It’s been a rough two weeks for the Valley Central Vikings.

A week after a disappointing loss to the Pine Bush Bushmen that cost them the ability to play for second place, they couldn’t get anything going against the Newburgh Free Academy Goldbacks in a 27-0 loss on Friday at Valley Central High School in Montgomery.

“Two tough games,” Valley Central coach Kyle Schneider said. “We got Pine Bush last week and Newburgh this week, two very good teams. Newburgh’s played some very good games this year. They’ve only lost to Curtis and to Middletown, so we knew coming in we were going to have play our A game. We didn’t do that.”

The Vikings didn’t have an answer for Newburgh’s Nyeir Johnson, who carried the offense scoring all three of the Goldbacks’ first-half touchdowns as they built a 21-0 lead.

The Goldbacks were methodical from the first drive of the game, as they chewed five minutes off the game clock in a 65-yard drive that ended with Johnson’s 1-yard touchdown run.

The opening drive featured a five-headed running attack of Jaiseon Barnwell, Austin Lilla, Denvyr Herring, Zaire Jacklyn and Johnson. However, Johnson carried the load on the second drive, carrying the ball six times and catching one pass. He finished with a 4-yard touchdown run to give the Goldbacks a 14-0 lead.

That drive also took almost five minutes.

The third drive was similar but only took two minutes with Johnson carrying the load again, finishing with a 7-yard touchdown run to give the Goldbacks a 21-0 lead with 3:20 remaining in the second quarter.

The Vikings, meanwhile, had few answers for the Goldbacks’ offense, as they beat the Vikings up at the line of scrimmage. The Goldbacks’ offense didn’t stall until the third quarter when a fourth-down incompletion on the Valley Central 16-yard line turned the ball over on downs.

The defense, meanwhile, kept the Vikings’ offense under control. They only got as far as the Newburgh 35-yard line in the closing seconds of the first half; Quarterback Andrew Waite completed a pass to Triston Wright as time expired.

The Vikings got to the Newburgh 12-yard line when time ran out on the game.

The Goldbacks’ finished the scoring in the fourth quarter when Barnwell threw an 11-yard touchdown pass to Tavio Johnson.

“It was just smash mouth football and we couldn’t stop it. “But our kids fight hard and I’m happy to be here and I hope that this doesn’t spiral us down going into the playoffs.

I hope that they stay confident that this is just one that we know we didn’t play our best game.”

The fourth-seeded Vikings will head on the road for the Section 9 Class AA semifinals against the top-seeded Middletown Middies. The Vikings lost to the Middies, 29-7 on Oct. 9 at Faller Field.

“When you get into a losing streak going into the playoffs, then they’re losing confidence. So, we’ve got to try to bring them back up, but remind them of all the wins we had this year.

We’re 5-4, a winning regular season, which hasn’t happened often here. I think we’ve got to keep telling them that we’re a good football team, and if we play our A game, we could be in it with anybody.”