Vikings oust Tigers

Mitchell Hannusch can do it all.

The Hammarskjold Vikings jack-of-all-trades on Friday snared a 52-yard touchdown pass from Alex Nemmec-Bakk, booted a 40-yard field goal and chipped in a game-resolving interception late in the fourth quarter, earning his team a spot in next Saturday’s senior boys football final.

The 17-8 was a chance for the Vikings to exact a little revenge on the Westgate Tigers, a team that knocked them out of last year’s semifinal and took them down in the 2010 final.

“It feels amazing,” Hannusch said. “The third time’s the charm pretty much. They had us in Grade 11 and they had us in Grade 12. Just to get this is great. We work hard all week. We slave over it. I don’t know what to say.”

It’s a game that was lacking offensively, as the two team’s defence kept each other at bay, Westgate’s lone touchdown coming in the first quarter, a two-yard run by Caleb White on their only true sustained drive of the contest.

Nemmec-Bakk and Hannusch had the answer minutes later.

“We just put that play in this week and we hadn’t really run it that much,” Hannusch said of the reception, which saw him break free down the middle from the Westgate safety, then scamper untouched to the end zone to pull the Vikings even.

“I kind of landed awkwardly and I caught myself. My quarterback and I have been connecting all season. It doesn’t matter if it’s the first game or semifinals, we just go well and we execute.”

Hammarskjold coach Mike Judge said he entered the season with a humble attitude after being surprised in last year’s playoffs.

“Our message to the team was let’s get one back. It’s always a tough game when we play Westgate. It’s a classy, hard-hitting team and I’m glad we won,” Judge said, knowing his team was given everything it could handle in the opening half that they escaped trailing 8-7 after Westgate’s Josh Whitehurst scored a rouge in the final minute.

“They’re so-well coached. They came up with a great scheme to shut down our run early. They dared us to pass. We hit a couple of passes, got one in behind them to get in there for the first score. But we weren’t really clicking and just sort of hung on. Thank goodness the defence kept us in the game,” Judge said.

The Vikings found their ground game to start the third, led by Xander Hasell, who finished with 151 yards on 17 carries.

Hasell rumbled down the ride side of the Fort William Stadium field for 52 yards, pushing the Vikings deep into Tigers territory. Hasell then carried the ball for runs of 11, six and six yards, leaving just three yards between himself and the end zone, a distance he bounced through despite a crush of Tigers trying to haul him to the ground.

On their next possession the Tigers managed to squeeze their way to the Vikings 25, but after White was stopped for a two-yard gain, Westgate quarterback Dylan Stajkowski failed on successive passes, turning the ball over on downs.

Hannusch connected for three four minutes into the fourth, then in desperation time with less than two minutes remaining, picked off Stajkowski’s sideline pass, deftly stepping out of bounds to preserve the win.

Judge said he hopes to keep the momentum going in the championship match.

“We talked to the kids and said games aren’t won on Friday nights or Saturday afternoons. Games are won at practice and that’s our mantra all year long and we’re going to keep going with that.”