ORFORDVILLE, Wis. — The visiting Beloit Turner Trojans were already frustrated when Parkview/Albany fullback Caleb Smith crashed into the end zone to give the Vikings a 12-6 lead early in the third quarter.
“We heard them celebrating in their locker room at halftime,” Turner’s Leyton Davies said. “We were playing to their standards. We really needed a spark to get us going.”
Sophomore Peyton Tucker provided it, scooping up a Parkview/Albany fumble and sprinting 24 yards for a tying touchdown, the start of 29 unanswered points and a 35-12 victory in the season opener.
“Talk about a big-time play and nobody deserves it more than that guy because nobody works harder than Peyton,” said Turner head coach Grant McLain. “That completely changed the momentum of the game.”
The Vikings seemed on the verge of taking charge when they took the second-half kickoff and drove 58 yards, scoring on fourth-and-two on a dive by Smith.
The host’s defense then recovered a Turner fumble, but two plays later Spencer forced a fumble on a pitch play caromed off Turner’s Noah Pfundheller to Tucker’s waiting hands and his touchdown return and TJ Noack’s point-after kick put Turner into the lead, 13-12.
“I just saw an open field and took off,” Tucker said. “(Pfundheller) was so mad he didn’t get it, but he knocked it right into my hands. Last season I didn’t play much as a freshman, but this season everybody has to step up.”
Turner’s defense provided another big play when Davis intercepted his second pass of the night against Parkview/Albany quarterback Aiden Crane. The Trojans scored again in five plays, thanks to Jaxon Walenga breaking several tackles on a 30-yard run and then hitting Camron Ingram with a 6-yard TD pass. Walenga also ran for the conversion for a 21-12 advantage with 28 seconds remaining in the third quarter.
“Going for two and making it a two-score game was big, too,” McLain said.
The energized Trojans added fourth-quarter TDs on runs of 33 yards by Jh’Mari Smith and 6 by Tucker, playing backup quarterback, against a spent Vikings defense.
The Turner defense stymied Crane and the Vikings in the fourth quarter, ramping up the pressure, and gave the offense short fields to work with.
“Defensively, we had a number of guys step up,” McLain said. “Davies with the two picks. Tucker with the scoop and score. Chris (Spencer) and Carter (Atkinson) flying around. Freshman Kayden Jordan getting a sack to seal it. Some really great individual efforts, but collectively some big-time stops.”
New Parkview/Albany head coach Damian Dressler appreciated his team’s effort.
“The biggest thing is that with the lack of numbers we didn’t have enough replacements when guys started cramping up,” Dressler said. “We didn’t have the ability to keep guys fresh and that came back to bite us in the butt. That’s something we’re trying to build. We played three good quarters and that’s more than what these guys have been doing lately.”
Turner went 67 yards on its opening possession and scored on Walenga’s 17-yard TD pass to Noack, but the point-after kick was wide.
The Vikings responded with a drive to the Turner 7, but Chris Spencer sacked Crane back to the 14 and Davies then picked off a pass at the 6.
“The key was reading the quarterback and knowing on fourth down they were going to throw it,” Davies said.
This was a season-opener, however, and there were a few first-game mis-steps, including the ball being snapped over punter Noack’s head and while he got off a punt, Parkview/Albany took over at the Turner 6. Crane then tied the game by hitting Mathias Treinen in the end zone. Turner stuffed a conversion run to keep it 6-6.
Crane nearly put the Vikings on top with a 61-yard scramble, but was run down at the Turner 5. A substitution infraction cost the Vikings a 5-yard penalty and an incompletion was followed by two short runs to leave them with a fourth-down play at the 7. Crane’s pass fell incomplete to leave it 6-6 at halftime.
The second half, however, would be mostly a Turner highlight reel.
“The momentum will help carry us on,” Davies said.
Turner is at Delavan-Darien on April 30 at 7 p.m.
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