The Vidalia Vikings earned a 21-14 homecoming victory on a goal-line stand against the Buckeye Panthers Friday night.

Beginning the final drive on their own 48 with 5:21 to go, the Panthers needed eight plays to get to the Vidalia 2-yard line. But they would get stuffed, with Vidalia’s Tony Toliver tackling Austin Daily for a 1-yard loss and the Vikings’ Lionel Jones swatting down Tory Carman’s fourth down screen pass for the win.

“That was a heck of a job by our defense,” Vikings head coach Jeff Hancock said. “They have been playing great all year and that was great for them to come up big at the end.”

The Vikings (3-4, 1-3) began the scoring on their second possession, as Terry Brown took it in from 9 yards out at the 2:19 mark in the first quarter. Roberto Garcia’s kick made it 7-0.

Vidalia pushed its lead to 14-0 on a 3-play drive, all of the carries going to Josh Pace, who ran it in from 7 yards out with 11:09 to go in the second quarter.

Pace led the Vikings with 13 rushes for 124 yards, while Brown had 18 totes for 98 yards.

“Both of our running backs had a good night,” Hancock said.

The Panthers (2-5, 1-3) got on the board with 5:45 left in the half. Justin Belgard ran in from 8 yards out, and Daily followed that up with a 2-point conversion to make it a 6-point game, 14-8.

With 55 seconds to go in the half, the Vikings got the ball back. In three plays, Pace had a pair of explosive runs taking the ball 38 yards to the 30-yard line. Quarterback Tristan Weatherly then hit Ryan Godbold for a 30-yard passing touchdown with 13 seconds remaining in the half.

“They gave us man coverage,” Hancock said. “We just ran a crossing route and got a man open for a touchdown.”

The Vikings took a 21-8 lead into the half, but Buckeye scored on its 13-play first possession of the second. Daily ran in from 2 yards out and was then stuffed on the 2-point conversion run to make it 21-14 Vidalia with 5:31 to go in the third.

Hancock said it was good to get a district win on homecoming night.

“District wins have been few and far between for us for a while,” Hancock said. “I’m told it has been a few years since we have had a homecoming win, so that was big for us.”

Buckeye also has a numbers advantage on the Vikings, Hancock said.

“They are going to be a 4A school,” Hancock said. “They have 4A numbers. We have 2A numbers, so even though we are both 3A schools right now, to be able to beat a program like Buckeye is big for us.”