VARDAMAN – Vardaman coach Larry Gann had to wait until the second half of Friday’s game against East Webster before he could find many positives in his team’s performance.
The Rams were overmatched in a 64-14 loss to the Wolverines, but still showed signs of promise offensively after halftime. Vardaman (0-1) fell behind 49-0 at the half and played against mostly second-and third-string players from East Webster (1-0) over the final 24 minutes. But a pair of 50-plus yard scoring drives by the Rams provided some late momentum.
“We came out to play in the second half,” Gann said. “You have to give (East Webster) coach (Doug) Wilson a ton of credit because they showed the utmost sportsmanship with substitutions, but regardless of who they had on the field, if we had quit it wouldn’t have mattered.
We just have to keep working through some things and playing for four quarters.”
East Webster scored on a 19-yard touchdown pass with 7:55 remaining in the third quarter to stretch its lead to 56-0, but Vardaman linebacker Will Vanlandingham provided a spark on the ensuing kickoff.
Vanlandingham’s 34-yard kick return gave Vardaman its best starting field position of the evening at its own 45-yard line. Quarterback Brandon Walker and running back Deon Johnson took over from there. Walker had a pair of gritty runs bouncing off defenders for 13 total yards. John rushed three times for 22 yards on the drive, including a 1-yard touchdown up the middle.
“I think it did a lot for our team,” Johnson said. “I felt like I had to come through in the second half when they needed me the most.”
The Vardaman defense forced a three-and-out, and on the very next possession Walker and Johnson picked up where they had left off. Walker found Johnson on a short pass in the flat for 11 yards on fourth and 10 to keep the drive alive. Johnson then ran for 22 yards on the next play.
“He’s always there when I need a dump-off, and he can tear off a long run when you need him to,” Walker said.
Gann used a bit of trickery to finish the drive. Walker handed off to Brandon Washington who ran right but then hurled a pass back across the field to Walker for a 13-yard touchdown.
“Brandon (Walker) gave us great leadership in the second half,” Gann said. “He stepped up and a made a play.”
East Webster wasted little time building an insurmountable lead early. Quarterback Jack Wilson directed scoring drives on each of the Wolverines’ first seven possessions, and was then removed from the game with less than three minutes remaining in the first half.
Wilson finished 9-of-12 passing for 171 yards and one touchdown. He also rushed four times for 40 yards and two more touchdowns.
East Webster had 342 yards of total offense in the first half and held Vardaman to minus-4 yards offensively. The Rams managed 95 yards of offense in the second and outgained the Wolverines by one yard.
Johnson finished with 45 yards rushing on 12 carries and one touchdown, and also added two catches for two yards. Walker was 4-of-12 passing for 15 yards and had one receiving touchdown.
“I told my teammates ‘don’t quit,’ because that’s when teams take advantage of you and score 80-90 points. East Webster could have easily done that to us tonight,” Walker said.
“We still have a chance to win some region games and get in the playoffs, and when you get in the playoffs you just try and make some noise.”