Fort Campbell’s Maurice Moore made his mark with all three Falcons’ units on Friday at Northwest, TN, picking off a pass, hauling in a touchdown catch, and taking a kickoff 70 yards to the endzone to seal a 20-17 opening-night victory.
The Falcons needed everything the track state champion could provide after seeing a halftime lead disappear in the fourth quarter. The win marks the second year in a row they’ve started 1-0.
The teams traded interceptions in a scoreless first quarter, including Moore’s pick to end Northwest’s first drive.
Moore then provided the breakthrough when he climbed higher than a pair of Viking defenders to pull in a 39-yard TD pass from Jonah Weisbrich.
It was all Fort Campbell late in the half after Jacaryous Perriman scored on a short run to take advantage of the Vikings’ ill-advised fake punt attempt from their own 20-yard line.
However, in a glimpse of things to come, Northwest marched down the field behind running back Bricen Moore to set up a 32-yard Juan Pena-Maddox field goal with just nine seconds left in the half.
Northwest started the second half feeding Moore, and he delivered with a five-yard scoring plunge with 6:32 left in the third quarter. Moore drove the Vikings back into scoring position on their next possession, but quarterback Braden Ellis’ pass was deflected by the Falcons’ Moore and picked off in the endzone by Torrance Dixon.
Fort Campbell seemed to have run out of gas when the Vikings’ Moore broke the goal line with a four-yard run to put Northwest in front for the first time at 17-14 with 9:04 to play.
But Moore would have the last word for the Falcons, blasting through the middle to return the kickoff 70 yards for what would be the game-winning touchdown. Pena-Maddox had put all his kickoffs into the endzone, but when he finally left one short, Moore made the Vikings pay.
However, Fort Campbell’s defense had to muster one last stand, holding off a 3rd and goal from the three and blocking a game-tying field goal attempt to preserve the victory.
Northwest enjoyed a statistical advantage, rushing for 277 yards to the Falcons’ 78 and amassing 309 total yards to Fort Campbell’s 180. But the Vikings were penalized nine times for 52 yards and only managed 32 yards through the air with a pair of interceptions.
Keyshawn Dixon rushed for 54 yards for the Falcons, and Perriman finished with 25 and a TD. Moore made two catches for 51 yards and a score, and Perriman had one reception for 46 yards.
Moore rushed for 160 yards on 20 carries with two TDs for the Vikings, and Jaren Scales gained 85 yards on 15 attempts.
Fort Campbell will try to make it two in a row next week when Hopkins County Central visits, but the Storm have shut out the Falcons in each of the last three meetings.
