232 yards and four scores and caught the game’s lone receiving touchdown.
The Vikings trailed 27–20 heading into halftime. Throughout the first half the Titans repeatedly blitzed with all their linebackers, stuffing the run game and batting down several of Clayton’s passes. However, in the second half the Vikings took advantage of this by looking for big runs inside the tackles.
Morton attributed the team’s success running the ball to that shift in strategy.
“Our coaches realized that the run game was there in the second half, so we decided to go on the ground.”
The Vikes’ ability to detect the Titans’ receiving plays and cover them closely helped them pull away in the second half. Morton said the team worked on covering bubble screens in practice during the week, which translated into success on the field.
The Vikings’ next game is against the defending state champion Northwest Jaguars (2–1) Friday at 6:30.