Vale drops heartbreaker to No. 2 Grant Union
Saturday, October 4, 2008 11:21 PM PDT
Argus Observer sports staff
John Day—In a game many may have thought was a must win for the Vale Viking football team against No. 2 Grant Union, Viking head coach Jeff Jacobs said he likes the direction his team is headed.
Vale lost a hard-fought 12-7 battle against Grant Union in Eastern Oregon League action Friday in John Day.
It was the first time in 34 years that Grant Union has defeated the Vikings football team.
The game was a classic tale of two halves. In the opening half of the game, it was the Prospectors offense playing tough, scoring two touchdowns, while their defense logged a pair of interceptions.
The game remained scoreless after the opening quarter of play, but in the second quarter Grant Union ended the drought. Both scores came late in the quarter and both were off the pass.
Trailing 12-0 at the break, Jacobs said he addressed his team in the locker room about its mental approach to the game.
“It was tough in the first half for us,” Jacobs said. “They (Grant Union) had a lot of momentum. We made a lot of mistakes in the first half, 40 yards on five penalties. Our biggest dilemma was the mental aspect of our game.
“We talked about the mental part of the game at halftime, and I thought in the second half we were better at it,” Jacobs said.
In fact, the Vikings came out of the locker room a different team. Vale’s offense began to click as it put up 127 yards and a score midway through the fourth quarter on a 6-yard pass from Kyle Barras to Russ Seals to cut the Grant Union lead to five points.
A late interception by Barras ended any threats for the Vikings to steal a road win.
Barras ended the game with 42 passing yards on 5-of-16 passing and he rushed for 87 yards on 12 attempts.
Jarrod Tucker finished the night with 53 yards from scrimmage on 14 carries.
“I like how we ended the game. We had a lot more yards in the second half than what John Day had. That encouraged us,” Jacobs said. “We look forward to another tough week this week. I like how this team is growing, and as long as they can stay focused and positive. I think good things are going to happen for them.”
With the season winding down quickly, the Vikings do not have much time left to get into position for a state playoff run.
“This loss puts us behind the eight ball,” Jacobs said. “But we will just have to go around it.”
Getting around that eight ball will begin this Friday as the Vikings hit the road again, this time to Umatilla who is coming off a huge win over Nyssa.
The Vikings will kick off against Umatilla at 8 p.m. MDT.
