There was much to cheer about Thursday night at Sunnyslope High School as the Vikings pulled off an upset, defeating the Cougars of Raymond Kellis High, 21-18, in dramatic fashion.

Following what appeared to be a heartbreaking defeat as Kellis receiver Plas Johnson galloped into the end zone from 37 yards out as time expired, momentary disbelief from the from the Viking sideline was quickly replaced with relief as a flag came in from the far side - holding on the Cougars.

Kellis was awarded one final untimed down from the Sunnyslope 47-yard line, but was stopped cold as Vikings linebacker Jordan Gray took receiver Josiah Bailey to the ground, sealing the Sunnyslope victory.

With the win, the Vikings improve their record 3-3 on the season and come away with a key regional victory against the No. 6-ranked Cougars.

“The whole idea behind playing these guys is don’t give up the big play because that’s what they live by,” said Vikings head coach Damon Pieri. “We gave up a few big plays, but we limited them and we were lucky enough our offense could move the ball to keep that clock running and shorten this football game.”

And move the ball the Vikings did. While Sunnyslope found the end zone just twice offensively, the Vikings were able to put up 313 yards of offense and stay on the field when they needed to.

The key to the Vikings' offensive success was the performance of junior running back Xamoi Penn. Penn, who was the focal point of the offense all night, ran the ball 24 times for 148 yards and a touchdown.

“They were playing a lot of weakside so we just went strong,” said Penn on the offensive approach. “We were trying to get their defense to jump to the opposite side of the play. We we’re just doing our thing.”

Defensively the Vikings forced Kellis into four turnovers while keeping quarterback Cade Peterson and the Cougars' offensive attack under 20 points for the first time this season.

Cornerback and 5A interceptions leader Aaron Turrey led the way for the Vikings defensively, contributing two key interceptions, one of which he returned for a score. The senior also recovered a fumble and accounted for seven tackles on the evening.

“(Turrey’s) a thinking man’s corner,” said Pieri. “He’s not the fastest corner in the world, but he understands down and distance, and he understands route combinations. He does a good job.”

The Vikings and the Cougars will each continue 5A Metro Region play next week as Sunnyslope travels to Ironwood to take on the Eagles, while Kellis will host McClintock.

While the Metro Region is one of the more challenging regions in 5A with three of its members ranked in the top 10 this past week, the Vikings are up to the task and hope to build momentum following Thursday’s upset.

“We know we can put up a fight against most teams,” said Penn. “If (Kellis was) undefeated, ranked sixth, we got a pretty good chance of beating anybody.”