The North Battleford Comprehensive High School senior Vikings played their final regular season game in front of an energized crowd at Beaver Lions Stadium Thursday and the atmosphere helped them to a 15-0 win.
On the first drive of the game, Bedford Road was moving the ball, but the Vikings ended their momentum with a Jordan Carriere interception.
The Vikings gained some field position back on the next drive thanks to the ground game of Cole Tentuik and Wade Frenchman, who were a strong platoon the entire game.
After a Vikings punt the Redmen started another drive, but the Vikings forced another turnover. This time a fumble was recovered by Steven Maksymchuk.
The Vikings began to drive once again, and the first quarter came to an end with the score 0-0.
The teams traded punts again until the Vikings finally got on the board. The Vikings moved the ball just enough to get into Dylan Chadwick range. Rarely in high school football does a team have confidence to hit a 42-yard field goal. Chadwick proved he can kick and the coaching staff can have faith in him, as he nailed a 42 yarder into the wind to put the Vikings up 3-0.
The Vikings' defence was great on the next drive and again the offence moved just enough to get into the Chadwick's range. Lyle Stepanic went up for a jump ball and came down with a 25+ yard pass reception from Cole Omelchenko. Frenchman moved the ball once again on the ground and Chadwick nailed a 44-yard field goal to end the half with the Vikings up 6-0.
"In the first half we came out and we did what we wanted to do," said Vikings' coach Jamie Sommerfeld. "We wanted to control the tempo of the game and run the ball. We put them in a bad spot, by getting up on them. A lot of that was due to the leg of Dylan Chadwick kicking those field goals."
Heading into the second half, the Vikings had the momentum and continued to impress, as twice Kyle Pooyak made to big stops to force punts in the third quarter.
The Vikings' defence continued to create chances for the offence to take control, as Scott Reiley recovered a fumble giving the Vikings decent field position.
Unfortunately for the home team, Teneuik fumbled the ball right back and gave the Redman a glimmer of hope. Reiley quickly took that away once again, as he jumped up for an inception deep in the Vikings' territory. Reiley ran the interception back into Saskatoon territory to end the third quarter, but it still was anyone's game with the Vikings leading 6-0 with 12 minutes left.
The Vikings missed on two passing attempts and were forced to punt on the first drive of the fourth quarter. On the punt, Bedford Road fumbled and the Vikings dove towards the loose ball as it bounced towards the sidelines. Dalton Gopher was credited with the fumble recovery putting the Vikings inside the Redmen's 30-yard line.
Following the turnover, the Vikings drove the ball to the goal line and scored their first major of the game. Frenchman ran for five yards, followed by another rush for 10 yards and first down. The Vikings stuck with what worked, as Frenchmen was handed the ball for the third time and ran for seven yards. Next, the Vikings called a quarterback sneak and Omelchenko dove up the middle behind a good push from the offensive line and put six points on the board. Chadwick's convert was good and the Vikings led 13-0.
The Vikings added a single on a punt by Cody Buziak and on the last play of the game Chadwick missed a field goal, but the ball went through the endzone and final score was 15-0.
The win put the Vikings at 2-4 on the season and in fifth place. Although the Vikings lost to Tommy Douglas they have confidence heading into Thursday's semi final match.
"We will look at this as the fact that when we played Tommy Douglas they didn't pull any of their starters in the second half and we won the second half of the game," said Sommerfeld.
The Vikings head into the playoffs with a 2-1 record in the past three games. The players on both sides of the ball appear to understand their roles much more clearly and have an understanding of what the Vikings need to do to win football games.
"Our defence is starting to come into their own, said Sommerfeld. "They are starting to see some success and starting to realize what it is going to take to win. We aren't going to change up what we do - we are going to run the ball, we will keep them honest and give Omelchenko some opportunities for passes and now we know we have the leg for a kicker, teams are gonna have to cover our kicks as well."
Chadwick was 2/3 on field goals while scoring eight points. In offensive stats from the final regular season game, Tenetuik had 92 yards on the ground with Frenchman rushing for 51 of his own. Omelchenko passed for 44 yards, but just missed a handful of deep passes, which was effective in keeping the Bedford defence honest. Stepanic had 30 yards receiving, Reiley had nine and Tentuik had five. On the defence, along with the fumble recoveries and interceptions, Pita Tuiloma was strong and recorded the team's only sack.
The fifth place Vikings will play the fourth place Tigers in Saskatoon Thursday at 5:15 p.m. at Griffith Stadium.
