Cherokee rallies past the Red Devils 30-28

CHEROKEE — Vina jumped out to a strong start at Cherokee Friday, taking the opening drive in for a touchdown, but in the end the Indians were able to add a pair of late scores to down the Red Devils 30-28.

Vina opened the scoring on a touchdown run by Cody Renfrow to take a 6-0 advantage and padded the lead with a touchdown run by Adam Pharr later in the quarter. Pharr hit Clay Pierce on the 2-point conversion to extend Vina’s lead to 14-0.

Cherokee cut into the lead, but Nick Schmittou scored on a kickoff return and the Red Devils added a 2-point conversion to move ahead 22-6.

Cherokee added another touchdown before halftime to reduce the deficit to 22-12. The Indians scored again to pull within three points, but Vina answered with a 3-yard run by Pharr to pull ahead 28-18.

Cherokee scored on a pair of runs to pull out the narrow victory.

The game was delay for a couple of hours after a power transformer malfunctioned.