It was a total team effort on Friday night, when the Vikings traveled to Latimer to play CAL in a district football contest. The entire Viking squad got to play in the 59-0 shut-out.
“I always hate to coach in these types of games,” said Coach Mike Horstman. “It was completely one-sided and I only played my varsity starters about 15 minutes (not even two quarters). We did work on several plays on offense and I was glad to see a lot of the JV players get some experience. Our defense once again proved they can play physical and shut-down an offense when called upon, even the JV defense played with confidence and had success.”
The game opened with the Vikings marching down the field on their first possession. On fourth and one at the goal, Cody Kadolph ran the ball in on a quarterback keeper. Tyler Peterson’s PAT was good.
The scoring extravaganza continued, fueled by Josh Henely’s five touchdowns for the Vikings. He scored on a 13 yard pass play from Kadolph, an 18 yard run, a two yard run, a 22 yard run and a 38 yard run. Additional scoring came from Tyler Betz on a safety. Peterson picked up one TD on an eight yard run. Kadolph scored on a three yard run and freshman Cole Hanley had his varsity debut and scored on a 43 yard run.
Ventura led 21-0 after the first quarter and the half time score was 41-0.
The Vikings picked up two touchdowns in the third quarter for a score of 53-0 and one in the fourth quarter for the final 59-0. Besides the PAT after the first touchdown of the game, all of the Vikings’ PATs and conversions failed.
“I think the point of this game was to take over the game on both sides of the ball, score quickly and then get the JV in. They need to get used to playing on a Friday night just in case they have to replace someone. It showed we have depth in certain positions and I was very impressed with how our ninth graders stepped in and played with the varsity,” said Horstman.
The coach especially praised the play of freshmen Damien Beard, Cole Hanley, Cal Huber and Trevor Jackson. Jackson carried the ball seven times for 40 yards. Beard had four tackles and one sack. Hanley had 43 yards on one carry, while Huber picked up three yards on two carries.
Henely was the overall team leader with 244 yards rushing on 16 carries. He also had one catch for 12 yards receiving. On defense, he had 11 tackles.
Other rushing leaders included Peterson with 40 yards on five carries. Kadolph had 17 yards on four carries and Shane Hanley had five yards on one carry.
Kadolph was 7/8 passing for 82 yards in the air.
Betz had four catches for 59 yards. Peterson had one reception for 11 yards.
Peterson had an excellent night on defense with 10 tackles, one sack and three fumble recoveries. Jeremiah Hagen had 11 tackles. Alex Avery and Tyler Betz had eight tackles apiece and Betz also had two sacks. Ethan Stokke-Cobb had five tackles. Picking up four tackles apiece was Scott Watson, Kadolph, Brandon Harthan and Dustin Dyre. Brian Mostrom and Jake Amundson had three tackles apiece. Shane Hanley and Mark Schaller had two tackles each.