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Chattanooga: Vipond’s kick wins for Pounders

By: David Uchiyama
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David Barger

The Finley Stadium crowd roared with approval when the power went out, and cell phones turned the stadium into a jar of lightning bugs.

Staff Photo by Angela Lewis
Central's Maurice King, left, carries the ball as Notre Dame's Zach Traynor pursues in the game at Finley Stadium on Friday.

Drama continued throughout the game before Central senior Robert Vipond booted a 27-yard field goal with 20 seconds left for a 13-10 season-opening victory over Notre Dame.

“This game had a little bit of everything,” Central coach David Barger said. “Turnovers, penalties, big plays by both teams, good special teams, and, oh yeah, that power outage.”

Barely three minutes after the second half began, and with the sun tucked below the horizon, a quick noise murmured in the stadium and all the lights went out at once.

“Let’s play anyway!” one of the Notre Dame players screamed.

The delay lasted about 20 minutes, and the game resumed with Central’s Purple Pounders ahead of the Irish 7-0. Central scored on the first play of the second quarter when quarterback Patrick Moore scampered around the left side from 27 yards out.

The Pounders gained 10 first downs in the first half but had only the seven points because Notre Dame’s defense stiffened in the red zone. The Irish blocked a field goal in the first quarter and stuffed Moore on fourth-and-goal in the second quarter.

“We didn’t give up that big play that would get us in trouble,” Notre Dame coach Charlie Wiggins said. “We kept fighting and we kept clawing.”

The Irish tied the game with 10 seconds left in the third quarter on a 20-yard run by sophomore Conner Choate. They took a 10-7 lead on a 25-yard field goal from Andy Helms.

Moore drove the Pounders 52 yards — including a 23-yard pass to a diving Vipond — to the 8-yard line where Vipond tied the game with a 25-yard field goal and 1:50 left.

Wiggins said he wanted to see if the Irish could break a big play before settling for overtime. But sophomore Jeremey Deocampo, who had a 69-yard run to set up the field goal, fumbled and Central defensive end Clinton Bailey recovered it.

Central ran three plays and Wiggins called two timeouts before Vipond kicked the winning points from the hold of Preston Womack.

“My sophomore year against Brainerd they iced me three times, so this wasn’t a thing,” Vipond said. “I kept my head straight and kicked straight through the ball like I’m supposed to.”

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