The curse of being evenly matched on the ground and in the air is the ensuing struggle for points – someone is going to come out on the short end of the stick.

The Vikings were in just such a position during Saturday’s home game. Because of a missed kick early on, they had to go for a two-point conversion after a potentially tying touchdown in the fourth quarter, and they missed it.

The Vikings fell to the Redskins 12-14, late in the fourth quarter.

But it was a fine fight with great sportmanship and athleticism. Scoring for the Vikings late in the second quarter was Taylor Diepenbrock, who caught two touchdown passes, both from Robbie Padbury, who was 10 for 15 that day. Diepenbrock’s first reception was for a bomb, caught for a gain of 57 yards, and one nail-biting one caught for nine yards in the fourth quarter, the Vikings’ second and last touchdown for the game.

Diepenbrock missed the extra point on the first touchdown though, and the Vikings had to go for those two points on their last touchdown.

“We scored the last touchdown late in the fourth quarter, with two minutes left in the game,” Coach Dennis Dahl said. “And to tie it we had to go for a two point conversion. We missed it.”

Padbury, quarterbacking for the Vikings, threw for 158 yards, had two touchdown passes and one interception. The Vikings rushed overall as a team 71 yards, which speaks to the strength of the opposing team’s defense. The Port Townsend Redskins had 77 yards on the ground and 141 in the air.

“Defensively, Michael Langworthy, Alan Coe, and Jacob Hansen did a good job on tackles. Peter Anderson and Daniel Janson both had a total of four QB sacks … each of them had two,” Dahl commented.

The two teams kept each other’s point drives at bay until late in the second quarter, when the Redskins delivered a long pass down the field which was caught and put Port Townsend in a perfect position to score. They ran the ball in and their kick was good, making the score 7-0. Soon afterwards, Diepenbrock caught the 57 yarder that put the Vikings right back in the game.

“I thought the long 57 yard one that Taylor caught was pretty stunning, a great play. Also with the last two minutes of pressure, the other catch was really athletic. Padbury gave us a chance to stay in the game,” Dahl said. “I thought the kids played well defensively. We had a breakdown every once in a while. The Port Townsend group was a good team, but we kept ourselves in the ball game right up until the end.”

The Orcas Vikings play the Inglemoor junior varsity squad at 1 p.m. at Orcas, on Saturday.