By Travis Smola
The Vicksburg varsity football team finished off Plainwell 22-7 in a game that stretched two evenings due to weather delay.
The Bulldogs opened the scoring Friday night 58 seconds into the second quarter with a 50 yard power run by senior running back Nick Wallace, who shredded several tackles as he rumbled his way for six.
The story of both nights was the defense that allowed yards, but prevented Plainwell points again and again. Senior linebacker Brendan Crawford came up with a key interception late in the second quarter that senior quarterback Brenden Lovell converted to points six plays later on an 11-yard scoring strike to junior wide receiver Blake Rankin.
Senior running back Seth Benson was successful on both two-point after touchdown runs.
At halftime the Bulldogs led 16-0, but then came the lightning. After several re-starts of the clock, officials were forced to call the game until the next evening.
On Saturday, Head coach Tom Marchese said the team went through pre-game preparations for the re-start of the second half like a normal game. “We’ve gotta do what we’ve gotta do,” Marchese said of the team’s response to the weather delays faced by most teams in the Conference.
The Bulldogs received the kick in the Saturday restart in the third quarter. Vicksburg went on a lengthy drive that was capped off by a 12 yard run by Wallace for a touchdown to make it 22-0. The PAT was unsuccessful.
Plainwell responded with a touchdown on the next possession. The Bulldog defense made the Trojans work for every yard on the drive and it was the final score of the game.
Marchese said the defense played bend but not break in the Saturday restart. It ended up being a sound strategy. Plainwell had multiple lengthy drives that didn’t amount to anything. “We had two stops on fourth down, which was nice,” Marchese said.
The defense closed out the final seconds with two consecutive sacks on third and fourth down to finish off Plainwell. The Bulldogs will face Sturgis at home for homecoming this Friday.