Penalties, turnovers hurt Vandals in loss

Reasons for the Vandals loss to Greenville in the annual Pink Bowl game on Friday at Mark Greer Field could, in part, be summarized by the Comets’ winning drive in the fourth quarter.

Down by three, 36-33, Greenville started near midfield on a long drive for a score that would win the contest, 40-33.
But, during that drive, the Comets would actually gain only about 10 yards; the rest came on three penalties: wa facemask penalty on a tackle, a roughing the passer penalty and a dead ball personal foul for taunting.
“Too many mistakes,” coach Jason Clay said. “We turned the ball over too many times, and we had too many stupid penalties.
“We’ve got to get that cleaned up or we’re not going to beat anybody good.
“They (Greenville) did a good job of controlling the line of scrimmage,” he said. “We’ve got to get better up front, get off the football, get off blocks.”
The Comets jumped out to a quick 7-0 lead on a 37-yard touchdown catch by Brandon Hamel, but the Vandals responded quickly with a short pass from Matthew Wells to Marcus Zimmerman that resulted in a 65-yard score.
Greenville took back the lead on a 17-yard touchdown run by Christian Moss, who ran for more than 170 yards on the ground Friday, and then scored on a 42-yard pass play to go up 21-14.
Wells and Zimmerman hooked up again, this time on a 21-yard scoring play to get the Vandals within seven, and Trevor Smalls put Vandalia within one, 21-20, on a 16-yard run just seconds into the second quarter. The extra-point attempt failed, leaving the Vandals down by one.
Greenville scored again, this time on an 11-yard run, and with the point-after no good, the Comets led 27-20 at halftime.
Moss scored again in the third quarter, this time from 4 yards out, and when the extra-point attempt failed, the Comets led by 13, 33-20.
Zimmerman put the Vandals back in the game with 77-yard kickoff return for a score, and Wells passed to Thomas Ritchey for the two-point conversion, cutting the Comets’ lead to 33-28.
On their final scoring drive, the Vandals moved down to the Greenville 21 on a pass from Wells to Morrison, followed by a pass to Ritchey.
On fourth down and 3, Wells ran the ball down to the 9-yard line. Smalls made 5 yards on first down, got to the 1 on second down and then scored with 1:36 left in the third quarter.
Wells then connected with Morrison on the two-point conversion to give the Vandals a 36-33 lead.
After Greenville’s final score, the Vandals had a couple more chances, and the last one ended with a Hail Mary pass of sorts being intercepted.
“Marcus sparked us a little bit with the kick return and gave us a chance, and then we got the ball back and scored again,” Clay said.
“We had a chance,” he said. “Too many penalties and turnovers, just not winning the line of scrimmage – it’s pretty simple.”
The Vandals, now 2-1 on the season, stay at home this week, hosting Litchfield in a 7 p.m. contest.
Rushing – 30 carries for 89 yards. Smalls-25 carries, 90 yards, 2 touchdowns; Wells-4 carries, -4 yards; McNary-1 carry, 3 yards.
Passing – Wells-14 for 20, 230 yards, 3 interceptions.
Receiving – Zimmerman 6 catches for 151 yards, 1 touchdown; Morrison, 2 catches for 19 yards; Ritchey 3 catches for 27 yards; Slater 2 catches for 24 yards; Smalls 1 catch for 9 yards.
Defense – Zimmerman 5 tackles/3 assists, 1 tackle for a loss; Ritchey 4/0; Phillips 2/1; Taylor 2/2; Smock 3/4, 1 tackle for a loss; Boyd 5/5, 1 tackle for a loss; Garrett 1/1; Stanley 3/3, 1 tackle for a loss; McNary 6/5, 1 tackle for a loss; Smalls 6/1; Roman 1/0; Kaiser 1/0; Ferguson 0/1; Ledbetter 3/4.
 

Vandalia’s Marcus Zimmerman outruns Greenville defenders on his way to a 65-yard touchdown on Friday night at Mark Greer Field.

Vandals James Taylor (23), Chandler Boyd and Dylan Garrett converge on the Greenville punter for a block in the first half of the Vandals’ 40-33 loss on Friday.