With his teammates all smiles and gathered in a postgame semi-circle, Mallard Creek senior Dwayne Harbison marched into the middle with the Mallard Creek/Vance rivalry bell in hand.
He triumphantly put it down and started walking away before taking one last look.
“This is ours now,” Harbison said.
Mallard Creek added another notch to its unlikely season Friday night with a 24-14 win against nearby rival Vance (3-4). The Mavericks are 8-0 (No. 4 in the Observer's Sweet 16) after going 1-10 in the school's inaugural 2007 season.
If it wasn't enough motivation just playing Vance, Mallard Creek players got an extra nudge when they arrived Friday morning to find their field littered.
“There was Vance stuff all over the field,” said quarterback Marquise Walker. “Coach (Mike Palmieri) said, ‘Are you guys going to let them do that to your field?'”
Walker, a sophomore, certainly did his part.
After Vance struck in the first quarter with a 30-yard touchdown pass from Duane Brown to Calvin Hunter, Walker (11-of-21 for 197 yards) responded by running and passing his way down the field. He finished the first half with two touchdown passes – a 28-yard toss to Rodney Pettus and a 9-yard pass to Courtland Patterson.
Vance answered Patterson's touchdown catch immediately, when Dechane Durante took the ensuing kickoff 94 yards for a touchdown.
A 25-yard field goal by Dominique Harrison in the third quarter put Mallard Creek ahead for good, and a 1-yard touchdown run by Walker in the fourth gave Mallard Creek all the insurance it needed.
The Mavericks were helped by Vance's 105 penalty yards and forced four Vance turnovers. Despite some struggles to get the offense going at times, Palmieri found little issue with the victory.
“We don't worry about how we win,” he said. “We just want the ‘W's.'”
@Nyx.CommentBody@