8/22/2008 - Vipond Leads Central To 13-10 Win In Final Seconds - Sports

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July 4, 2009

Vipond Leads Central To 13-10 Win In Final Seconds
posted August 22, 2008

Photo by Wesley Schultz
Central makes a tackle.

The Chattanooga Central Purple Pounders led the Notre Dame Fighting Irish 7-0 at the half but Notre Dame battled back in the fourth quarter to take a 10-7 lead. Central senior Robert Vipond kicked two field goals late in the game to save the 13-10 win.

Scoreboard woes continued at Finley forcing officials to keep the time on the field.

Central put their first points on the board after a short drive and 27 yard scramble by senior quarterback Patrick Moore. Moore dropped back to pass but found running room on the right side. The only touchdown of the half came on the opening play of the second quarter.

Central had a chance to make it 10-0 in their next possession but the field goal from the 12 yard line was blocked by the Notre Dame defense.

Notre Dame had one nice drive in the first half but had to punt on fourth down.

Central intercepted a Bradley Stephens pass late in the second quarter and took the ball to the Notre Dame six yard line but the Notre Dame defense was able to hold the Pounders on fourth down.

The clock ran out on the Irish on their next possession and Central went into the half-time break with a 7-0 lead.

A power outage was the highlight of the third quarter that delayed the game for just under 20 minutes.

Early in the fourth, Notre Dame's Blake Ledford broke open for a 37 yard run to the get the Irish into scoring position. Ledford then scampered in for 27 yards for the touchdown.

After several big plays by the Notre Dame offense, Andy Helms hit an 18 yard field goal to give Notre Dame a 10-7 lead with 6:00 left in the game.

Central marched down to the 11 yard line including a nice sideline grab by Vipond. The Notre Dame defense once again stopped the Pounders on third down forcing a field goal try.

Vipond hit the 26 yard field goal with less than two minutes to play.

On the very next play, Central was able to strip the ball from Notre Dame giving them a shot at the win.

Notre Dame stopped the Pounders again forcing Central to attempt the game winner.

The Notre Dame coaching staff called two timeouts with 24 seconds left, trying to ice the senior but Vipond was not phased as he sent it through uprights to give his team a 13-10 lead.

Stephens next pass with 20 seconds left was intercepted by Moore and Central was able to run out the clock.

Central head coach David Barger was glad to see his young team step up this early in the season.

"I'll give Notre Dame credit," he said. "They had a great game plan. We had some mistakes, some misreads and missed blocks but most of our offensive line played JV football last year so you can expect some of that. We are glad to come out of this with a win."

Notre Dame finished with 221 total yards on offense and Central had 288.

Both Central and Notre Dame will play host next week. East Ridge will travel to Central and Hixson will be at Notre Dame.

Scoring Summary:

1st quarter
C- 27 yard run by Patrick Moore (kick good) 7-0

2nd quarter
none

3rd quarter
none

4th quarter
ND- 19 yard run by Blake Ledford 7-7
ND- 18 yard field goal by Andy Helms 7-10
C- 26 yard field goal by Robert Vipond 10-10
C- 27 yard field goal by Robert Vipond 13-10

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