Flippen Leads Nighthawks Stun of Northwest 38-28 – Wyatt Smith Reporting

Tyler Flippen accounted for five touchdowns for Northern Guilford(2-2) on Friday night as the Nighthawks handed the Northwest Vikings(3-1) their first loss of the season by a score of 38-28 at R. L. Billings Stadium in Greensboro.

Coming into the game, the Nighthawks had not scored a touchdown on a passing play. That quickly changed with Flippen connected with sophomore Michael Frogge on Northern’s third drive of the first quarter. The touchdown also gave Northern a lead for the first time since their season opener.

On the first play of the second quarter, the Vikings answered the Northern score with a 24-yard dash by Cam Cloud. While attempting the extra point, the Vikings were penalized twice for a false start, and on their third attempt, the kick was blocked. The Nighthawk lead was still intact.

Northwest added another second quarter touchdown from Jacob Hardy – a 4-yard run – and the Vikings led 14-7 after a successful two-point conversion.

By the end of the second quarter, the two teams had traded touchdowns, and going into halftime the score was 21-13 Vikings.

The second half, however, was the Tyler Flippen show. The Northern senior ran for three touchdowns and threw for one, once again connecting with Frogge.

Flippen took off through the middle, untouched, for a 50-yard score less than three minutes after connecting with Frogge in the third quarter. With his first rushing touchdown, the momentum shifted to the Nighthawks and they regained the lead. The score was 25-21.

Northwest answered once more, with Jacob Hardy scoring from three yards out to put his team ahead 28-25, but from then on, the Vikings couldn’t stop Northern.

In the fourth quarter, Flippen scored from two and 13 yards out to seal the victory for his team.

Flippen was happy with his performance, but gave all credit to his teammates.

“Our team came out with a lot of effort,” Flippen said. “I was making the plays that they created for me. Offensive line, great day, wide receivers, great day. I’m really proud of my brothers.”

Flippen’s three touchdowns on the ground and 209 yards rushing were in the Nighthawks game plan.

“Last week (Northwest) played Southeast and we saw that the quarterback run was there. We practiced it all week and, obviously, it worked.

“We’re clicking; it’s our time. We’re here. This a big win, is a turnaround win after two bad losses. It’s a big momentum changing win,” Flippen added as he was donned with the Nighthawks “Playmaker Belt”.

Northern Guilford head coach Erik Westberg can now say that he has defeated the Vikings. He emphasized the importance of the win and the performance of his players.

“It feels really good to win, especially after the last couple of weeks when we had some really hard losses, and to come out and compete like we did was awesome for our program tonight,” Westberg said of the victory.

The coach praised his quarterback’s game-changing efforts.

“His performance was outstanding. We know that Tyler can run the ball and we thought with what they were doing schematically that was something we could do and we executed tonight. This was our game plan coming in, but moving forward this is going to be part of our offense for sure.”

Northwest head coach Kevin Wallace says he takes full credit for the loss.

“We have to do a better job coaching, and we have to hold our kids more accountable,” Wallace said. “We weren’t prepared for that; we weren’t prepared for adjustment. We just have to do a better job on the coaching side.”

The Vikings drop to (3-1) with the loss and will look to rebound when they travel to play Southwest Guilford next Friday night.

Northern improves to (2-2) with the victory and hopes to continue its winning ways when it squares off with McMichael High School in Mayodan next week.

 

SCORING PLAYS:

(NG) Michael Frogge 8 pass from Tyler Flippen (Slater Ward kick)

(NWG) Cam Cloud 24 run (kick failed)

(NWG) Jacob Hardy 4 run (Johnny Pagano pass)

(NG) Rakeem Murchison 1 run (kick failed)

(NWG) Brandon Thomas 13 pass from Pagano (David Phillips kick)

(NG) Frogge 19 pass from Flippen (pass failed)

(NG) Flippen 50 run (pass failed)

(NWG) Hardy 3 run (Phillips kick)

(NG) Flippen 2 run (kick failed)

(NG) Flippen 13 run (Ward kick)

 

NORTHERN GUILFORD STATS:

Tyler Flippen- (8-14) 59yds, 2TD, INT; 34 rush 209 yds, 3TD

Michael Frogge- 5 rec 60yds, 2TD

Rakeem Murchison- 7 rush 31yds, TD; 1 rec 9yds

Raymar Thomas- 1 rec 55yds

 

NORTHWEST GUILFORD STATS:

Johnny Pagano- (7-13) 110 yds, TD; 14 rush 45yds, TD

Jacob Hardy- 9 rush 31yds, TD

Brandon Thomas- 4 rec 67yds, TD

Cam Cloud- 2 rush 44yds, TD; 1 rec 32yds

One thought on “Flippen Leads Nighthawks Stun of Northwest 38-28 – Wyatt Smith Reporting

  1. Happy to see the Nighthawks win this rivalry game. Almost seemed like the Roscoe glory days. Total of 10 contests between the 2 teams historically. Nighthawks win 8, Vikings with 2. Now, take this same energy into conference battle. Good luck to Vikings and Nighthawks in the remainder of the season!

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