Titans Thump Vikings
Titans take control; Vikes drop to 0-5
By Ron Riley
Sports editor
The Columbus Titans grabbed this one by the throat and never let go. The Titans, averaging 40 points a game on the year, stormed into Marvel Park Friday and rolled to a 48-6 victory over the winless Parsons Vikings.
For the briefest of instants, it seemed the opening moments of the game would go the Vikings' way. A poor kickoff gave the Vikings great field position at their own 41. A fumbled snap later, the instant was over.
On the very next play, Titans' quarterback Corbin Stanley hit wideout Tyler Fleming on a deep post pattern for a touchdown. With exactly 12 seconds off the clock, the Titans led 7-0.
The Vikings got the ball back at their own 34. On second and six, Malcolm Odom was hit and stripped of the ball on a quarterback keeper. The Titans took over at the Parsons 35-yard line and needed just four plays to score again at the 10:04 mark in the first quarter. Stanley accounted for all of the Titans' yards on the short drive, with one run of 13 yards and a second of 15 for the score. In the first half, Stanley ran the ball eight times for 58 yards.
Stanley used his arm as well as his feet to find the end zone. With 5:27 to go in the first quarter, he hooked up with Flemming again to make the score 21-0.
"I thought we had a pretty good game plan going in," said Vikings' head coach Leon Miller. "But it just went out the window. That's how it works."
Parsons was unable to generate any offense as Columbus raced out to the big lead. Turnovers, especially, hurt the Vikings. On six possessions in the first quarter, they punted the ball twice and turned it over four times. In the first half, the Vikings had a total of six turnovers.
"Columbus is a good team," Miller said. "You can't give up turnovers and big plays like that. You can't give them a short field."
The Titans didn't seem to need a short field when they started drives in the first half, as they generally wound up in the end zone anyway. In the second quarter, Columbus used an 11-play drive to move 78 yards to make the score 28-0. At one point in the series, the Titans faced a second-and-32 play following a sack and an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. They picked up eight yards on that down, and then Stanley found Fleming again for a 41-yard gain on third-and-24. Fleming took a short pass and turned it upfield, breaking several tackles before ultimately being brought down by Tyler Gilley at the 3-yard line.
Columbus would score one more time before the half, on a double reverse from the 23-yard line with 1:17 to go to make the score 35-0.
In the first half, the Titans racked up 251 yards of offense, 162 of those through the air. Stanley was 10-16 with two touchdowns, and Fleming had six catches for 134 yards.
And, amazingly, they weren't even close to finished.
After a touchback on the opening kick of the second half, Columbus had the ball at its own 20. And, just as in the first half, it took the Titans exactly 12 seconds to score. Fleming raced wide open down the middle of the field, and Stanley hit him in stride near the 50. When Fleming stopped running, the Titans led 42-0.
Following a Vikings' punt, Columbus got the ball back at its own 21-yard line. The Titans picked up one first down, then faced third and five from their own 39. Stanley threw over the middle to Matt Crain, but the pass was high and flicked off Crain's fingertips. It flicked right into the hands of Fleming, who turned between two defenders and raced yet again to the end zone. The extra-point kick missed, making the score 48-0.
At the end of the first half, Odom was replaced by junior Brett Cares at quarterback for the Vikings.
"Malcolm dinged up his knee a little bit," Miller said. "Under the circumstances, there was no use risking anything else happening to him."
The Vikings finally got on the scoreboard with 3:24 left in the game when Kenny Jones took a handoff from Cares and ran in a 6-yard score.
Miller said the 0-5 start for the Vikings has affected the team, but the season isn't over.
"We've got to get on a roll (before district play starts)," he said. "Our confidence isn't very good right now."
Columbus 48, Parsons 6
Columbus 21 14 13 0 - 21
Parsons 0 0 0 6 - 18
First quarter
Columbus - Tyler Fleming, 48 pass from Corbin Stanley (Colton Lamb kick)
Columbus - Stanley 3 run (Lamb kick)
Columbus - Fleming, 15 pass from Stanley (Lamb kick)
Second quarter
Columbus - Lewis Kellogg 3 run (Lamb kick)
Columbus - Justin Pillar 23 run (Lamb kick)
Third quarter
Columbus - Fleming, 80 pass from Stanley (Lamb kick)
Columbus - Fleming, 61 pass from Stanley (kick missed)
Fourth quarter
Parsons - Kenny Jones 6 run (2-point try failed)
Game statistics
PAR COL
First downs 4 10
Rushes-net yds 28-50 28-109
Passing yards 3 338
Passes (comp.-att.-int.) 1-7-3 14-20-0
Fumbles - lost 5-4 2-2
Punts-Avg. 7-37 5-41
Penalties-yds 3-25 6-65
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING - Parsons, Donte Flores 13-46, Kenny Jones 6-27, Al Glass 1-2, Malcolm Odom 4-(-6), Brett Cruse 2-(-2), Brett Cares 2 (-17). Columbus, Corbin Stanley 9-60, Lewis Kellogg 14-33, Justin Pillar 2-18, Bill Green 2-1, Zach Foster 1-(-3).
PASSING - Parsons, Odom, 1-7-3, 3. Columbus, Corbin Stanley, 15-21-0, 358.
RECEIVING - Parsons, Al Glass 1-3, Columbus, Tyler Fleming, 8-285, Bill Green 2-30, Justin Pillar 2-19, Cody Burton 1-9, Matt Crain 1-15.
