THUNDER BAY – Gavin Perkins probably figures the best way to maintain his grasp on his starting quarterback job is to make sure his backup is needed elsewhere in the offence.
The Hammarskjold Vikings quarterback on Friday added to his job security, throwing two of his three touchdown passes on the evening to backup quarterback Zack Kuzik, the first a 46-yard strike down the left sideline, the second a mirror image of the first, only from seven yards closer.
The dynamic duo led the Vikings to a 36-7 regular-season-ending triumph over the third-place Westgate Tigers, ensuring they’ll enter the postseason as the undefeated top seed with a perfect 6-0 record.
“I know Zack. We have that quarterback-back-up quarterback chemistry, so I knew exactly where he was going, how fast he runs and I know how he catches them too,” said Perkins, who also Caleb Perzan for a 26-yard scoring strike early in the fourth.
“We recognized that their corner was playing pretty shallow on Kuz, so (coach) called in the play and we threw the (ball) down deep,” Perzan said.
Kuzik had equal praise for his quarterback, adding the Vikings had an inkling of what might work before stepping on the Fort William Stadium field.
"After watching the film of them playing (St. Ignatius) we knew they were going to bring the corners down, stack the box and try to stop the passing game, so we knew we had the shot over top one on one. It was pick your poison. Either you wanted to guard me or you wanted to guard (Ethan) Porter. I’m just glad Gavin’s got such a cannon and I can just run over it,” Kuzik said.
Finishing the regular season with an unblemished record, allowing just 18 points over six games, is a great accomplishment, but the slate’s wiped clean at this point, the Vikings keying up to face St. Patrick, who earned a forfeit win against Superior Collegiate, in next Friday’s semifinal.
“Now that we’re going into playoffs, the next week of practice has to be the best week of practice we’ve ever had and we’ve got to get back on that grind,” Kuzik said.
They’ll want to ensure they get off to a better start than they did against the Tigers.
The two teams played a scoreless first and it was Westgate that struck first in the second. After quarterback Kam Vanderwees delivered the Tigers to the Vikings one with a strike to Josh Grant, it was Brendan Hall who went up the middle for the score, 3:27 into the quarter.
But it was all Hammarskjold from that point on.
Perkins and Kuzik hooked up four minutes later to even the score 7-7.
Vanderwees had a pass picked off by Steven Burgess, who ran it back 50 yards to the Westgate 15, leading to Sam Krawczuk’s five-yard rumble and a 14-7 Vikings lead. Hammarskjold added one more before the half, Perkins and Kuzik connecting a second time.
Carter Oikonen added a 22-yard field goal for the only score of the third and Krawczuk rounded out the scoring late in the fourth on a three-yard run.
“It’s nice to finish the regular season strong against a much improved Westgate team,” said Hammarskjold coach Mike Judge. “They played well tonight, gave us all we could really handle there, so I’m really happy for our kids. But now we’re 0-0 and the second season starts, so now we’ve got to get back to work.”
