Vikings drops crucial SAA matchup at Valhalla
Berry falls to Panthers, eliminated from conference title contention
Berry went into Saturday’s home matchup at Valhalla knowing they needed a win to keep their hopes alive for a Southern Athletic Association title. It was Birmingham-Southern, however, that left the game with their goal of a hoisting a conference crown still intact.
The Panthers put up a big day on the ground, led by a 200-plus yard rushing effort from Robert Shufford, and held the host team out of the end zone to send the Vikings to a 21-3 defeat and eliminate them from postseason contention.
Birmingham-Southern (8-0, 5-0 in SAA) racked up 276 yards total on the ground with Shufford having a huge day, accounting for 213 yards on 27 carries with two touchdowns. On the other side of the ball, the Panthers’ defense held Berry (5-3, 3-2) to 239 yards and were able come up with big defensive stops inside the red zone, turning away the Vikings inside the red zone multiple times.
Berry head coach Tony Kunczewski said his team knew they were going into a matchup against a very talented, experienced team on Saturday and it showed with how well BirminghamSouthern played.
“I think (Birmingham-Southern) is a veteran team while we are fairly young on both sides of the ball,” said Kunczewski. “We’ve watched that program being built up ever since Coach (Tony Joe) White took over in 2016, and they have done a great job building it the right way. They have a heck of a defense and a great running game with one of the best backs in the country.
“It’s been a battle between us the last few times we’ve played, but today their physicality and experience were hard for us to deal with.”
The two defenses traded stops for the entire first quarter, including Berry holding the Panthers to a 38-yard field goal on the first drive of the game that sailed wide right.
After each team was held scoreless in the first quarter, Birmingham-Southern looked like they were going to put the first points on the board early in the second quarter, but Berry’s Brock Skinner blocked a 41-yard field goal attempt by the Panthers to keep the scoreboard clean.
On the ensuing drive, Berry drove
deep into Panthers’ territory but were forced to settle for a field goal, which Matthew Syverson converted from 28 yards out to give his team a 3-0 lead.
That remained the score until late in the first half when Birmingham-Southern’s running game showed its big play ability as Shufford broke free for a 57yard touchdown run to put his team on top, and they never trailed after that.
The Panthers’ defense put a score on the board of their own late in the third quarter when defensive back Jimmy Anderson picked off a Gavin Gray pass and returned it 28 yards for a touchdown to make it 14-3.
Shufford put the final icing on the cake when he completed a long Birmingham-Southern drive with a 10-yard touchdown run. Along with Shufford’s impressive day, Panthers’ quarterback Trey Patterson added 121 passing yards.
Gray finished with 168 yards through the air for the Vikings as he was 13-of31 on pass attempts with one interception. Berry receiver Deiondre Wilson had a stellar day with seven catches for 121 yards.
Berry’s freshman running back duo of Josh Rogers and Brandon Cade were held in check by the Panthers’ defense after some big games recently. Rogers had 41 yards on 12 carries, and Cade finished with 33 yards on nine carries.
Berry’s defense had a solid night with 10 tackles-for-loss total, including five sacks. Elohim Hill and Jake Seeger shared the lead in tackles for the Vikings as Hill had 10 total stops (five solo, five assists) with one tackle-for-loss, and Jake Seeger had 10 tackles (four solo,
six assists), including 2.5 sacks and three tackles-for-loss.
Other defensive standouts for Berry included John Mancuso, Connor Cheyunski and Ben Prescott with eight tackles apiece as Prescott’s total included 2.5 tackles-for-loss and 1.5 sacks. Colby Brookshire and Al Williams each had a half a sack, and Jake Weitkamp added five tackles, including a half a tacklefor-loss and a pass breakup.
Syverson had a busy day as well, punting nine times for an average of 36.8 yards per attempt with a long of 47 and two inside the opponents’ 20 yard line to go with his 28-yard field goal.
The Vikings will be on the road next Saturday when they visit Rhodes College at 2 p.m.
“It’s going to be different for us these next two games to finish the schedule because it’s been a long time since we had a game without playoff implications,” said Kunczewski. “It was probably the 2014 season. We’ve had a lot off success, especially here at Valhalla. This is only our third loss here in the regular season. There are still a lot of things we want to see in our last two games. We look at it as reloading, not rebuilding. Some of our weaknesses showed up today, especially in the trenches where (Birmingham-Southern) had the upper hand. We are looking to finish strong and show improvement the next two weeks, especially in that area.”
Birmingham-Southern will be back on their home field next Saturday at 12 p.m. as they host Trinity in a game that will determine the SAA Championship.