Survive and Advance: Hoggard Not In Championship Form, But Moving On To Round 2

It wasn't pretty... but it wasn't a beauty pageant anyway.

Without dominating on the scoreboard, Hoggard dominated play and advanced in round one with a 23-8 win over Pinecrest.

Now 11-1, the Vikings looked like they were going to score on their first possession, but a penalty slowed their progress, and the drive eventually stalled.

After Pinecrest was unable to move the ball, the Vikings offense took over with excellent field position. Starting at the Pinecrest 41 yard line, Hoggard used a nice pass play from Brad Busby to Trey Simpson to set up Rashaad McDonald's touchdown run, which put Hoggard up 7-0.

A Thomas Samuels interception gave the ball back to Hoggard's offense, as they took over at the Pinecrest 49. The Vikes were able to get in kicker Ian Durham's range, the 40 yard line drive field goal put Hoggard up 10-0 with 8:10 remaining in the second quarter.

The Vikings dominated the first half and could have been up by a bigger cushion, but made some errors that must be eliminated if they are going to advance deep into the playoffs. Before heading into the locker room, Head Coach Scott Braswell told the DK Sports Media radio crew broadcasting the game on a.m. 630, "We're stopping ourselves."

It was more of the same before they corrected the problem. After chewing up more than five minutes off the clock and driving deep into Pinecrest territory, the Vikes fumbled the ball away. The offense atoned for the mistake on their next series as Brad Busby scored on an 11 yard run, and with 2:40 left in the third quarter, Hoggard had assumed a commanding 16-0 lead.

While the defense had played well all night, they got burned on back-to-back plays and just like that, Pinecrest was right back in the ball game. After being shut down by Hoggard's D and totalling a meager 56 yards of total offense in the first half, Pinecrest's Jaron Wooten scored on a 83 yard catch and run; after a successful two point conversion, Hoggard led by just one score at 16-8.

A field goal attempt that would have given the Vikes a more comfortable margin was missed by Hoggard, but after stopping Pinecrest yet again, Brad Busby sealed the deal with a 30 yard touchdown run with just 1:29 remaining.

Coach Braswell said afterward, "The guys played hard. In the playoffs it is survive and advance. It wasn't a thing of aesthetic beauty."

So while the Vikes have played better, Hoggard moves on, and will host a round two match up next Friday.

Photo; Rodney Williams

-- Jesse Jones, CAPE FEAR SPORTS REPORT