Valley City Rolls To Third Win Of Season
The Vikings never trailed in Satruday's win over Presentation College
VALLEY CITY, ND – Viking quarterback Jalen Pfeifer had a hand in five touchdowns Saturday afternoon as he helped the Valley City State football team to a season-high 42 points.
Pfeifer passed for the first four touchdowns of the game – including a 64-yard strike to Michael Cornelious to start the scoring. He later ran for a touchdown as VCSU defeated Presentation College, 42-13.
Valley City State improves to 3-1 overall this season. Presentation College drops to 0-5.
Pfeifer and Cornelious connected on the game’s first score – an acrobatic catch and run early in the first quarter – and VCSU never looked back, building a 35-0 lead after three quarters en route to the victory. VCSU’s defense limited Presentation College to just 224 yards of offense. The Viking special teams also contributed in a big way, forcing and recovering fumbles on both a punt return and kick return.
The Vikings scored first-half touchdowns on receptions by Cornelious (64 yards), Taylor Simmons (23 yards) and Benjamin Dumond (4 yards). VCSU took a 21-0 lead into halftime and extended it to 28-0 when Pfeifer hit Caid Combs for a 28-yard touchdown early in the third quarter. Simmons added a 1-yard touchdown run later in the quarter for a 35-0 lead.
Presentation found the end zone early in the fourth quarter when quarterback Hunter Giffrow ran a successful option play for a 15-yard score. Pfeifer followed with a 1-yard touchdown run on VCSU’s next drive, making it 42-6 in favor of the Vikings. Saints running back Trey Pajimula scored from 1-yard out late in the game for PC’s final score.
Pfeifer finished the game 20-for-30 passing, throwing for a career-high 343 yards and four touchdowns. Benjamin Dumond had VCSU’s first 100-yard receiving game of the season, catching eight passes for 107 yards and a score. Cornelious had six catches for 91 yards and a touchdown. Simmons totaled 129 all-purpose yards and two touchdowns, rushing for 94 yards on 17 carries and catching three passes for 35 yards. The Vikings had 454 yards of total offense.
“It was great to see our offense get some rhythm today,” said VCSU head coach Dennis McCulloch. “Jalen (Pfeifer) found a lot of really talented receivers down the field for us. He spread the ball around to a lot of guys and found some big hits for us. That was huge.”
VCSU’s defensive attack was balanced with 10 players recording at least five tackles in the game. Dustin Kasowski had a hand in 10 tackles, and Zachary Co was in on nine tackles for the Vikings. Riley Gerhardt and Sal Avila each totaled eight tackles. The Vikings had five tackles for loss, including two sacks. Marshaun Jones finished with two TFL and a half sack, while Gerhardt had 1.5 TFL and a half sack. Nick Harberts had VCSU’s other sack.
“I feel good about where our kids played defensively,” said McCulloch. “Early in the game they got moving the football, but we kind of settled down and found ways to make some good stops.”
Innocent Okoh led the Saints offense with 18 carries for 73 yards. He also caught four passes for 29 yards. Giffrow was 14-for-24 passing for 123 yards.
Up next: Valley City State (3-1) travels to Waldorf University (4-1) on Saturday, Oct. 17. Kickoff is at 1 p.m. in Forest City, Iowa. VCSU defeated the Warriors 17-16 earlier this season in Valley City. Presentation College plays at Dakota State on Oct. 17.
Courtesy: Valley City Athletics
