THUNDER BAY -- The Hammarskjold Vikings won the battle, but the St. Patrick Saints held on to win the war.
Kicker Devin Hoyer’s last-second 39-yard field goal try was blocked by Saints defender Eric Stienhausser as time ran out Friday night at Fort William Stadium, ending the Vikings playoff hopes despite a 12-3 win, their second straight to close out regular season play in the senior high school boys football circuit.
Earlier in the week Superior Secondary Schools Athletic Association had ruled the Vikings would need to win the game by 12 points to take the tiebreaker against St. Patrick, both teams finishing with identical 2-4 records.
It’s probably the worst feeling after a win in Hammarskjold coach Mike Judge’s lengthy football career.
“This is a tough one to swallow. We were so close to the playoffs. Playing to win by a certain amount of points is a unique situation,” Judge said.
“It was tough end our season tonight and I’m really proud of the kids and their effort. They fought right to the very end.”
Judge admitted his play-calling was aggressive, knowing his team had to create a 12-point gap.
Early in the contest the Vikings elected to go for it on third-down and goal rather than settle for three points.
They missed.
Later in the opening half they chose the field-goal option, only to have a bad snap force a turnover on downs.
Hindsight is 20-20, he said.
“We were far more aggressive than we’d normally be. Often we like to punt and let our defence do their thing. They’ve been great all year. We were a little more aggressive in our calling tonight and it turned out to bite us a little bit,” Judge said.
“It was a tough ruling this week from SSSAA.”
It’s not like the Saints were piling up the opportunities, their lone score coming on an Ian Buenetello field-goal less than two minutes into the contest.
But led by running back Kellan Steudle, they moved the ball somewhat effectively most of the night. He’d finish with 110 yards on 20 carries before leaving with an injury in the second half.
Hammarskold’s biggest issue was its play in the red zone.
In the first half they had multiple opportunities to punch the ball in from two yards out, aided by a pass interference call that gave them an extra set of downs.
It went nowhere.
They finally found the end zone late in the fourth quarter, their season on the line, quarterback Marti Martinez connecting with Devon Hoier for a 46-yard score that put the Vikings in front 10-3.
Late in the fourth the Vikings blocked a Saints punt attempt, Justin Kudrat scooping it up and taking it to the St. Pat’s 13-yard line. But Martinez’s third-down pass was tipped by the Saints Ryan Lampley and St. Patrick took over on its own six.
Forced to punt, they ran the ball out of the end zone and conceded the safety. Hoier returned the kick 37 yards, but was unable to convert the three-point attempt.
“My coach came in and told us this is our season,” Buenetello said. “We put all our effort into it. He pumped us up and said put everything on the line. We did and got a good result.”
