Hammarskjold rolls to shutout win over St. Pat's in regular-season finale

The Hammarskjold Vikings earned a first-round playoff bye on Thursday with a shutout win over the St. Patrick Saints.

Hunter Campbell rushed for 201 yards and a pair of touchdowns and Patrick Stamp was a force on defence with double-digit tackles in the 28-0 triumph that secured second place in the junior football standings.

And that, said Stamp, is the key to achieving their ultimate goal, a high school championship.

“If you look historically, the last 15 teams to have won all got the extra week of practice,” Stamp said. “It really shows our other team members how successful they can be. I think an extra week of practice, which we earned today, will definitely help our team get ready for the playoffs.”

Campbell agreed.

“It relieves the stress of being knocked out in the four-five playoff game,” he said.

The contest, staged at Fort William Stadium, was a defensive battle through the first half, the Vikings (4-1) scoring the only major of the opening 20 minutes when Shayan Munawar scampered home from 21 yards out, then converted the extra point for a 7-0 Hammarskjold lead.

Campbell doubled the lead early in the third quarter, taking it in from the Saints one-yard line, then after it was called back on a procedure penalty against the Vikings, shaking it off and rumbling into the end zone from seven yards out.

All the while Stamp and the Vikings defence kept the Saints bottled up, unable to get much going on the ground or through the air.

“It was definitely a team effort,” Stamp said. “I think our defensive line played a very important part stopping the run down the middle and our linebackers. This is definitely a different type of offence and we were able to adjust on the field to counteract their style of playing.”

Hammarskjold coach Matt Steele said it was all about the effort put forth by his troops.

“The kids competed hard today as a team, both units and special teams,” he said, adding the coaching staff spoke to the team ahead of the game about the odds of winning it all from the wild-card game.

“They kids did take that to heart and work very hard in practice,” Steele said. “It was a great week of practice as a team, in order for us to come out prepared to play a great St. Pat’s team.”

The Saints, who would have clinched the second-place bye with a victory, were marching in the third quarter, down two scores, only to have quarterback Brenden Chomut’s pass picked off by Hammarskjold’s Tyler Trottier.

Chomut hooked up with Cooper Pytyck on a 20-yard passing play early in the fourth, but the drive stalled.

Campbell then scored on a 24-yard run and Josh Hutchinson untouched on a 46-yard dash up the middle to finalize the scoring.

St. Ignatius 14, Superior 0: The Falcons (5-0) wrapped up the regular season with a forfeit win over the Gryphons (1-4), who had too many banged up bodies to field a team.