Friday, at Woodrow Wilhoit Stadium, the Union Pines Viking football team finished on the wrong end of a one sided contest as they fell 35-0 to the Overhills Jaguars in their Cape Fear Valley (CFV) conference opener.

Union Pines turned the ball over five times and committed countless penalties on both sides of the ball. The Jaguars capitalized on nearly every miscue turning all but one of Union Pines' turnovers into scoring drives.

"The story in our loss last week was that we made too many mistakes with penalties and turnovers," said Vike head coach Ryan Riggan. "This week was much of the same. We turned the ball over five times and had no takeaways. Ball security and making smart decisions are things we work on everyday -- it is something we continue to really stress but we have to execute it in the game."

During the first half Union Pines had four possessions, three which ended in turnovers and another with a punt near midfield. As a team the Vikes committed seven penalties in the opening two quarters for a total of 65 yards. In contrast, Overhills scored touchdowns on three of its four first-half possessions, using 23 plays to gain 192 rushing yards to build a 22-0 halftime lead.

Overhills did not attempt a single pass on the night.

Jag running back Tyree Massey rushed for 130 yards on 11 first-half carries, while fullback Christian Moultrie added 70 yards on 10 attempts. Moultrie finished the night with 131 yards on the ground, including three touchdown runs, while Massey had a rushing touchdown and tallied 141 yards on 16 attempts in the game.

The Vikes finished the game with 22 rushing yards and 97 total yards of offense, as they struggled to find consistent success on anything except short hook patterns and screen passes. Union Pines' junior quarterback Taylor O'Neil was under heavy pressure for most of the game. He was sacked three times and hurried on a majority of his pass attempts. O'Neil threw three interceptions and finished the night 8-for-17 for 75 yards.

"I feel like Overhills physically dominated the line of scrimmage tonight," Riggan said. "They completely controlled the line on both sides of the ball. Every time we took a snap our defensive line was two yards off the line before the running back even took the handoff. We were just physically dominated up front tonight."

The game started good for the Vikings as their defense forced Overhills to go three-and-out on its first possession. After a Josh Howard sack on third down, the Jags were forced to punt. Union Pines then picked up a first down after an 11-yard rush by Mitchell McNeill. However, a high snap led to Union Pines fumble which the Jags recovered at the Vikes 40.

The play ultimately led to an Overhills touchdown, as the Jaguars covered 40 yards on six plays to take an early 6-0 lead with 5:13 left in the opening period.

Next, in its only trip to the red zone on the evening, O'Neil threw a pass to the back of the end zone, which Jag defensive back Jawan Council jumped up and caught before falling out of bounds for a touchback.

Council's first of three picksfive-play 80-yard drive that Moultrie finished with an 11-yard rushing touchdown. Massey then converted the two-point try to give the Jags a 14-0 lead.

Overhills scored once more in the first half. With some help on the drive from the Viking defense, which committed three penalties for 25-yards, Overhills' offense capped its opening half performance with a 59-yard drive. A six-yard touchdown jaunt by Moultrie put the Jags on top 20-0, Massey then converted the try for two bringing the margin to 22-0.

Overhills would score on the first play of the fourth quarter and with 14 seconds left in the game to account for the final 35-0 count.

With the loss Union Pines is now 0-1 in CFV play and 3-3 for the season. The Vikings host CFV foes the Grays Creek Bears next Friday, which is homecoming night. Grays Creek is 1-0 in the CFV and 4-2 on the year after defeating Douglas Byrd 33-20 in their league opener on Friday.

Contact F.W. Manning II at 639-5481 or by e-mail at frankwm2@gmail.com