Russell Hedges
rhedges@bossierpress.com
The Airline Vikings kept their hopes of a repeat District 1-5A title alive with a 24-0 homecoming victory over the Southwood Cowboys Friday night at Airline Stadium.
The Vikings evened their overall record at 4-4. They are 2-1 in district play with games left against Captain Shreve and Parkway.
Even if Airline loses its last two games, they could make the playoffs. If they beat Shreve, they definitely will.
And a Shreve victory could set up a showdown with Parkway with a least a share of the district title on the line.
Airline coach Bo Meeks said his team won’t be looking past Captain Shreve, which came close to upsetting Haughton last Thursday night.
Airline quarterback Jacob James tries to avoid a Southwood defender Friday night.
“We’ve got a big one (Friday night),” he said. “We’ve got to get that one. Shreve’s good on defense and we have to prepare for that.”
The Vikings used a dominating defensive effort to shut out Southwood (1-7, 0-3), which lost its seventh straight.
“The biggest thing is we played great defense all night,” Meeks said. “They had one big play that turned into a semi-threat but other than that we stoned them all night defensively. I was really proud of our effort there.”
The defense made its presence felt on the first play of the game when OJ Smith forced a fumble that Charlie Matthews recovered inside Southwood territory.
Airline scored all of its points in the first half.
Kavonte Johnson scored two rushing touchdowns and Shuncee Thomas one.
Thomas finished a yard shy of the first 100-yard game in his career, gaining 99 yards on 13 carries.
Johnson rushed for 66 yards on 19 carries as the Vikings finished with 209 yards on the ground.
“We really came out offensive in the first half and did a pretty good job of running the ball,” Meeks said.
Quarterback Jacob James completed eight of 17 passes for 61 yards. He also rushed nine times for 33 yards.
Darian Germany had five catches for 40 yards, and Thomas had one for 17.
Ryan Jameson kicked a 32-yard field goal.
The second half was purely academic.
“We were a little sloppy in the second half offensively,” Meeks said. “We missed some opportunities to finish drives.”
