BIG RAPIDS – Revenge is sweet it’s said, and the Whitehall football team relished the taste Nov. 8 when the Vikings upset Big Rapids, 17-7 on the Cardinals’ field to win the Division 4 district title and move on to this week’s regional championship.
The Cardinals (9-2) dealt the Vikings a heartbreaking 28-27 loss in last year’s district final, but couldn’t anything going against the Vikings in this one, ending their nine-game winning streak.
Whitehall held the Cardinals to just 185 yards total offense, including just 74 yards rushing in establishing complete control of the game, and the time of possession.
Meanwhile, the Vikings displayed a balanced offensive attack, totaling an impressive 287 yards, 139 rushing and 142 passing in smashing the Cardinals.
“It was a lot of fun. It was pretty special,” Viking coach Tony Sigmon said. “There were some untimely penalties on us, and they were all effort-based penalties like holding and stuff like that. Just kind of at the wrong time.
“I felt like we were really behind the sticks for really pretty much the whole first half, and then we had a couple of balls that were on the ground.
“We lost one fumble as we were getting ready to go into the red zone. It seemed like any time we had momentum in the first half something just kind of stalled it, whether it was a ball on the ground or an untimely penalty.
“Truthfully, road games are tough, but road playoff games are even tougher.”
Despite some first half foibles, the Vikings kept the Cardinals offense under wraps by forcing some fumbles as well, and getting some key stops at crucial times.
Judd Musk gave the Vikings a slim 3-0 lead at the half with a 28-yard field goal after a fumble deep in Big Rapids territory cost them an earlier chance to score.
Neither team scored in the third quarter, but the Vikings would strike two minutes into the fourth to extend their lead to 10-0 when quarterback Camden Thompson pitched a 28-yard scoring strike to Hunter Osborne and Musk kicked the extra point.
Osborne also scored on an 11-yard run with just 3:23 left and Musk again booted the extra point to make it 17-0.
Big Rapids finally cracked the scoring column with 2:11 to play.
“The defense was fantastic all night long, and I think that starts in a couple areas,” Sigmon said. “Number one, all the credit goes to our kids because they have stepped up in a big way, in a lot of different places.
“A lot of places on the defensive line, the linebacking corps and the secondary this year. We’ve been beat up a lot this year, and it seems we’ve had to sub a person in that maybe wasn’t on the original starting lineup from what we projected Week One.
“Our team has done a wonderful job, and that showed on defense (against Big Rapids). And then a lot of credit has to go our assistant coaches. They put together a heck of a game plan, and they were able to teach it at high level, and really put our kids in a great position to be successful. There’s a lot of finger prints on that game.”
Gavin Craner had 79 yards rushing on 19 carries to lead the Vikings, Nathan Betz contributed 36 on seven carries and Thompson added 23 on 14 runs.
Thompson, who was a nearly perfect 5-of-6 passing in the first half, hit on both of his throws in the second half to end the night completing 7-of-8 for 142 yards and one score.
Osborne caught three passes for 84 yards and a TD, while Corde Anderson had two receptions for 38.
Anderson was in on nine tackles to lead the Vikings defense, and had one sack. Craner finished with seven stops, and Jack Ambrose five.
Whitehall will be looking for more revenge this week when the Vikings (8-3) host Grand Rapids South Christian (7-4) in the regional finals.
The Sailors defeated top-ranked Hudsonville Unity Christian, 35-28 in their district title game. They lost to Harper Woods, 33-27, in last year’s state final.
