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By STEPHEN DAWKINS | Special to the Reporter

RAGLAND – RyKelus Robertson and Casen Fields paced the offense while Aiden Poe’s two interceptions were crucial for the defense in Vincent’s 29-20 season-opening win at Ragland on Friday.

The Yellow Jackets went on the road to face the Class 1A opponent to begin their follow-up to a historic 2023 campaign in which they won a playoff game for the first time since 2010 and won 10 games possibly for the first time in school history.

But it wasn’t easy on Friday.

“We had several guys lay it on the line,” Vincent head coach Lucas Weatherford said. “No such thing as an ugly win I guess, but we’ve got a lot of work to do. We had chances to put the game away and didn’t finish it.”

It couldn’t have started much better for VMHS, as Robertson scored on the first possession of the game on an 18-yard run. Daniel Campos’ point-after made it 7-0.

The teams swapped possessions a couple of times before Ragland got on the board with a 45-yard touchdown run. The extra point attempt was no good, leaving the visitors still in the lead, 7-6.

Then, Fields hit Phoenix Maxwell on a 48-yard touchdown pass. Maxwell also caught the two-point attempt pass in the end zone, this one from Poe to make it 15-6.

Robertson added a 62-yard TD run in the second quarter, and the Campos PAT stretched the lead to 22-6 and the Jackets looked to be cruising.

But a fumble deep in Vincent territory in the third quarter stopped the momentum, and Ragland capitalized with a touchdown and two-point conversion to cut the lead to 22-14.

Vincent did have an answer, in the form of a 62-yard run from Fields to make it 29-14 after the extra point.

The Yellow Jackets were trying to run out the clock late in the game, but a bad snap gave possession back to the hosts, who added a touchdown. Vincent stopped the 2-point attempt to leave the score at 29-20.

Robertson finished with 125 yards rushing and two touchdowns.

Fields completed four passes in seven attempts for 58 yards and a touchdown, and rushed for 117 yards and another score.

Vincent will have one more non-region tune-up, at home versus Winterboro on Sept. 1, before the Class 2A, Region 4 slate begins on Sept. 8 with a visit from Central Coosa.