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Vikings win 3A Saskatoon football league title

Nov 3, 2017 | 8:05 PM

The North Battleford Comprehensive High School Vikings senior football team can now call themselves city champions.

On a snowy Friday night, the Vikings downed the Tommy Douglas Tigers 26-15 to win the 3A Saskatoon Secondary Schools Athletic Directorate championship.

“It feels great,” Grade 12 starting quarterback Damon Dutton said after the victory. “This is the first time, [for] the group that we’ve been with, that we’ve made it through the first round, and to win the second game was big. [Now] off to the provincial final, everyone is just excited.

“[This group] won the championship in Grade 9 for the Kinsmen league and it’s special because we get to do it again here. Same group of guys. It’s special.”

Dutton threw two touchdowns passes in the win, one to Zach Wolfe and one to Presley Peterson while running back J.T. Lamb added two rushing touchdowns of his own. Lamb was a beast on the ground again with 206 total rushing yards.

Wolfe finished with seven receptions for 204 receiving yards, while Peterson caught three balls for 88 total yards. Both are Grade 12 receivers, one of 25 graduating players on the team.

“There’s no one-man job. It’s the whole team,” Wolfe said when asked about his spectacular performance. “You’ve got to give every man on the line credit. Everyone is doing a good job there. Everyone really pulled their weight and was smashing heads in on that.”

But it was arguably the defence that came up even bigger on Friday, with multiple fumble recoveries and an interception in the difficult weather conditions.

Wolfe and Lamb each had one fumble recovery, while so did defensive lineman Chase Bartko. Bartko was also the only Viking to record a sack.

“I think [our defence] clued into some of their schemes,” Vikings head coach Mike Humenny said. “Our defence tonight, especially in the second half, took the ball away from them numerous times, which just allowed us to get back on the field and kept the clock moving. Really happy with the defence today.”

“Just getting here today was a bit of an adventure for us…That first half was a bit ugly at times. The weather was playing a factor but just credit to our guys. They did a number of really good things today…Grade 12s especially.”

Defensive back Kolby Heidt had the team’s lone interception and said one big difference between Friday’s playoff win and the loss in the regular season to Tommy Douglas was not taking penalties.

“We kept our composure a lot more than what we did in our first [meeting],” Heidt said. “That helped a lot. And me not getting kicked out, that was fun. It was ironic that [number] 14 got kicked out [today] and that’s the kid I got kicked out for [last meeting]. It felt good. It really felt good and our defence came together and played as a unit.”

The Vikings will now get to host the provincial final next Saturday, Nov. 11 against either Yorkton Regional High School or Balgonie Greenall.

“It’s awesome [to win], but as soon as that final whistle went, our minds were on that game Nov. 11.,” Wolfe said. “We’re going to get ready for that. That’s all we’re focused on.”

 

 

nathan.kanter@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @NathanKanter11