‘Hail Mary’ leaves Leary speechless

     Eric Leary simply said he didn’t know.

   White Oak’s first-year football coach just didn’t know what to say when asked how many times he will say “Hail Mary” this weekend following the Vikings’ 20-19 stunner of the victory Friday night at Northside.

   Regardless of how many times, The phrase “Hail Mary” will be famous words for the Vikings for perhaps a long time, given Morton Roop’s 32-yard touchdown pass to Darrell Sephes as time expired set up Bobby Smith’s game-winning two-point conversion.

   “We were just trying to get the ball as close to the end zone to either catch the ball and run it in or tip it up and run it in,” Leary said. “We had multiple guys trying to get in there.”

   Leary was then asked how often the Vikings practice tip drills. His   response came rather quick.

   “You have to practice stuff like that,” Leary said. “That’s doesn’t mean you’re always going to execute it perfectly, but you have to line up like that (in practice) and say ‘This could happen.”

   Big adjustment

   White Oak trailed 13-0 at halftime and appeared on its way to a 12th consecutive defeat to Northside.

   However, the Vikings limited their mistakes in the second half. They didn’t have so many penalties or negative plays after halftime.  

   “For us, we talked about our mistakes and of course we made a few adjustments,” Leary said. “It’s a cat and mouse game. They (Monarchs) were doing stuff we weren’t expecting and we were doing stuff they were not expecting. You just try to stay a step ahead and make some sort of adjustments, especially in a game like this and in a game we felt we had a chance to come back in.”

   O-Line woes

   With three starting offensive linemen sidelined because of concussions, not to mention the starting tight end as well, Richlands had to seek help from its backups. And while quarterback Ben Jackson   was sacked eight times – some of which were on him because he held the ball too long – coach Justin Snider wasn’t all that unhappy with the reserves’ performance.

   “I felt like they did a good job considering the circumstances,” he said. “We had some guys that were thrust into situations and I was pleased with what I saw for the most part.”

   Sack-attack

   Croatan’s eight sacks were a school record, according to David Perry, who should know. He’s the only head coach in school history.

   “Our kids, watching film, they saw they a little trouble protecting   the quarterback against East Duplin (last week),” Perry said. “So I think they had their ears pinned when they saw pass and they were getting after it. They were missing some linemen, too. That doesn’t help.”

   •› Short takes: White Oak plays host to East Duplin (1-1) this coming Friday looking to start 3-0 for the first time since 2002. ... This is the first time Southwest has started 0-2 since 1998 when the Stallions lost their first three games, but they still made the playoffs. ... Two games into the season only three of the area teams are undefeated: White Oak (2-0), Swansboro (2-0) and Jacksonville (1-0), which had an open date this past Friday.  

  White Oak’s Darrell Sephes looks for yards against Northside during the Vikings 20-19 win Friday night. Sephes caught a Hail Mary 32-yard touchdown pass from Morton Roop to pull the Vikings a point, and Bobby Smith’s run for the two-point conversion gave White Oak the victory. Photo by John Sudbrink/The Daily News