Vernon Shocks High Point

Vernon was down, deflated, and all but defunct. 

A two-touchdown fourth-quarter lead on High Point had melted away – and now the Vikings were somehow losing.

The Vikings’ mojo? Gone!

Their momentum? Up in smoke!

High Point seemed to have the game in its grasp.

Nice knowing you, Vikings!

Warm up the bus, Vernon!

But … hold on.

“This team has never quit,” QB Nate Kimkowski said. “We are known for that.”

Kimkowski wasn’t kidding.

Vernon drove downfield, scored a touchdown, went for two, got it, and drove away with a wild win that seemed almost impossible just a few minutes earlier.

The Vikings will now head to the playoffs with a gigantic wind at their backs, courtesy of a 43-42 win.

Vernon will travel to Lakeland in the first round of the playoffs Friday night.

If its win over High Point is any indication, Lakeland had better bring it for a full 48 minutes.

Because the Vikings sure will.

The win over High Point is Exhibit A.

“The win showed incredible heart and guts by our players,” Vernon coach Joe Down said. “They played great for all 48 minutes. I’m so proud to be their head coach. Players play. Players make the plays.”

They sure did against High Point, when the Vikings came up clutch many times in the game’s final 3:50, when they drove 59 yards and scored.

Where to begin? Let’s start at the very end, when do-everything standout Andrew Geisen caught a two-point conversion pass from Kimkowski to put their team ahead for good, 43-42.

Geisen started the season out at receiver but was moved to the backfield.

His position may as well be Football Player.

Put him anywhere and he’ll make a play.

That’s exactly what he did when it counted against High Point.

The two-point play was right out of a backyard playbook.

“To be honest, it was two kids making a play,” Down said. “High Point was in man-to-man. Andrew had the instincts to move and Nate found him. They had it covered well, but Andrew instinctively cut his pattern short.”

“I’m thinking that hopefully our tackles set the edge and I’ll run it outside,” Kimkowski said, “but they blitzed outside. Then I just threw it off. Great team chemistry right there.”

“We call it Florida,” Geisen added. “It is a pass play. My quarterback is rolling out, and I have a corner route and I’m supposed to cut back to the pylon. Nate was about to get sacked, two men were descending on him. I’m covered, my man is in front of me, he turned his head and I cut.” 

The touchdown came on fourth-and-4 and was another pass play straight out of the sandlots. That’s when Geisen took a handoff from Kimkowski and headed to the middle of the line behind the center and … then he threw a jump pass that was completed to Harry Trexler for a stunning touchdown – Trexler’s first TD of the year – to bring the Vikings to within 42-41.

“We have been practicing the jump pass all year,” Down said. “We kept it in our pocket. We needed to score. It was fourth down and we wanted that to be our two-point play. The offensive coaches looked at me. We all said that we have to use it now. It was do or die.” 

Said Kimkowski, “They were crashing down hard. Our coaches made a great call. A jump pass … and it worked. We were waiting for the right moment to use it. We caught it, and I was like, ‘There’s no way that just happened.’ Andrew put it in a perfect spot.”

“We called ‘Jordan,’” Geisen said, referring to basketball icon Michael Jordan. “They got me at running back, Nate hands off to me, and then I fake. I threw a basketball shot over the linemen. I was scared out of my mind. We rep it here and there. It’s a trick play. I couldn’t see it because the linemen were right in front of me. I’m thinking, ‘Hopefully he caught it.’ I threw it to the end zone and hoped for the best.”

Trexler caught it, all right, clinching a comeback that seemed completely unlikely a short time earlier.  

With just under four minutes left, all looked lost for Vernon, which failed on a faked punt at the High Point 35 with 3:50 left. High Point took over and Joey Elko (11 for 88 rushing, 2 TDs) scored a 4-yard touchdown run to bring the Wildcats back from 14 points down and put them soon up, 42-35. 

Good-bye Vernon? 

Um, not exactly.

Hello Vernon is more like it.

Down’s team embarked on a 59-yard drive that was aided by no less than three High Point penalties, which included two facemasks on simple running plays and a pass interference.

The running ability of Geisen (19 for 161, 1 TD) and Kimkowski (15 for 84, 3 TDs) behind the outstanding line work of Brayden Scheyer, Sebastian Castro, Dennis Welling, Adam Jackson, Jackson Moore, Brycen Kiernan and Chase Williams gained big yardage all night. 

But no bigger yardage than when the team drove down the field.

“The first thing we said after they scored and we got the ball back was, ‘We need to get this drive started,’” Down said. “We need 5-6-7 yards and get this train moving. Once you get things moving it is easier to get things going. The kids began to execute.”

They executed all the way down the field and into the end zone – and then some.

“It was more of a mentality thing,” Geisen said. “The game is not over until there is no time left. We kept fighting.”

With the battle won, it was time to celebrate. Vernon’s fans made the short trip and they were more than happy to join in at game’s end. 

“The energy was crazy,” Geisen said. “We ran to the corner with the entire team. The student section rushed onto the field. We were all hyped. There was a lot going on.”

The playoffs are looming and Vernon is searching for the first sectional title in school history. Could 2026 the Year of the Viking? That is to be determined. But Lakeland and the rest of the Group II field had better be warned: No lead is safe against these kids.