By Nathan Kanter

Vikings blow out St. Mary’s to improve to 4-2

Oct 16, 2017 | 10:00 AM

When you hang with a powerhouse, it can pay dividends down the road, even if it that result doesn’t end the right way.

In week five of the senior high school football season, the North Battleford Comprehensive Vikings stuck with the undefeated Holy Cross Crusaders for much of the game, but ultimately fell 43-32 at home, to fall to 3-2 on the season.

North Battleford produced more yards on offence — 465 to 391 — but were outplayed on the defensive side of things.

This past weekend, the Vikings learned from that loss, as their defence shut out the St. Mary’s Marauders 55-0 in week six.

“Playing Holy Cross, they’re one of the best teams in the province,” Vikings head coach Mike Humenny said about his team’s close loss on Oct. 6. “We were able to put up some points against them but more importantly it was our guys playing against a quality opponent, and understanding that when we make some simple mental mistakes that a team can make us pay.

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“[This week] was our first shutout of the season so that’s the best we’ve played defensively all season long. And I think what our guys did was they kind of carried over from the Holy Cross game, they just played super aggresive and they were playing not afraid to make a mistake and trust in the guy next to them.”

St. Mary’s managed only 148 total yards on offence, while the Vikings topped 500.

Zach Wolfe had two interceptions on defence for the Vikings, while also catching two passes for 100 yards and a touchdown on offence.

Running back J.T. Lamb continued his stellar season by rushing 11 times for 102 yards and a touchdown, while youngster Brody Day also rushed for 70 yards and a touchdown in the second half. Lamb’s season totals now lead all rushers in the 3A division, at 955 yards and 12 touchdowns in six games. His total is nearly 400 yards more than the second-most in 3A.

Quarterback Damon Dutton was 10-for-13 for 298 yards and four touchdowns, while he connected with Presley Peterson three times for 127 yards and two touchdowns, and Chase Taggart three catches for 48 yards and a touchdown.

Humenny said Dutton took a big leadership role this week when it came to play-calling.

“He actually came to the sidelines and had a few suggestions on how we should adjust and we kind of gave him a bit of free reign on some of the play calling,” Humenny said. “He made some really good calls in the huddle that allowed us to advance the ball down the field quite quickly and put up some scores in a hurry. I think it’s just a credit to our guys and them showing their maturity as an offensive group. I think that’s the best that we’ve played here in the past couple years.”

Because the Vikings lead 38-0 at half, they were able to give some young players game time in the late stages of the game.

That’s also a trend that might continue in the regular season finale on Thursday, depending on how the game goes.

Humenny said the coaching staff is always trying to get Grade 9s and 10s in when possible because they’re looking towards the future.

“There’s no hiding the fact that we have 20-plus Grade 12s on our team and the majority of our starters are all in their last year of high school football,” Humenny said. “We play our last junior game tomorrow and we’re going to be pulling up some Grade 9s and 10s just for the remainder of the week and they’re going to dress for our home game on Thursday night.

“It’s a learning process more than anything. We have some really exciting players in Grade 9 and 10 and they just need to be groomed a little bit, somewhat by the coaches, but in a lot of ways by the players that are currently in the system and modelling how things should be done.”

That doesn’t mean Thursday’s game is meaningless.

The Marion Graham Falcons may be just 1-5 this season, but playoff seeding for the Vikings could be in play.

“We actually have a good opportunity with the way that our playoff structure works that if we win on Thursday night, we’ll finish at 5-2 and we have a really good shot at finishing first place in 3A, which allows probably a better matchup in our first round of the playoffs,” Humenny said. “So there’s actually a lot at stake on Thursday night so we won’t be taking this lightly at all.”

The playoffs will see the top team in 3A play the fourth seed, while the second and third-place teams will face off. Then the winners will play in the Saskatoon 3A final. Although both of those playoff games will be hosted in Saskatoon, if North Battleford is able to win the city final, then they’d have an opportunity to host the provincial final against the winner of the Moose Jaw and Regina leagues.

“There’s a lot of stuff that needs to happen before that but we’re well aware that this a really big year for us and things could potentially work out in our favour,” Humenny said. “We’ve talked about that and if it came to happen it’d be pretty cool.”

Thursday’s regular season finale will be played at Beaver Lions Stadium at 6:30 p.m.

nathan.kanter@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @NathanKanter11