Every four years.

It seems every four years Vickery Creek football gets the right bunch of kids and goes on to win the Forsyth County Middle School Football County Championship. The last time it won a championship: 2012.

And now four years later, the Vipers have another after a 14-8 victory against Lakeside on Tuesday at West Forsyth High School.

“These boys earned it,” Vickery head coach Mark Taylor said. “I haven’t met a bunch of guys like them who liked going to practice every day.”

Vickery Creek (10-0) turned in another dominant performance on defense. The Vipers held the Lions’ offense to just 98 total yards and came up with two turnovers, one of which led to a 28-yard touchdown pass from Drew Southern to Teirnan Pepple to give the Vipers an early 7-0 lead, which remained at halftime.

Pepple finished the game with 135 total yards and accounted for both of Vickery’s touchdowns.

His second score was the difference, a 53-yard touchdown run on a fake punt on fourth-and-3 that gave Vickery a 14-0 lead late in the third quarter.

After returning a Vickery punt 27 yards, Lakeside moved the ball 34 yards to score on a 5-yard run by Alec Stephens to it 14-8 with 4:13 left in the game.

“They don’t know when to quit,” Lakeside head coach Dewayne Pickens said. “They don’t know.”

Needing a defensive stop, Vickery instead marched 42 yards and ate up clock. Facing fourth-and-5 with 1:27 left in the game, Vickery quarterback Drew Southern scrambled on a bootleg and gained the first down, ensuring the championship title.

Southern finished the game 4 of 8 passing for 42 yards and touchdown to go along with 20 yards on the ground.

Making its first appearance in the county championship in school history, Lakeside’s defense had a promising first half. The Lions held Vickery to just 49 total yards of offense in the half, an offense that scored 42 points in the week before in the middle school playoff semifinals.

“We knew we were going to have to play physical to stop the run, and we did,” Pickens said. “But, they wanted it more I guess.”