Victory for Thomas Jefferson over Armstrong is 32 days in the making

The wait didn’t faze them at all.

Not the 32-day halftime. 

In fact, during what could have been an unsettling interlude, the Thomas Jefferson Vikings actually came of age.

They certainly were not bothered by the creeping, bumper-to-bumper traffic on I-64/95 late Monday afternoon as the Vikings headed east toward Armstrong to complete their game that had been halted after two quarters on Sept. 3 because of the stifling heat and resulting injuries.

Coach Eric Harris’s guys, you see, were way too locked in to be bothered by trifles.

Down 17-14 at the long-ago intermission, TJ flowed excitedly from its buses as twilight began to descend, quickly completed the warmup it had begun earlier on its West Grace Street campus, then, as if on a mission, overpowered the Wildcats en route to a 34-17 victory.

“When it got put off, we had to continue with our schedule,” Harris said. “Then, we had that horrible game at Hopewell (a 47-7 loss on Sept. 18). That’s when we had to get together as a coaching staff and realize what we needed to do to get this thing back on track.

“We knew what we were capable of, so that’s what we did.”

Which was take down three consecutive previously undefeated teams: Booker T. Washington, Heritage (Lynchburg) and now the Wildcats (5-1).

“At the end of the day, it’s been about one game at a time, putting our nose to the ground and getting it done,” Harris continued. “The first thing is to concentrate on what we need to do to make us better. 

“Our guys are playing much more disciplined. We weren’t tackling well at the beginning of the season, so we’ve emphasized that. Armstrong just happened to be the team in front of us today, but we’ve shown the last several games that anybody you put in front of us, we’re going to play.”

In the first half, Tyler Meade scored twice for the Vikings on 1- and 2-yard runs. James Catts followed each with point-afters. For the Wildcats, Kemari Cherry caught a 27-yard touchdown pass from Jahkee Cotman, who later caught a 25-yard TD pass from Shadarus Pickett. Mac Noland followed each TD with the extra point and ended the half with a 39-yard field goal. 

This time, with a gentle breeze wafting across the Wildcats’ stadium on Cool Lane, Tyler Meade bulled into the end zone from a yard out at 7:33 of the third quarter to complete a nine-play, 75-yard drive, and, following Catts’ point-after, the Vikings (5-1) took a lead they never relinquished.

With quarterback Cotman running the show, the Wildcats responded with a passing game focused on working the sides (mixed with an occasional run), but the Vikings answered with four quarterback sacks, numerous hurries and a fourth quarter pick-six that made the outcome a fait accompli.

“This was a team effort,” said Kar’Juan Holman, a 6-4, 235-pound senior defensive end who was a nuisance in Armstrong’s backfield. “We showed who we really are as Vikings.”

An errant snap on a punting situation late in the fourth quarter almost caused TJ’s undoing, but Meade chased down the bounding football in the red zone and pooched a kick under great duress that went out of bounds on the Armstrong 47.

The Wildcats couldn’t take advantage of the opportunity. Holman’s fourth-down sack 10 yards behind the original line of scrimmage ended the threat.

After an exchange of possessions and with three minutes remaining, Cotman & Co. made yet another attempt to wrest the momentum and lead from the Vikings.

Alas, an attempted hook-and-lateral resulted in a red-zone fumble, which Robert Brown recovered on the 10 and returned to the 2. The Wildcats’ defense stiffened for a few plays, but Meade scored on a 14-yard run at 1:31 to put the Vikings up 27-17.

“Fake handoff (to Reginald Weston-Johnson), then power up the middle,” said Meade, a 5-9, 185-pound junior. “The O-line is definitely a lot better than the first time we played them. They opened up the hole, and I worked for the extra yards.”

Though their hopes were dwindling, the Wildcats were not ready to capitulate.

Their next series, though, ended abruptly and without remedy when Weston-Johnson intercepted a pass in the flat near the line of scrimmage and returned it for a touchdown 1:10 from the end.

“Their quarterback took a two-step read going into the bubble route,” said Weston-Johnson, a 6-0, 215-pound senior. “I went ahead and read it and dropped back in coverage like my coaches told me to do. The ball came right to me. It all comes down to watching film.”