By Danny Lyon
Correspondent
PLYMOUTH — Vikings coach Robert Cody and his squad knew that their second matchup with Manteo wouldn’t be anything like the first, it wasn’t, but the Vikings still had little trouble knocking off the Redskins 34-14 Friday night at Plymouth High.
The Vikings rushed for a total of 380 yards with senior, Carl McCray leading the way with 310 yards and three touchdowns on 17 carries.
“We got a couple of big runs in the first half off of one play,” said Cody. “Then the rest of the way was a little tighter, they made some adjustments and the tempo of the game slowed and we were ahead.”
Plymouth finished strong and left no doubt what their expectations were moving forward.
Both offenses got off to a slow start trading punts. But it was the special teams play of the Vikings that got them started. Senior Quadree Pettiford returned a Manteo punt 66 yards to the end zone and put the first points on the board. McCray’s run for the conversion put Plymouth up 8-0 near the end of the first quarter.
Manteo would answer on the ensuing possession, driving 61 yards, capped off by a John Lilley quarterback keeper from 30 yards out and cutting the lead to 8-6.
Enter, Carl McCray. On the second play of the drive, the senior tailback would break a handoff up the middle for 50 yards into the end zone. After an effective Manteo punt the Vikings were backed up to their own 5-yard line, and it was McCray again cutting through the middle of the Redskins defense and outracing everyone for the spectacular 95 yard TD run. With 3:39 left in the first half, the Vikings found themselves up 6-22.
The Vikings would get the ball again late in the second quarter with under 2:00 to go. Again, McCray would have his number called, and again he would answer. This time he went the distance from 63 yards out giving the Vikings a commanding 28-6 lead going into the half.
The start of the second half brought flashbacks to Coach Cody as Manteo successfully executed an onside kick.
“Ever since last year when they beat us with an onside kick twice, nobody works on that more than we do,” said Cody. “They got that onside kick, but it wasn’t because we weren’t prepared for it.”
The Redskins took that momentum on a six-play drive down the field, ending on a 20-yard Roy Bryant touchdown run to cut the lead to 28-14. The score didn’t change for most of the second half as both defenses came up with stop after stop. Then finally, the Plymouth offense finished like championship team would. Chewing up minutes on the clock an ending with Pettiford run in the end zone. Pettiford’s 6-yard run with only 1:51 left in the game sealed it for the Vikings.
“That’s a heck of a football team they have,” said Cody, “We didn’t play flawless, I’ll tell you that, but we played well enough to come out of here with a win.”  A win that will put them in the Eastern Finals.