A week after exploding for 60 points, Hamilton Christian had to switch gears to win a defensive battle over Vinton 13-8 on Friday at Cougar Stadium.

“You know, last week things happened a lot easier,” Hamilton Christian head coach Dexter Washington said. “This was a good game for us tonight.

“I’m so proud of Coach (Tyler) Lavergne. I coached against him when he was a player for his dad (Chad Lavergne), and we’ve been really, really good friends for a long time. He has gotten Vinton’s program headed in the right direction. If anybody has any questions about that, just come ask me. The guy’s doing a phenomenal job. Offensively, I think we just thought things would happen the way they did last week. I think we kind of got it a little out of sync, and that happens. Good teams find ways to win.”

Noah Menard scored the game-winning touchdown and the defense stopped the Lions (2-1) in the closing minutes of the game to preserve the win.

Trailing 8-7 in the fourth quarter, the Warriors (2-1) kept a 61-yard drive alive with some key plays, including a 14-yard reception by Seth Ned and Javon Vital’s 7-yard run on fourth-and-two. Vital scored six touchdowns last week, but it was Menard who had the play of the game this time. On second-and-15 from the Vinton 34-yard line, Menard snagged a short pass from Vital, escaped several Vinton defenders and hugged the sideline to the end zone with 2:49 left. Menard finished with five catches for 69 yards.

“Noah is an athlete,” Washington said. “He’s a great athlete.

“He can do so many things. He played the whole game at defensive end. He played the whole game at wide receiver. He’s the kicker. He’s as valuable to us as anybody. He’s one of those guys that nobody recognizes or sees because you hear Javon’s name all the time. But I can tell you, if you ever notice, a lot of Javon’s passes go that way.”

While the Warrior defense gave up more than 200 rushing yards to the Lions up to that point, they held Vinton in check with the game on the line to force a turnover on downs.

“Tonight, I have to give my hats off to my defense,” Washington said. “They’ve bent, they’ve bent, and they didn’t break.”

Vinton, who took their first loss, mounted an 8-play, 69-yard drive in the fourth quarter to take their only lead on a 4-yard run by Jaidon Briggs with seven minutes left. Briggs topped 100 yards for the third consecutive game with 139 on 25 carries.

“They have a lot of really good athletes on the field, and our guys just fought to the bitter end,” Lavergne said. “Sometimes we couldn’t keep up with them, but I’m so proud of our guys and the fight they showed.

“We’re going to get better from this game. We’ll definitely get better. We’ll take the momentum on to next week.”

Vinton’s Landon Harbert picked off two passes and the Lions stopped Hamilton Christian in the red zone in the first quarter.

Vital put the Warriors on the board with a 1-yard plunge with 6:50 left in the second quarter. Vital finished with 37 yards on the ground and 117 through the air on 9 of 17 passing. Kaelan Bell ran for 122 yards on 13 carries.