In a tale of two teams heading in opposite directions. Sean Pless ran for 78yds, Chris Kennedy added 75 and Dan Bernard tossed a pair of first half touchdown passes to Carlos Gagliardo as Northwest held off Grimsley 14-6.
It looked early on like the Vikings would make quick work of the Whirlies as Northwest surged downfield on their first possesion. Then just when the Whirlies stacked the box Bernard used play action to find Gagliardo for an easy 44yd score, Gagliardo would also add the two point conversion to give the Vikings a 8-0 lead only 1:15 into the contest.
Northwest controlled the run of play thru the first half but miscues at inopportune times kept the Vikings from extending the lead. However Northwest put together a march late in the first half concluding with Bernards 2nd scoring hook up with Gagliardo, this one a five yard completion to the left hand corner of the end zone as Northwest went to the half up 14-0.
Late in the third period a failed fake punt by the Vikings swung momentum back to the Whirlies as Grimsley ground out a drive concluding with Josh Patterson going in from the two on 4th and goal to pull the Whirlies to within a score 14-6 entering the final period. But despite driving inside the Vikings 20 twice in the final stanza Grimsley just could not get over the hump. In the loss however the Whirlies may have found some hope for the remainder of the schedule as Lashawn Brown and Josh Patterson both seemed to get some of their early season swagger back. Brown wound up with 79yds and Patterson put together a 13 carry 81 yard effort on the evening.