By DOUG IRELAND, Journal Sports
There were surprises Friday night at Airline’s second-round state playoff game, things you probably didn’t expect:
- Airline’s defense (all night),
- Ben Taylor’s wheels (on a 1-yard TD run),
- The student section in Christmas garb,
- And sophomore backups getting into action against visiting Westgate — out of necessity.
Those were all focal points of a dominant victory by the unbeaten, second-seeded Vikings, rolling 42-16 in a Non-Select Division I matchup at an energetic M.D. Ray Stadium.
Airline (11-0) got on the board on its first series, stretched the lead to 21-0 by halftime and was up four scores before 18th-seeded Westgate (8-3) finally found the end zone late in the third quarter. The outcome was not in doubt for long, mostly since the visiting Tigers generally struggled to sustain possessions.
That was because during the past two weeks, an open date in the first-round of the playoffs and in preparation for Friday night, Airline defenders felt the burn from social media skeptics.
“We had a fire lit under our butts,” said senior linebacker Jaydan Gladney. “We’d seen different posts, everybody saying Airline’s gonna get exposed, this and that.
“So we had to come out here and prove them wrong, and that’s what we did. Held them to 16 points,” he said.
Vikings coach Justin Scogin, who has maintained that his team’s average scoring yield of 38 points was misleading (and relatively insignificant, considering Airline scored 55 per game in the regular season), felt validated.
“We knew we have a pretty good defense. We face a gauntlet. We score so fast, (opponents) control the ball. We were able to show tonight how good we really are,” he said, smiling.
Taylor, who has thrown for 44 touchdowns and just shy of 4,000 yards in his senior season, concurred.
“You look online, and random adults are talking about our defense can’t hang with a down-south team. They came in here and we held them to 16. Our defense played a phenomenal game and we were able to put up 42,” he said. “When we’re able to do that, we can’t be stopped.”
“It was nice being able to play in front, have fun, relax a little bit,” said Scogin.
The New Iberia-based visitors threatened at the end of the half. They had a 14-yard touchdown pass with 13 seconds left in the half wiped out by a penalty for having 12 players on the field, then Vikings junior defensive back Jeremiah Epps broke up a potential TD toss at the halftime horn.
When Airline forced a punt on the first series of the third period, then moved up 28-0 on Taylor’s 47-yard throw to sophomore Terrance Hays, any doubts dropped like the temperature. When the Tigers finally scored, the Vikings replied in kind both times.
The last one was the best one.
At the end of a 10-play drive, on second-and-goal at the 1, Taylor tried to sneak up the middle, to nobody’s surprise, since he’d done so two snaps earlier on third-and-1 at the 11. Only a stumble at the 7-yard stripe kept him from scoring then.
“No one even saw me, and I got through, and just slipped,” he said, sheepishly. “But that worked out too.”
In a roundabout way.
Taylor’s push toward the end zone got pushback. He was knocked from the 1 back 6-7 yards, staggering to keep his balance. Then he looped left, arcing around pursuit, cutting up the sideline and winning a race to the pylon with 5:32 remaining.
“It was crazy,” he said. “When you make runs like that, you don’t think about it, it goes by so fast. I somehow stayed up, and I was able to go all the way around.”
It was another case of Airline adjusting when things didn’t go according to plan. More pivotal in the outcome was how backups stepped up.
Productive running back/receiver Micah Johnson exited with an injury in the first quarter and Jarvis Davis Jr., averaging 111 receiving yards with 14 touchdowns (five on runs) to his credit, was helped off midway through the second. Later, tailback Derrian Milligan was banged up and benched.
“We had 2-3 sophomores on the field on our offense toward the end, and were still able to manage 42 points. That was encouraging,” said Scogin. “They stepped in like they belonged. The offense doesn’t change. He (Taylor) just throws to a different number.”
And the numbers keep stacking up in Airline’s favor. Next: a second straight quarterfinal appearance, at home against Destrehan, which rolled over Northwood Friday night.
Contact Doug at sbjdoug@gmail.com
AIRLINE VIKINGS 42, WESTGATE TIGERS 16
TIGERS 0 0 8 8 – 16
VIKINGS 7 14 7 14 – 42
A -DJ Allen 1 run (Benjamin Jump kick), 9:01 1st, Airline 7-0
A – Derrian Milligan 7 run (Jump kick), 8:40 2nd, Airline 14-0
A – Kenny Darby 13 pass from Ben Taylor (Jump kick), 4:24 2nd, Airline 21-0
A – Terrance Hays 47 pass from Taylor (Jump kick), 7:53 3rd, Airline 28-0
W – Dy’Travous Lively 2 run (Lively run), 2:09 3rd, Airline 28-8
A – Allen 4 run (Jump kick), 11:02 4th, Airline 35-8
W – Joshua John 33 pass from Bryant Leon Jr. (Lively run), 10:11 4th, Airline 35-16
A – Taylor 1 run (Jump kick), 5:32 4th, Airline 42-16
AIRLINE INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING – Allen 12-38, 2 TDs, Micah Johnson 2-7, Taylor 4-31, 1 TD, Milligan 6-20, 1 TD, Jarvis Davis Jr. 1-0, Matthew Moore 4-10.
PASSING – Taylor 18-26-1, 264, 2 TDs.
RECEIVING — Kenny Darby 8-135, 1 TD; Davis Jr. 5-78, Allen 4-4, Terrance Hays 1-47, 1 TD.