Sacramento, CA — PER MATT SIEGER [email protected] https://www.thereporter.com/2019/09/07/one-bad-quarter-dooms-vanden-high-football-team-at-christian-brothers/ Vanden High football didn’t get in the win column on Saturday morning in Sacramento against Christian Brothers. But the Vikings are getting closer. The Vikings held a 14-13 halftime lead but fell apart for about five minutes in the third quarter, the Falcons scoring 21 points. Vanden never recovered. “We just seem to be in a situation right now where in third quarters we’re having a hard time dealing with adversity,” Vanden head coach Sean Murphy said. “So that’s something I have to figure out as a head coach… We have to learn how to play four quarters.” The Falcons drew first blood to go up 7-0. Vanden fought back to tie it on a Linarius Agee 9-yard touchdown run. Vanden then recovered a squib kick to get great field position and took advantage when Jayden Blakely scampered 31 yards for a touchdown. The Vikings (0-3) led 14-13 at the half. But the Falcons (2-1) got Vanden to bite on a run-play option and threw over the top for a long touchdown to open the third quarter, then struck for two more touchdowns before Vanden could stop the damage. After the third quarter, the Vikings trailed 34-14. Vanden kept plugging away, quarterback Jordan Woolard hitting Alexander Hudson with a 32-yard touchdown pass and firing a 12-yard score to Malakhi Demoss. But it was too little too late. “They played hard, they never gave up. I was proud of that,” said Murphy of his players. “There were a lot of good things. But there are some things we need to fix. We’ll work a little bit harder next week. We’ve got a bye week. We’ve got to get better and learn how to deal with adversity.” Vanden hosts Berkeley High on Sept. 20 at 7 p.m.