Box Score The Comets Football team opened their conference schedule with a matchup against long-time rival Valley City. Five Comet turnovers led to 14 Viking points, which proved decisive in a 21-15 loss.
Valley City struck first on a Jacob Dullio 25 yard run with six minutes left in the first quarter. On the ensuing Comet possession, a deep pass was picked off by Travon Smith and returned 60 yards for a defensive touchdown. Both defenses stiffened, as the team traded punts for multiple possessions. A Mayville fumble in Viking territory prevented the Comets from cutting into the lead, and Valley City made them pay by marching down the field and scoring on a 1 yard Josh Bender TD run, making the score 21-0. The Comets were driving late in the quarter, but a interception in the red zone imploded the drive, making the score at halftime 21-0.
After trading punts to open the second half, Mayville rolled down the field on an 89 yard scoring drive, culminating in an
Andrew Blake to
Khari Kimbrough touchdown pass. Kimbrough zipped into the end zone for the two point conversion, which made the score 21-8. The Comets stuffed the Vikings on 4th down, and navigated into the red zone again looking to cut the lead into single digits. However, a pass into the end zone bounced off of multiple players on both teams and ended up in the hands of Valley City's Jawuan Pugh. The Vikings were unable to take advantage of this turnover, missing a field goal that would have put them up 16 going into the 4th quarter. The Comets struck again with five minutes left in the game on a
Dondrei Hubbard 6 yard TD run, making the score 21-15. Mayville got the ball back after a Viking punt, but an interception allowed the Vikings to run out the clock and win 21-15.
Hubbard led the Comets in rushing with 67 yards and a score, Blake passed for 282 yards and a TD and
Dantrel Horne caught 9 passes for 121 yards to lead the offense.
Ryan Henderson paced the defense with 10 tackles.
For Valley City, Dullio rushed for 70 yards and a TD, Kurtis Walls passed for 165 yards, and Joshua Tovar had 5 catches for 78 yards. Jesus Munoz collected 13 tackles, including 1.5 for loss, and Pugh recovered a fumble to go along with his pick.
The Comets are now 2-3 overall, 0-1 in the North Star. Mayville State takes on Waldorf next Saturday at Jerome Berg field, kickoff is at 1pm.
