FPD ends skid, rolls late in 42-7 Homecoming win over Mount de Sales

FPD was amid a rare 1-2 stretch at kickoff.

“Things haven’t gone the way that we’re typically used to,” head coach Brett Collier said. “In the past, we’ve been the beneficiary of winning some close games and getting a lot of breaks, and that hasn’t happened the past six weeks, for whatever reasons.”

Hopes that the Vikings would return to normal were put on hold when Mount de Sales countered FPD’s touchdown on its first possession with a matching score.

But a pair of touchdown passes from Major Simmons to Brady McHugh on the same playcall less than three minutes apart early in the second quarter launched the Vikings to a 42-7 win Friday night over the visiting Cavaliers.

“We were 1-2 the last three weeks, and I don’t know the last time we’ve been like that,” Collier said. “We made a lot of mistakes. It’s been hard for our guys to manage a little bit, because they’re not used to it.

“We challenged them as coaches, and I’m proud of the way they came out and responded to that.”

FPD improved to 5-2 overall and 1-0 in GIAA District 6-4A/3A while Mount de Sales fell to 1-6 and 0-1.

Running back Marcus Wilson made FPD’s defense work, running 25 times for 135 yards. But the Cavs couldn’t sustain what worked on that first drive.

“They do a good job eating the clock,” Collier said of the Cavs. “They’ve got some guys that can run.”

The score was 28-7 through three and a half quarters, FPD scoring twice in the final 4:36 against a worn-down defense.

“We’ve probably got 15 kids playing most of the snaps, and you just start to run out of gas a little more,” Mount de Sales head coach Gray Yates said. “He has a lot of guys that play both ways, too, especially in the skill positions, but they seemed to handle it a little bit better than we did, and they ended up making plays.”

Right away, it looked like FPD’s night with a 13-play, 80-yard drive that ate up more than seven minutes.

Simmons found McHugh on the right side, and he dove over the goal line in traffic for the 15-yard score.

But Mount de Sales answered, boosted by a 22-yard run from quarterback Benjamin Burney, who finished off the six-play, 65-yard drive with a 19-yard pass to Braylon Mitchell, the ball bouncing off the hands of FPD’s McHugh at the goal line.

And it was tied with 1:33 left in the first quarter.

Not for long.

Simmons hit an open McHugh in the left flat, and he cut up through blocks and defenders and broke weak tackle attempts for a 33-yard touchdown.

After stopping Mount de Sales on a fourth-and-2, the Vikings wasted little time with a shorter field and called the same play to McHugh, who did the same thing for a 51-yard score at the 9:19 mark of the second quarter.

“I like that we had kids on defense playing hard,” Yates said. “Did they fit well? No, but they were at least pursuing and they were chasing.

“Bad positioning first and then bad tackling.”

Mount de Sales got 22 yards on a pass from Burney to Bryson Harrell on a third-and-21, and converted two more third downs to get inside the 10, only for a field goal try to be blocked in the final seconds, for a 21-7 game at halftime.

“Lack of discipline on our part, not being able to get the right personnel in and out,” Yates said. “They did what they needed to do at times, and we didn’t, whether it’s the blocked field goal or getting back down there and not being able to get one in.”

FPD was ready to deal an early third-quarter knockout blow on a drive highlighted by Simmons putting on a scrambling clinic and then finding McHugh wide open down the right side for a 52-yard gain.

But Simmons fumbled at the goal line against a physical Mount de Sales defense, and the Cavs got it back on the touchback.

The knockout blow finally came when Simmons fired a laser strike to Marlon Kramer on a post, and Kramer blasted past defenders for a 52-yard score two minutes into the fourth for a 28-7 lead.

The Vikings put forth a solid 63-yard drive with Simmons finishing it off from 9 yards out at the 4:36 mark of the fourth quarter. Cash Walker added a 13-yard run with 1:08 left.

Simmons’ 103 yards led the 282-yard FPD rushing attack, and he was 9 of 10 for 253 yards and four touchdowns.

“There’s been some creeping discouragement on our team,” Collier said with a wry smile. “But my message to the team and to everyone that will listen is (that) we haven’t played our best football yet.

“And I don’t think we did tonight, but we’re getting closer.”