The Airline Vikings had several big plays in their 56-27 season-opening victory over the Barbe Bucs Friday night at M.D. Ray Field at Airline Stadium.
But there was one that Head Coach Justin Scogin said epitomized what his team is all about.
“We break a long toss with Matthew Moore and (receiver) Kenny Darby runs full speed down and shields the guy so we can go score,” Scogin said. “That was very impressive I thought. When you have a kid committed to LSU and he sprints as fast as he can so his teammate can score.
“That on top of probably 10 or 12 catches and a touchdown and probably over 100 yards and non-stop running and getting hit and blocking and all that stuff. I thought that really changed the game just from a standpoint of we’re formidable.”
Darby had 10 catches for 110 yards and a touchdown.
But he was far from the only Viking who stood out.
“I thought we played maybe the best team game since I’ve been here,” Scogin said.
Junior quarterback Chase Deon Williams completed 19-of-25 passes for 236 yards and a touchdown in his first start.
With Airline backed up inside its 1 late in the first half, Williams sprinted 90 yards to the 9 on a sneak. Two plays later he sneaked over from the 1 with 4 seconds left in the half. That enabled the Vikings to take a 28-13 lead into the locker room.
Williams finished with 114 yards rushing and two touchdowns.
“Unbelievable” is how Scogin described his performance.
“I told our coaches, at one point I said, this dude’s a player,” Scogin said. “You never know when it all starts rolling. But I told somebody during practice on Wednesday I called a play and I left a part of the call out and he added it in.
“That’s stuff Ben (Taylor) was doing his senior year. But you’re talking about a kid that’s never started a game.
“It just kind of speaks to the character of him being able to dress as a freshman and taking it really serious and him getting an opportunity to back up last year and taking it really seriously and now him getting the opportunity and him really, really taking advantage of it.”
David “DJ” Allen rushed for 173 yards and 10 touchdowns.
He was part of an 83-yard hook-and-lateral play the Vikings ran to perfection in the first half. Allen caught the short pass from Williams and lateraled to Darby who raced down the sideline. That set up a touchdown.
Moore rushed for 89 yards on six carries. Phoenix Padeway had 36 on seven. Chris Hart has 31 on six and a touchdown. He also caught three passes for 55 yards.
Terrence Hays had one catch for 39 yards.
The defense and special teams also did their part.
“I think the defense played great,” Scogin said. “I feel like people finally got an opportunity to see what we’re like defensively because we put together a complete game I thought.
“We were much improved special-teams wise on covering kicks. We did a good job on offense running the ball giving the defense a little bit of time.
“And I think it really kind of shows what they were capable of. What people haven’t been giving us credit the last couple of years was we were scoring so quickly that it wasn’t allowing them much time.”
Airline opens defense of its District 1-5A championship Friday night against Benton at home. The Tigers fell to Northwood 49-16 in their opener.