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Ripley runs past Greenbrier East in postseason opener

Vikings’ 1st playoff victory since 2009

RIPLEY — The cold, pounding rain that plagued the area Friday cleared out just in time for kickoff in Death Valley and then resumed right after the game concluded.

It was fitting, because playing in its first playoff game since 2009, nothing or no one was going to rain on Ripley’s parade.

Jeremy Harper rumbled for 118 yards and three touchdowns, quarterback Cyrus Casto threw for 188 yards and two more scores and the Class AAA No. 5 Vikings (10-1) overcame a brief lull in the first half to run away with a 43-15 first-round victory over No. 12 Greenbrier East.

Ripley will play at No. 4 Musselman next week in a second-round tilt.

The Vikings will worry about a week from now in the days to come, but Friday’s win was a long time in the making and coach Eddie Smolder, who played for Ripley himself, expressed that in the wake of the victory.

“It means a lot for our whole program, myself, my assistant coaches, but most importantly for our young men in the locker room,” Smolder said. “They’ve worked really hard for the last four years and they deserve every bit of this. I’m extremely proud of them.”

The Vikings met Greenbrier East in the regular season, winning in a narrow 28-26 decision.

For much of the first half, it looked like the teams would be in for another classic, but big plays benefitted Ripley as four of the team’s six touchdowns came from 35 yards out or more. All those scores came in the first half.

In that mix were two long touchdown passes from Casto, who connected with Dalton Myers for 79 yards and Evan King for 81 yards. Casto completed just three passes, but they went for 188 yards and served as back breakers for East’s defense.

“We just opened it up,” Smolder said. “We pulled every trick we had.”

“Just coming out and trying to stay focused,” Casto added. “We knew we had to have big plays to win and play tough so we just came out and made plays and came out victorious.”

East seemed to have momentum on its side as the game started, recovering a squib kick off a Ripley player to begin things. But the Spartans went three and out and the Vikings were more than happy to land some opening blows.

The Vikings scored on big plays to cap each of its first two possessions, the first coming on Casto’s 79-yard touchdown toss to Myers on a third-down wheel route to open the scoring. The Spartans went three and out again and on the first play of the ensuing drive, Harper galluped 60 yards to pay dirt, giving the Vikings a commanding 14-0 lead.

Ripley forced East into a third-and-22 with the help of a holding penalty on the next possession, but Kyle King hit Colby Piner for a 29-yard completion, setting off the game’s first massive momentum shift. That drive would finish with a 1-yard plunge by Marion Lawson and a King run on a 2-point conversion made the score 14-8 as the first quarter came to an end.

East (6-5) held on its next possession and then found room in the running game, marching 65 yards in seven plays capped by a 20-yard touchdown run for Jaylon Battaile to give the Spartans a 15-14 advantage.

But right when it seemed Ripley was faltering, the Vikings recovered on a perfectly thrown strike from Casto to King and 81 yards later, he was celebrating in the end zone. An extra point gave Ripley a 21-15 lead.

The Vikings weren’t done, taking advantage of a misplayed kickoff to pin Greenbrier East deep and then taking advantage of a three-and-out with Harper rolling into the end zone from 35 yards out. A 2-point run from Casto gave the Vikings a 29-15 lead.

That advantage would carry into the half, but only by a yard as East drove inside the Ripley 5-yard line with seconds to play and no timeouts. A handoff exchange was fumbled with quarterback King batting the loose ball forward into the hands of an East player. But intentionally advancing a ball forward on a fumble is illegal and the call was made, bringing to end a wild first half.

“They’re a tough team,” Smolder said. “We knew we had our hands full and it was going to be tough to stop them. But we held them to 15, I’m extremely proud of our defensive guys for stepping up.”

In those opening two quarters, Greenbrier East ran 41 plays compared to 16 for Ripley, but big plays proved to be the difference in sending the Vikings to the locker room with the lead.

Harper capped Ripley’s opening drive of the second half with a 5-yard score and the Vikings were on their way.

Battaile racked up 132 yards on 27 carries to lead Greenbrier East.

R.J. Evans added 77 yards on 14 rushes for Ripley including an 8-yard touchdown to conclude the scoring.

#5 Ripley 43, #12 Greenbrier East 15

GEHS 8 7 0 0 — 15

RHS 14 15 14 0 — 43

R: Dalton Myers 79 pass from Cyrus Casto, Davisson Flint kick, 8:39 1st

R: Jeremy Harper 60 run, Flint kick, 6:20 1st

G: Marion Lawson 1 run, Kyle King run, :04 1st

G: Jaylon Battaile 20 run, Hunter Webb kick, 7:08 2nd

R: Evan King 81 pass from Casto, Flint kick, 5:14 2nd

R: Harper 35 run, Casto run, 1:46 2nd

R: Harper 5 run, Flint kick, 4:46 3rd

R: RJ Evans 8 run, Flint kick, :25 3rd

Team stats

GEHS RHS

First downs 19 14

Rushes-yards 54-228 30-217

Passing yards 61 207

Total yards 289 424

Comp-att-int 5-9-0 4-5-0

Fumbles-lost 2-0 0-0

Penalties-yards 9-82 5-55

Punts-average 5-29 1-39

Individual stats

Rushing: G: Battaile 28-133; King 8-57; Colby Piner 12-23; Lawson 5-15; Chris Hulmes 1-0; R: Harper 8-117; Evans 14-78; Casto 6-22; Myers 1-5; King 1-(-5); Passing: G: King 5-8-0, 61 yards; Clay Jackson 0-1-0, 0 yards; Casto 3-4-0, 188 yards; King 1-1-0, 19 yards; Receiving: G: Piner 4-62; Brandon Honaker 1-(-1); R: Myers 2-107; King 1-81; Casto 1-19

Next game: Ripley vs. Musselman, TBD

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