WOODBURY — The Community Vikings got their offense untracked and fought back to cut the Cannon County Lions' lead to six points with 3:51 left, but two Lion touchdowns in a two-minute span turned the tide as the Vikings fell 28-16 in a Region 4-3A football contest Friday night.
Community (1-7, 0-3) stayed closed through three quarters as its defense came up with big plays to get the Vikings out of jams.
The Lions took possession after the opening Viking drive produced a first down but stalled after an unsuccessful fourth-down conversion attempt. 
Cannon County drove to the red zone, but Thomas Bowling of the Vikings came up big with a fumble recovery at the Lion 10-yard line to get Community out of danger.
The Vikings rolled the dice on a fourth-and-1 at their own 19, but came up inches short of the first down. 
The Lions responded as Kolby Miller hit Xaviar Odom with a 14-yard pass for the touchdown. 
Jack Byford's extra point gave Cannon County a 7-0 lead with 3:09 left in the opening quarter.
The Lions threatened again after an interception gave Cannon County the ball at the Viking 15 as the game moved to the second quarter. 
The Lions went for the first down on a fourth-and-fourat the Community nine-yard line, but Cole Crockett of the Vikings broke through the line to sack the quarterback and stop the Lion drive.
After a Viking three-and-out, the Lions took possession at midfield. 
Cannon County found the end zone as Branson Smithson scampered eight yards for the score. 
The extra point by Byford gave the Lions a 14-0 lead with 4:18 left in the half. 
Neither team could score the remainder of the half, but three first downs on the last Viking possession as time expired gave the Community offense some momentum as the Lions took their lead to the break.
"We had a good plan defensively," Coach Chris Grooms of the Vikings said.  "We knew what they were going to run and we were trying to eliminate the big plays."
"We had a game plan going in that we were going to slow the game in the first half and speed it up in the second half," Grooms added. "They like to get out there and get the spread going and get it moving."
The Lions drove into the red zone to start the second half, but a 39-yard field goal attempt was wide right. 
The Viking offense took over and found success as quarterback Dallas Grooms connected with Crockett on completions of 11 and 12 yards before an interception stopped the drive as the Lions took their lead to the final quarter.
The Vikings took possession with 11:06 remaining after a fourth-down Lion conversion attempt failed.  Community proceeded to narrow the Cannon County lead after an impressive 7-minute drive.
On fourth down, the drive continued as Grooms connected with Jacob Harden for a seven-yard pass completion. 
A 17-yard pass play from Grooms to Ramon Hernandez on the following play brought the Vikings closer to pay dirt.
The Vikings brought out some trickery as Crockett took the handoff and passed back to Grooms for an 8-yard completion to move Community to the 7-yard line. 
Grooms scored three plays later on a 1-yard run to put the Vikings on the scoreboard. 
The pass from Grooms to Crockett was good for the two-point conversion as the Lion lead was cut to 14-8 with 3:51 left.
"We put in a play with Crockett where we were going to do that Philadelphia Eagle throwback on them," Grooms said. 
"Luckily for us, it was there."
The Vikings had all the momentum on their side as the Lions took possession at the Community 48-yard line.  But the Viking bubble burst on the next play from scrimmage as Miller ran through the middle of the line for a 48-yard touchdown run to put Cannon County up 21-8.
An interception gave the Lions another possession 20 seconds later. 
Cannon County responded as Miller raced 21 yards for the score to put the Lions up 28-8 with 1:40 left.
Community scored its final touchdown with a quick drive highlighted by a 25-yard pass from Grooms to Crockett and a 20-yard pass from Grooms to Harden. 
A nine-yard pass from Grooms to Crockett resulted in a touchdown as the Vikings narrowed the Lion margin. 
Hernandez ran for two to cut the Cannon County lead to 28-16 with 43 seconds left.
The Vikings narrowly missed recovering the ensuing onside kick as the Lions ran out the clock.       
Community goes out of the region and will play host to Hart County, Kentucky in its final regular season home game next Friday night. 
Game time is 7 p.m.    
                 
Community   0  0  0  16 - 16  
Cannon Co.   7  7  0  14 - 28
              
First Quarter
CC – Xaviar Odom 14 pass from Kolby Miller, (Jack Byford kick), 3:09.
Second Quarter
CC – Branson Smithson 8 run, (Byford kick), 4:18. 
Fourth Quarter
C – Dallas Grooms 1 run, (Cole Crockett pass from Grooms), 3:51.
CC – Miller 48 run, (Byford kick), 3:39.
CC – Miller 21 run, (Byford kick), 1:40.
C – Crockett 9 pass from Grooms, (Ramon Hernandez run), 0:43.