CRESTVIEW – Allen Anderson scored a touchdown with 1:56 left in the fourth quarter and Austin Minks added the extra point as Fort Walton Beach came from behind to beat Crestview 21-17 in District 2-6A football action Friday night at Jack Foster Stadium.
While it was Anderson going in for the winning score it was the passing duo of Blake James to Marquese Davenport that sparked the winning drive for the Vikings. James and Davenport teamed up on three passes for 40 yards as Fort Walton Beach (5-1, 2-0) covered 77 yards for the winning score.
And the passing tandem worked in sequence all night as James hit Davenport 12 times for 140 yards. Nine of the completion came in the second half as the Vikings rallied from behind.
The Fort Walton Beach passing attack was at its best early and late in the game.
The Vikings took the opening kickoff and covered 61-yards on four plays in less than a minute to draw first blood. It was only appropriate that Fort Walton Beach’s first play of the game was a 34-yard strike from James to Davenport.
Three plays later, James found Chris Bauduin with a 24-yard pass to put the Vikings in front 7-0 with 10:41 left in the first period.
Crestview (2-4, 0-1) tied the game early in the second quarter on a 5-yard run by Micah Reed.
The quick-strike Bulldog drive came after Jalynne Robinson recovered a Xavier Gibson fumble at the Viking 46-yard line. The Bulldogs started the drive with a 41-yard pass from Dakota Davis to Emmanuel Reed on a flea flicker play that gave Crestview a first down deep in Fort Walton Beach territory. Austin Smith’s extra point tied the game at 7-7 and that’s where the score stood until the 3:16 mark in the half when Micah Reed scored from four yards out to give the Bulldogs a 14-7 lead.
The touchdown capped a 14-play, 70-yard drive with Micah Reed serving as the workhorse on the drive carrying the ball nine times for 52 yards.
The Bulldogs covered 60 yards on 11 plays on their opening drive of the third quarter, but were only able to get a 22-yard field goal by Smith out of the drive.
With less than a minute left in the third period James hit Davenport with a 16-yard touchdown pass to pull the Vikings to within three points of the Bulldogs and set the stage for the late game heroics.
At times it seemed as the Vikings were their own worst enemies as they committed four turnovers, but the Bulldogs were only able to capitalize on the first one as Fort Walton Beach held serve to remain in a tie for first place in the District.
James finished the night 16-of-35 passing for 191 yards and two interceptions to go along with his two touchdown passes.
Anderson led the Vikings in rushing with 55 yards on nine carries.
Micah Reed turned in another stellar effort on the ground for the Bulldogs as he gained 179 yards on 33 carries.
Davis was 6-of-14 passing for 96 yards for Crestview. Emmanuel Reed had four catches for 68 yards.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Late touchdown lifts Vikings over Bulldogs