Vernon Lions run past Bowie 51-26

Daniel Walker
Vernon Record
The Vernon Lions embraced a physical style of play to run past the Bowie Jackrabbits on Friday 51-26, piling up over 500 yards offense to 247 yards for Bowie.

Lions’ quarterback Ty Scott breaks through the line for a long touchdown run in Friday’s win. Scott had 166 yards rushing with two touchdowns and 110 yards passing with two touchdowns in the game.
Mike Chacanaca/
Vernon Record

The Lions jumped out of the gate quick, forcing a Bowie turnover on downs and scoring on their first two offensive possessions. But Head Coach Kevin Sherrill said the offense struggled early to get on track.
“I’m proud of the defense, they came out sharp. Coach (Brock) Payne did a good job preparing. We started slow on offense, I know we scored on our first two possessions, but we scored on broken plays. We had a lot of mistakes, missed assignments. We’ve got to clean that up and start sharper if we won’t to keep playing next month,” Coach Sherrill said.
The Lions defense forced a 4th and 3 at the Bowie 37 on the Rabbits first drive. Bowie tried to convert but was stopped short with a tackle from Brayden Booth. On their first drive, the Lions offense went backwards with a penalty and faced a 3rd and 14. Quarterback Ty Scott made something out of nothing as he scrambled down to the Bowie 4. Carson Schoppa cashed in the drive. He took a handoff, was hit in the backfield, spun around to the right and slipped into the endzone for the 1-yard score with 9:54 left in the first quarter. Mu Soe drilled the extra point for a 7-0 lead.
The defense again forced a three and out and the Lions marched into Bowie territory. Another false start left the Lions with a 2nd and 14 at the 33. Scott found Tru Gipson with a screen pass and he outraced the defense for the touchdown. Soe’s extra point made it 14-0 with 6:43 left in the first quarter.
A personal foul penalty handed Bowie a first down at the Vernon 46 to start their third drive. A busted assignment gave the Rabbits a passing TD and it was 14-7. Vernon’s Tru Gipson raced 74 yards for an answering TD. Then the Rabbits got another score on the same pass play for 23 yards to make it 21-13.
“The back snuck out of the backfield on a seam route and, basically, we went to sleep. It was almost the same play twice for scores. Except for those two plays the defense didn’t give up much,” Coach Sherrill said.
The Lions’ Kiegan Ballard blocked the extra point attempt, and Gipson returned it 93 yards for two points and Vernon had a 23-13 lead with 11:53 remaining in the half.
“You’re never going to play a perfect game, you make mistakes. But I’m proud of the kids that they never gave up on a play or a series. We gave up that score and instead of hanging our heads, we block the kick. Tru scooped that thing up and scored. That was a big play,” Coach Sherrill said.
The Rabbits got another TD pass of 8 yards with 2:02 left in the half. Ballard got another block to leave the score 23-19.
Scott ran the Lions’ two-minute offense to perfection, throwing a 5-yard TD to Jamari Chance with 13 seconds left in the half to give Vernon a 30-19 lead.
Vernon opened the second half getting the ball, and the offense made a statement.
“Our offensive line had 16 pancake blocks on the Bowie offensive line. I think they took it personal that they said they were going to stop our run,” Coach Sherrill said. “We’ve embraced playing a physical style coming off the Paradise loss. Our kids work hard and are not afraid of working hard and we demand that. AD (Adarius Williams) was back, he had a couple of big hits. His presence really helped us. It was great to have him back.”

Vernon senior running back Adarius Williams pushes back a Bowie defender in last Friday’s game. Williams returned rom baing out the past month with an injury. “His presence really helped us. It was great to have him back,” Coach Kevin Sherrill said.

It didn’t take long for the offense to find paydirt with Scott racing 54 yards down the sideline, thanks to a big block from J’dyn Cooper, for a score. Soe’s extra point gave Vernon a 37-19 lead barely a minute into the third quarter.
Gipson scored from 5-yards out with 1:57 left in the third for a 44-19 advantage. Scott scored on a 3-yard quarterback drawn to cap off a 10-play, 69-yard, clock-draining drive to make it 51-19 with 6:05 left in the game. Bowie added a late score for the 51-26 final.

By the Numbers
Vernon 516, Bowie 26
Bowie 7 12 0 7 – 26
Vernon 21 9 14 7 – 51
TEAM STATS
Vernon Bowie
First downs 17 10
Rushing 47-400 31-109
Passing 6-11 2/0 110 8-18 3/0 138
Punts 3-46 6-38
Fumbles 0 0
Penalties 5-45 4-35
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
RUSHING: (V) Ty Scott 14-166 (2 TDs), Tru Gipson 11-127 (2 TDs), Carson Schoppa 12-75 (TD), Keinin Gardner 5-20, Adarius Williams 1-5, Jamari Chance 3-5, J’dyn Cooper 1-2. (B) Justin Clark 14-43.
PASSING: (V) Scott 6-11-0—110 (2 TDs); (B) Rayder Mann 8-20-0—138 (3 TDs).
RECEIVING: (V) Gipson 2-55 (TD), Chance 3-46 (TD), Gardner 1-9; (B) Richey 5-50 (TD), Clark 1-44 (TD), Harris 1-32 (TD).
Defense: Nick Guzman 6 tackles; Adarius Williams 2 tackles, 2 tackles for loss; Tyce Payne 4 tackles, 1 sack, a pass defense, 1 tackle for loss; Carter Kieschnick 4 tackles, 2 pass defense; Javi Lopez 5 tackles, 1 sack, 1 pass defense, 1 tackle for loss.