Vikings vanquished

Mike Judge and the Hammarskjold Vikings know what they have to do.

After losing 13-7 to the St. Patrick Saints on a drizzly Friday afternoon at Fort William Stadium, the veteran Vikings coach and his club face a must-win situation next Friday against Superior Collegiate if they want to guarantee themselves another trip to the postseason.

Judge said his troops are well aware of what they must accomplish to move on.

“We win next week and we’re in. Lose and we’re in trouble, we’re out,” Judge said. “Our playoffs start right now.

“They know what’s on the line. I don’t think there’s any preparation from me as far as motivating them. They know if they want to play on, they’ve got to win next week. This is our playoffs right now. We’ve got to go and take a very physical Superior team and get a win somehow.”

They’ll have to find a way to move the ball a little more effectively than they did against the Saints (4-2-0), who maintained a share of second place with the victory, won mainly on the strength of their ground game. 

For every big play the Vikings (2-4) made playing the middle game on the traditional Friday senior boys schedule, there was a three-and-out waiting to end the threat – or a mistake.

Quarterback Alex Nemmec-Bakk, who proved effective later in the contest, was picked off by Marcus Hardy midway through the first quarter, an error that led directly to St.Patrick’s first touchdown.

After Rob Degagne set the stage, pushing the ball to the Hammarskjold one, Hardy leapt into the end zone for the score, making it 7-0 Saints.

Flash forward to the second quarter and Hardy and Degagne were at it again, punishing the Vikings defence and punching the ball up the field a few yards at a time. Hardy exploded for 24 yards that took the ball to the opposition 26, Degagne advanced it inside the red zone, and then Hardy eventually pushed ahead to the one, where on his second try, he found pay dirt for the second time of the afternoon.

“Our offense played good,” Hardy said. “The o-line blocked really well and I just hit the crease and kept running.”

Starting on their own 28, the Vikings marched down the field before the half was over, mainly on the arm of Nemmec-Bakk, who completed a 27-yard pass to Nick Potter to push the drive into gear, and a pair of pass interference calls that placed the ball on the St. Patrick 16-yard line.

Nemmec-Bakk finished the drive with five-yard pass to Austin Ellis for the score, closing the gap to 13-7.

The tried a bit of trickery on the ensuing kickoff and recovered the onside attempt, but the ensuing 47-yard field goal attempt was no good.

Sticking to the air, the Vikings marched again to start the third, but on a third-and-five from the Saints 10, Nemmec-Bakk’s throw fell short, and St. Patrick took over.

Hammarskjold drove to the Saints 38 late in the fourth, but a blocked pass and a drop by Geordie Savela ended the threat and St. Patrick ran out the clock.

“It feels great,” Hardy said. “We worked hard, we played hard, and we go the win out. We all played our asses off from the start to the end of the game.”

In other senior boys play Friday:

Churchill 21, Superior 9: Quarterback Jared White, who went down with an injury late, possibly ending his season, connected on TD tosses to Cameron Claridge and Devyn Chenier in the fourth quarter, as the Trojans overcame a 9-8 deficit to the Gryphons (1-5).

Westgate 48, St. Ignatius 7: Halfback Nolan Vanlenthe rumbled for 158 yards and two scores, while halfback Hunter Mina found the end zone three times on 143 yards rushing as the Tigers (6-0)clinched the No. 1 seed heading into the playoffs in two weeks time. Ahron Duguid scored the lone touchdown for the Falcons (1-5), who need Hammarskjold to lose and a win over Churchill next Friday to make the playoffs.