#12 Vikings @ #5 Yellow Jackets

The North Carolina High School Athletic Association (NCHSAA) released the pairings for the football playoffs this past weekend. The Avery Vikings (5-6, 3-4 WHS) earned their way into a first round match-up with the Yellow Jackets of Bessemer City High School. According to the seeding used by the NCHSAA, the Vikings enter Friday night’s contest as the #12 seed in the West 1-AA bracket; BCHS (7-4, 3-2 Southern Piedmont Conference) enters as the #5 seed in the West, coming off a 14-6 loss at the hands of conference champion Lincolnton on Friday.

The Yellow Jackets are led by Senior QB Xavier Logan. Logan is a 5’7”, 135 pound QB who has put together some decent numbers over the past couple of years as the Bessemer City signal caller, has accumulated over 1600 yards of total offense this season (884 passing, 743 rushing) and has accounted for 19 of the 29 offensive Yellow Jacket TDs (10 rushing, 9 passing). Logan has broken two career passing records during his career at BCHS (all-time passing yardage and passing TD).

Also coming out of the BCHS backfield is a plethora of backs, led by Jhalen Adams, who has carried the ball 95 times for 423 yards and 4 scores. The Yellow Jackets have amassed almost 1,900 yards on the ground between 14 different runners, 6 of which have found pay dirt on the ground. They also have a speedy receiving attack that has been spread over 4 receivers.

The Vikings ended the season with a 42-38 victory over the Mitchell Mountaineers, finding a way to comeback and defeat the Mountaineers on a last second scoring strike from Sophomore QB Alex Villanueva to Avery’s leading receiver Andy Gonzalez. Villanueva has accumulated 1,732 yards on 116 of 249 passing with 18 TD in his first season as Viking QB. Villanueva also has 12 scores on the ground, accounting for 30 of the 44 Viking TD on the season.

Coming out of the backfield, the Vikings have a number of backs who have carried their share of the load this season, accumulating just under 1,400 yards on the ground this season. The high-octane running attack has been led by Colton Blackburn, as he rushed for 534 yards on 63 carries, averaging an impressive 8.5 yards per carry on the season. Kenny Hicks has also slipped his way to 287 yards, averaging more than 5 yards per carry.

The game will be won on the defensive end, with both teams boasting a decent defensive effort on the season. The Yellow Jackets have put together an impressive resume on defense, holding opponents to just 13.5 points per game this season. The Vikings will have to stop the outside run, but do have some practice this season with QB threats similar to Logan, coming in the form of two other Logan’s (Hallock and Jensen). The containment the Vikes showed with Logan Hallock when the Vikes played West Wilkes will come in handy if they can execute defensively against Xavier Logan.

Friday’s game will get underway at 7:30 PM in Jack Dixon Stadium at Bessemer City High School. The winner will move on to face the winner of #4 Swain/#13 West Wilkes. Go Vikes!