• Photo Showcase: Friday night football
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Omaha North’s offense hit the gas early and its defense applied the brakes late and thus all was relatively smooth for the Vikings on the road to victory Friday night over rival Omaha Central.
North quarterback Chris Tyler hit a home run on the game’s second play with a 76-yard touchdown run, and running back Raecheim Logan-Martin gave North a 15-8 lead that held up when the Viking defense stopped Central on downs late inside the red zone. North took its third straight in the series in front of a reporter-estimated 4,000 fans at Central’s Seemann Stadium.
“I think both teams played extremely hard,” North coach Larry Martin said. “We gave everything and it was a dogfight. That’s a typical North-Central game.”
The dogs in this fight kept the suspense looming until the end.
After Central (0-2) had seized an 8-7 lead late in the third quarter, the Vikings (1-1) followed two consecutive three-and-out series with the game-winner early in the fourth. Logan-Martin took a sweep-right pitch, reversed field and slipped into the end zone from 5 yards out with just more than five minutes left. The seven-play, 54-yard drive was capped off with a two-point conversion that gave North a 15-8 cushion.
Whether the lead would stand up was up to North’s defense and special teams.
After the teams traded three-and-outs, Central’s Ted Lampkin fielded a North punt at his own 10-yard line and sliced his way 60 yards downfield to the North 30 with 2:59 remaining. The return was the longest play of the night for Lampkin, an Iowa State recruit who had only four touches in the game — three end-around sweeps for 26 yards, the punt return and no pass receptions.
Lampkin’s highlight-reel return eventually ended up for naught. The Eagles’ drive stalled at the 16-yard line with two straight incompletions. North ran out the final 2:00 on the ground.
“I was proud of our kids,” Martin said. “They were resilient.”
Central coach Jay Ball applauded his team’s fight.
“In our last two games, we had good effort,” he said. “We need to get a little more physical. People have been a little more physical than we have been.”
That description easily applies to North’s first score.
Tyler took off on a draw play from his own 24, was hit by a Central lineman in the backfield, broke loose and scampered through the line and went the rest of the way untouched.
Central inched closer with a second-quarter safety and then took an 8-7 lead in the third quarter on Jackie Davis’ 8-yard run. The score capped off a grinding 15-play, 80-yard drive to open the third quarter for the Eagles, who had managed just 14 plays and 70 total yards in the entire first half. Davis, a 5-foot-8 sophomore, carried eight times on the drive, picking up 61 of his game-high 106 yards.
For North, Tyler and Logan-Martin combined for 190 yards on the ground.
Omaha North...................7 0 0 8—15
Omaha Central....................2 0 6 0— 8 /b>
No.: Chris Tyler 76 run (Marco Corona Kick)
Cen.: Safety
Cen.: Jackie Davis 8 run (Pass failed)
No.: Raecheim Logan-Martin 5 run (Anthony Jones from Chris Tyler)
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: Om. Central: Davis 22-106, Lampkin 3-26, Williams 4-9, Gomez 3-9, Burgess 4-3. Om. North: Tyler 10-99, Logan-Martin 19-91, Lewis 6-27.
PASSING: Om. Central: Burgess 3-14-0, 35. Om. North: Tyler 3-13-0, 58.
RECEIVING: Om. Central: McCoy 2-26. Davis 1-12. Om. North: L. Jones 2-27, A. Jones, 1-31.
Contact the writer:
444-1201, sports@owh.com
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• Video: Highlights from the Omaha North-Omaha Central game:
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