The last week of the youth league regular season featured a great game between the two undefeated teams in the 10-12 year-old division.  The VIKINGS and the GIANTS battled it out in a game to decide who would end their regular season undefeated and on top.

The first half was very competitive with both teams playing stellar defense.  The VIKINGS turned it over on all four of their possessions, one of which included an interception by Madden Barone of the GIANTS.  Although the VIKINGS also recorded an interception by Cole Starrett, the GIANTS managed to score on their opening drive on a handoff from Madden to Yusuf Mendosa Jr. for a TD.  The extra point was good to Shamar Simpson and the GIANTS went into halftime with a 7-0 lead.

The second half proved to be a little more one-sided.  The GIANTS threw a pick on their first possession to Jacob Goldberg and the VIKINGS capitalized on the interception.  Cole rolled to his right to find Julian Psilos in the corner of the endzone for a TD.  Two more interceptions, one by Yusuf and the other by Michael, and turnovers took over the next several possessions.

However, the VIKINGS were able to score yet again off of an interception.  This time, Cole found Michael up the middle who ran into the endzone for a TD.  The GIANTS would only fall deeper on their next possession when Michael picked off Shamar and ran it into the endzone for a pick-six.  The GIANTS failed to score at all in the half and the VIKINGS came out with the victory by a score of 18-7.

The VIKINGS second half surge proved to be the factor in this game.  Their defensive play was strong with a total of four interceptions.  Although shaky in the first half, their offense successfully capitalized on the GIANTS’ turnovers.  All players looked strong for the team and I look for them to make a deep playoff run.

At the start, it looked as though the GIANTS would have the upper hand in this one.  However, their failure to score on offense lost them the game.  Their defense was strong, led by Nico Mowod with 3 sacks.  The GIANTS have a lot of talent but need to work on putting it all together for playoffs.