GOOD HOPE – In their first meeting since 2013, the Vinemont Eagles and Good Hope Raiders faced off in their very first regular season game tonight after playing in jamboree games last week. It was a low-scoring affair, with Vinemont winning 14-7 on a day that was special for the community. Vinemont senior Anna Hughes, recovering from a horrific car crash over the summer that took the life of fellow senior, Whitney Cotton, was released from the hospital and able to attend the VHS volleyball game earlier in the day.
After Good Hope was forced to punt on their first series, the Eagles put together a long successful drive which covered nine plays and 51 yards and senior Deke Wright finished it with a 1-yard run to put Vinemont up 6-0 with 5:45 left in the opening quarter. That would be the score at the end of the first quarter and for almost half of the second quarter.
The Raiders finally got their opportunity to put the ball in the end zone after sophomore Austin Knight blocked an Eagle punt and Matt Hancock recovered the ball at their 9-yard line. On the first play, Matthew Dixon gave Good Hope a 7-6 lead with 6:09 remaining in the first half. After getting Vinemont to turn the ball over on downs, on the Raiders’ last play of the first half, Preston Bagwell threw a pass to Dixon, who got hit on his right leg and needed help getting off the field. He did not play for the rest of the game.
Both defenses continued to step up to start the second half. Off a Vinemont punt, Good Hope had another golden opportunity to put some more points on the board. Big runs by Bagwell (26 yards), Mason Moniz (26 yards) and Matt Cofer (8 yards) put Good Hope at the 1-yard line, but a bad snap over the head of Bagwell pushed them back to the 12. After Cofer lost 4 yards on third down, Matthew Rodriguez attempted a field goal from the 11-yard line and missed it wide left. Bad snaps hurt Good Hope on more than one occasion tonight, but the defense continued to keep Vinemont out of the end zone.
After getting the Raiders to turn the ball over on downs, the Eagles had one more opportunity to take the lead late in the game. Boland would use his legs and arm to help move Vinemont down the field. He completed big passes to Colby Nicholas and Cody Stewart before he finished the drive with a 5-yard quarterback keeper to put Vinemont up 14-7 after converting the 2-point conversion with 23.2 seconds left in the game. Vinemont converted two huge fourth down opportunities before Boland gave the Eagles the lead. Good Hope tried to pull some tricks on their final drive as they ran a double flea-flicker, which ended up with Bagwell completing a 21-yard pass to Hancock, but Bagwell's last heave fell incomplete and the Eagles finished off the stunning win.
"Everyone got their money's worth tonight," Vinemont coach Matt Norris said. "My team stepped up when they needed to. Good Hope did a good job taking away the big plays. Everyone really stepped up on that last drive. We just got really lucky tonight." He praised his senior quarterback Boland. "He is a team leader. We expect him to lead for us."
Boland finished with 69 yards on 17 carries and the game-winning touchdown. Wright finished with 30 yards on 7 carries and a touchdown. Vinemont will start region play next week as they host Locust Fork, who will play Pisgah tomorrow night. "We have to do a lot better job executing," Norris said on preparing for next week.
Dixon had 28 yards on four carries and a touchdown before leaving the game. Kyle Carlton, Garrett Bagwell, Austin McDonald, Riley Kilpatrick, Cofer and Matthew Schwaiger had big games on defense for Good Hope. The Raiders start their region play next week as they travel to Fayette County to take on the Tigers, who are traveling to Brooks tomorrow night.
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