By DOUG IRELAND, Journal Sports
In Justin Scogin’s first four years as Airline’s head coach, the Vikings have piled up yards and made scoreboards operate like pinball machines. While the scoring and stats weren’t staggering Thursday night, their execution was perfect against Byrd.
Airline scored on all six of its offensive series with the first-teamers in a 40-21 victory at Lee Hedges Stadium, on the heels of a 48-42 win at home in last week’s opener over Wossman.
“Offensively we played a complete game,” said Scogin. “We played in spurts in Week 1, but not tonight. The starters were ready to roll.
“We wanted to come out and prove last week wasn’t a fluke. Wossman was really good (a 48-42 Vikings win). Byrd took Ouachita down to the wire (last week, a 44-37 loss in Monroe). This was a good win.”
Airline was unusually methodical while getting on top, mounting drives of 65, 63 and 72 yards to open a 20-14 lead. The Vikings took command with a string of four straight touchdowns sandwiched around halftime, the breakaway coming in the final minute of the second quarter.
It was a double whammy for the Yellow Jackets, already playing without their starting quarterback. Leo Ezernack was solid in relief until his deep ball was picked off by Airline’s Damien Curry, whose 45-yard return put the Vikings at Byrd’s 35 and sidelined Ezernack, injured making the tackle.
“(Curry’s) one of the best defensive players I’ve ever seen. Everywhere the ball is, he is. He’s a tackler, he’s a ballhawk, he does everything you want on defense,” said Scogin. “He’s the best unknown defensive player in the whole state, not just Northwest Louisiana. I’ll put him up against anybody.”
Five snaps later, Airline’s Chase Johnson connected with Caleb Nunn for a 23-yard TD 10 seconds before halftime to lift the visitors up 26-14. Nunn, from 25 yards, and Williams, on a 5-yard keeper, capped Airline’s first two second-half drives of 60 and 69 yards on a combined 24 plays to salt away the outcome.
“Scogin does a great job seeing the matchups,” said Byrd coach Stacy Ballew, “and with what he does it makes you show what you’re going to do on defense. He’s a great playcaller who knows how to attack you, and his kids executed very well.”
Williams went 20 of 30 for 266 passing yards and three scores, the other two going to Preston Hughes on catches of 19 and 5 yards amid his eight grabs for 112 yards.
With Ezernack out and a third-team quarterback unavailable due to an injury in a junior varsity game, Byrd shifted sensational senior halfback Christian Maxie into a shotgun quarterback role after halftime.
“We lost some threat on offense, obviously. The offense still competed, and I’m proud of that,” said Ballew. “(Christian) is a heck of a competitor who is going to do anything we ask him to, and he had another great effort game. He’s a heck of a player.”
Maxie showed that last week, running for a Shreveport-Bossier record 429 yards on 40 carries at Ouachita, which won the Non-Select Division I state championship last December. He displayed it again Thursday night, using power and elusiveness to dodge Airline defenders play after play.
He had a 48-yard TD dash in the first half and finished his night going 88 yards for a score with just over a minute left, the longest run of his career. His totals: 265 yards on 24 carries, most with significant yards after contact.
“I think he’s phenomenal, one of the best backs we’ve seen in this area in a long time,” said Scogin. “Every Group of 5 school should offer this kid right now. I think he’s a Power 4 guy … it may be down the road, but 100 percent we’ll see him play in the Big 12 or the SEC.”
Taking snaps wasn’t completely new for Maxie, who said he had gotten 20-30 in practice just in case. “But I’ll get better at it. I’ll keep going and keep scoring out of it,” he said.
“We knew we all had to step up, and I felt like the team went down a little bit. I was telling them, we’re going to face adversity like this all season. We’ve faced a lot already,” said Maxie. “We have to keep fighting, and I have to do a better job. I didn’t step up as a leader, and didn’t help them rise up.”
Asked about his record performance in Monroe, he downplayed it.
“The record is good and all, but we lost the game. I just want to win.”
Contact Doug at sbjdoug@gmail.com