Rain and the passing game don’t always blend together well in high school football.
But more often and not, when the Hammarskjold Vikings and Westgate Tigers meet, like they did last fall in the senior final, weather is a factor.
The Vikings, normally buoyed by the strong arm of quarterback, Alex Nemmec-Bakk, on Friday felt the wrath of Mother Nature, and forced to an almost exclusive rushing playbook, fell 13-0 to the defending champion and still unbeaten Westgate Tigers.
The weather suited Tigers coach Mike McNally just fine.
“We knew that Hammarskjold (2-2) had a pretty dynamic offense. It was going to have to change a little bit today because of the wind. They ran the ball extremely well. They are a tough team. They’ve got some good runners. They’re a little banged up,” McNally said.
“But our guys held and we made some good adjustments in the second half to slow down the run game.”
Vikings coach Mike Judge said he wasn’t surprised the weather had a role to play in the outcome.
“There’s a common theme here, isn’t there?” said Judge, whose squad is looking for its first senior title since 2008.
“It really limits both offenses and you can tell by the scoreboard. It would be fun to play where both offenses can open up and see what they can do. But they’ve got a good team over there, a really good effort, a classy team and a tough game again.”
Judge admitted in the battle of which team was the better rushing squad, his side fell a little short.
“They had a little bit more of the fundamentals than we did. They blocked better, tackled better and ran hard. Our guys fought hard right until the end. Our backs are coming off some injuries and they ran hard today.
“I’m real proud of their effort, both Xander (Hassell) going over 100 and having Geordie (Savela) go down on that first drive with an ankle injury really took away a big piece of our offense.”
Hassell, who topped the century mark with 104 yards on 18 carries, and Savela, who wound up with 54 yards on the day, were a one-two punch on the opening drive, a 10-minute epic performance spoiled by a missed 18-yard field goal off the foot of Mitch Hannusch.
It helped turn around the game, McNally said.
“They had us on our heels, I’m not going to deny that. They can pound the ball, and when they run that wishbone offense they got a load back there with Savela. They took it to us in that first quarter.”
Both teams traded possessions until midway through the second quarter, when the Tigers (4-0) put their first scoring drive together.
Stewart Melenick, who had a game-high 118 yards on 12 carries, started the march down the field with back-to-back 12 yard runs, added a 25-yard scamper into the mix, then took it home from four yards out to give the Tigers a 6-0 halftime lead.
“Our offensive line did a really good job today,” Melenick said. “They held our blocks good. Our coaches kind of thought it was going to be crappy weather today. So we kind of prepared for it.”
It wasn’t ideal conditions, by any means, he added.
“It was cold. But it doesn’t really change the running on this field because it’s a new field, it’s nice,” he said, praising the Fort William Stadium turf.
The Tigers other score came midway through the third, a 37-yard run down the sidelines by Alex Gerolami.
The Tigers take on St. Ignatius next week, while the Vikings will tangle with the Sir Winston Chuchill Trojans.
In other senior high school football action on Friday:
Churchill 19, Superior Collegiate 0: Jared White threw for 85 yards and a score and ran for 69 yards and another major as the Trojans evened their record at 2-2.
St. Patrick 13, St. Ignatius 0: Rob DeGagne made a 16-yard TD reception from Jordan LeBlanc as time expired in the first quarter, all the offense the Saints (2-2) would need. Marcus Hardy added an insurance major in the fourth, running it in from four yards out. The Falcons fell to 1-3.
