A pair of touchdowns by the Portland State Vikings in the final four minutes of last Saturday’s football game helped the Vikings come from behind to beat the Colonels 44-37 at PGE Park in Portland, Ore.
The Colonels had a 31-24 lead going into the fourth quarter, when the Vikings quarterback Joe Wiser scored the first of three fourth-quarter touchdowns from one-yard out to tie the score at 31 with a little more than 14 minutes left in the contest.
The Colonels junior running back Travis Felder, who led the Colonels ground attack with 160 yards running, scampered away from the Vikings defense to give the Colonels a 37-31 lead, on an 86-yard touchdown run.
“I thought the offense had an outstanding game, we moved the ball effectively. I thought Travis Felder and the offensive line had an outstanding game also,” head football coach Daryl Daye said.
On the following possession, however, the Vikings quick strike offense was able to score with 4:02 remaining in the game when Wiser ran in from a yard out. Wiser’s score tied the game once more at 37-37, but the Vikings failed on the extra point attempt.
The Vikings received the ball back with just over a minute remaining in the game on their own 15-yard line.
On an incredible example of athleticism, the Vikings wide receiver Amad Robinson turned a simple screen pass into a 72-yard game breaker that was stopped at the Colonels four-yard line by the Colonels secondary.
On the next play the Vikings Ryan Fuqua scored the game-winning touchdown from four-yards out to drop the Colonels to /1-2/ and improve the Vikings to /2-0/on the season.
The Colonels amassed 579 yards in the contest as compared to 474 by the Vikings.
In a quote taken from Portland State University SID, the Vikings head football coach Tim Walsh said, “They gave us everything we could handle and hopefully we gave it back to them. It was two different offenses going at it.”
Before going down with an injury, Colonels quarterback Josh Son scored twice and gained 86 yards on 16 carries. Backup quarterback James Morales added 110-yards on 16 carries.
Overall, Coach Daye will take the lessons learned from this game to improve for the tough road ahead.
“Defensively we have to continue to work, and get people in the right spot, and tackle better because we can’t give up big plays. Overall the effort was there and our kids played their hearts out, but we just had a tough loss,” coach Daye said.
The team has already put this loss behind them and has begun working on getting better for next weeks game.
“If we just take care of the minor things, like special teams and minor details then all the big things will take care of themselves,” senior linebacker Steven Archangel said.
The Colonels will travel to Texas to take on Texas A&M-Kingsville on Saturday, Sept. 20 at 7 p.m. at Javelina Stadium.