Trojans triumph

The Hammarskjold Vikings spent so much energy trying to contain Jarred White and the Churchill Trojans passing game, that they forgot about the inside run.

It may have cost them a senior high school football championship. 

The Trojans, buoyed by White’s arm all season long, switched to the ground game on Saturday, relying on the speed of Devyn Chenier and the power of Allen Chen to score a come-from-behind 19-14 win in the championship game.

Chen, a Grade 11 back in his first season of senior football, barrelled up the middle for five yards and the winning score with less than two minutes to play.

It was his third straight run, following Chenier’s game-saving, third-down, nine-yard rush from the Hammarskjold 25 that kept the winning drive alive.

“It’s nice to win a championship again,” said Chen, who captured a junior title in 2010.

“I just have to thank my blockers for that, and my offensive line and my tight end. It felt great. I just kept my legs moving, kept my head down and tried pushing through and getting to the goal line.”

It was a darned sight more comforting than the feeling racing through the Trojans bench just minutes earlier, after Vikings quarterback Alex Nemec-Bakk muscled his way outside and blasted down the sidelines for 16 yards and the go-ahead score, with just 5:55 left on the clock and Hammarskjold leading 14-13.

Chen said the offense took it upon themselves to change the momentum – and more importantly the scoreboard.

“We did not want them on offence because they just keep driving the ball and have it for a long time. Basically everyone on our offence got the idea we can’t turn it over on downs again, we can’t punt, we just have to keep the ball moving, get every first down,” he said.

The Vikings did get the ball back after the touchdown, but after Nemec-Bakk went outside again for a gain of 21 Hammarskjold stalled outside the Trojans 20, ultimately turning it over on downs with too little time on the clock for another possession.

It delivered a second straight senior title to Churchill coach Mike Doromko, whose team will meet the St. Mary's Knights in the Northern Bowl. St. Mary's defeated North Bay's St. Joseph-Scollard Hall 38-10 on Saturday.

“It was a really tight one. We went down there in the third quarter and fourth quarter and stormed back. The only thing that stopped our offence, and it’s so frustrating as a coach, is us,” Doromko said.

“We had some nerves out there, there’s no doubt about that. It was a couple of our rookies that fumbled a little bit with the play call and knowing where to go, but the point is we pulled it out and that’s all that matters.”

The Trojans took a 7-0 lead in a hurry. Chenier, who ground out 179 yards on 14 carries, burst to the outside and scampered 53 yards for the game’s first major at 9:47 of the first quarter.

The Vikings threatened on their next drive, but Nemec-Bakk was intercepted by Churchill’s Rory McConnell.

Later in the second, after a Chenier punt return for a touchdown was called back for an illegal hit in the back, White hooked up with a wide-open Justin Schultz on a 33-yard strike, a botched extra point leaving the Trojans with a 13-0 lead.

Running back Xander Hassel, who finished with 84 rushing yards, was handed the ball four straight times, taking it in rom two yards out to cut the Churchill lead to six. But on their next possession the Vikings went two-and-out before taking their first and only lead of the contest a little later on.