By Nathan Kanter

Vikings drop first game of 2017 to Tommy Douglas

Sep 22, 2017 | 2:00 PM

The high-flying North Battleford Comprehensive High School Vikings senior football team allowed a season-high 35 points on Thursday night against the Tommy Douglas Tigers. A mis-management of the ball on offence and a lack of discipline ended up being their demise, as they lost their first game of 2017 by a score of 35-26.

“We had a chance to take control of stuff [in the fourth quarter] and we just were mentally fatigued I think,” Vikings coach Mike Humenny said on Friday. “We had two drives that got snuffed out just by us fumbling the football. And I didn’t look at the statsheet, but we took a massive amount of penalties in the game that just made it a lot easier for our opponents to drive the field and score.”

The final result was a tough pill to swallow, as the Vikings were down by just two points late in the third quarter and had a chance to take the lead on multiple occasions, but instead they gave the Tigers a couple of gifts.

“Once again, it’s just taking care of the football,” Humenny said. “Two costly fumbles and all of a sudden the game goes the opposite direction. And a lot of the penalties that we took — it’s not so much being over-aggressive, it’s just a lot of attitude adjustments that are going to be made next week at practice.

“There is just a sour taste after the game last night where there was an opportunity for us to move forward and play with the lead and unfortunately we weren’t able to do that. It’s something that we’re going to learn from and we’ll be better for it.”

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Going into the game, the gameplan for North Battleford was once again to rush the ball often, which led to their success in the opening two weeks.

It worked again last night, to a certain extent, as running back J.T. Lamb rushed for 192 yards and three touchdowns.

But the run game wasn’t as flawless as it had been, which was evident in the turnovers.

“The last two weeks, [rushing] maybe came a bit easier for us but I think it’s just a product of our league and how it works,” Humenny said. “There were a number of things that we did last night that Tommy Douglas defended very well but the one thing that’s tough to defend is if a team is just going to line up and just run the ball straight at you. 

“We did that at times last night and we’re very happy with that. But when you do employ that type of game, sometimes fumbles occur.”

The Vikings entered the game with a 2-0 record following fairly easy wins over Evan Hardy and Warman, as they won by 36 points and 17 points, respectively, in weeks one and two.

But this game was different, as the Tigers, who are also now 2-1, were coming off a 49-13 win in week two. Tigers quarterback Hayden Sabadash threw for five touchdowns in that game and against the Vikings on Thursday, he threw for three touchdowns and 223 yards.

“There were no surprises as to what they were going to be running against us, but they play their system very well,” Humenny said. “[Sabadash] is a returning starter. I think he’s a Grade 12 returning starter for two years. He’s gotten much better from last year as well. And they have a number of weapons. They have good receivers and they block downfield really well. We had trouble tackling in open space last night.”

The Vikings schedule doesn’t get any easier, as they will take on last year’s champions, the Bishop J. Mahoney Saints next Thursday, once more on the road.

BJM is also 2-1 this season, as they fell 31-22 to Centennial yesterday.

“I know they lost a number of starters on defence but on the offensive side of the ball, it looks like they’ve got four or five receivers that can make some plays and the quarterback is their catalyst on offence,” Humenny said of BJM. “Similarly to Tommy Douglas — they’re quarterback is also a returning starter. He’s started since Grade 10 so this is his third year [and] he has spent some time with our provincial team in the summer and he looked really polished last night.

“He can run the ball as well. He’s a good thrower. He’s very mobile in the pocket.”

Next Thursday’s game is set for 5:15 p.m. kick-off. It will be the Vikings last regular season road game, as they’ll finish the season with three straight (and their only three) home games.

nathan.kanter@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @NathanKanter11