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== VIKES DOUBLE UP RAIDERS ==

 It took 17 games, but Northern Vance is finally back in the win column.

Northern jumped on crosstown rival Southern Vance early in Monday’s match and added some late insurance to preserve a 6-3 victory — the Vikings’ first win of the season.

The Raiders trimmed a Northern lead to 3-2 by halftime before Northern tallied three more second-half goals in the win.

Vikings coach David Hicks said it was his team’s best effort since a 1-1 draw against Franklin Academy last month.

“I told the guys that effort combined with the effort we had tonight would have had us on a lot different path than what we’re on right now,” said Hicks. “Obviously, we have a long way to go to get to where we can get a spot in the playoffs. We have to beat some people.”

Northern improves to 1-14-2 (1-4 Carolina 3A) while Southern drops to 5-6 (0-3).

Up 3-2, the Vikings doubled their lead 10 minutes into the second half when an Ethan Byrom free kick from just outside the box on the right connected with Raymond West, who headed it off a Raider defender and into the net for his first goal of the season.

About three minutes later, Northern struck again when Clayton Harris corralled a loose ball in the middle of the box and placed a line drive to the right of Southern goalkeeper Omar Osorio to make it 5-2.

Cameron Eatmon got the Raiders back into it in the 66th minute when he took a pass from Joel Lopez-Hernandez before doing his best impression of Diego Maradona. Eatmon took the ball from behind midfield, dribbling beyond the last bunch of Northern defenders inside the box, then knocking in the short-range goal.

“It was a great play,” said Southern coach Jesse Metruk. “It was a great individual effort to get it down there after a great passing play.”

Three minutes later, the Raiders nearly pulled within one but Lopez-Hernandez was denied on a counterattack before the Vikes cleared his corner kick.

Justin Munn completed a hat trick in the 75th minute for Northern, putting the game away for good at 6-3.

“The guys came in very positive tonight with an air of confidence that they managed to fester up from somewhere,” Hicks said.

Lopez-Hernandez created the first chance of the match three minutes into the first half, but Tate Frazier, in the middle, put the Vikings on the board first with a left-footed laser towards the right upper-90.

“It certainly gave us an extra boost of energy,” said Hicks. “We haven’t gone to the ball that hard in the first half in several weeks.”

Hicks said his team has been working on attempting more shots in practice.

“He just got into a little open space and cranked it with his left... You can’t score if you don’t shoot,” he said.

Munn’s first goal came in the sixth minute when he took a pass from Frazier and dribbled past three Southern defenders, racing to the end line before toe-poking a finish past Osorio to up the lead to 2-0.

“I think home-field advantage really helped them,” said Metruk. “This field, the way it goes down — I just don’t think we were ready for some of those shots. They knew how to play the field and they played it very well.”

Lopez-Hernandez had a highlight-reel goal of his own in the 18th minute when he guided a far-post rocket from the right into the net, assisted by Giovanni Puga.

In the 22nd minute, Frazier again set Munn up for a score, this time lofting a high ball from midfield that fell to Munn, who flicked the ball towards goal. A Raider defender got a foot to the ball but couldn’t stop it before it crossed the goal line.

Lopez-Hernandez again brought Southern within a goal when he sent a rocket of a free kick from the right side screaming towards the left corner of the goal to make it 3-2.

“When he got the chance, when they weren’t clutching him and grabbing him, he was able to do what he could do,” said Metruk.

Northern had one more chance before the halftime whistle when Frazier sent in a cross aimed for West, whose effort went high and wide.

Hicks said he was impressed with the speed of the Raiders.

“Southern Vance is as fast as anybody we’ve seen this year, just as fast as (Cardinal) Gibbons, just as fast as Chapel Hill,” he said.

Hicks and the Vikes look to continue their winning ways Wednesday at home against Orange.

“They’ve got some good strikers, a good midfielder and their keeper is an all-state kid, phenomenal,” Hicks said of the Panthers.

Southern is back in action Wednesday at home against J.F. Webb.

Contact the writer at kholtzman@hendersondispatch.com.

Read more: [|The Daily Dispatch - Vikes double up Raiders]