Ventura clinches play-off berth

The No. 5 ranked Ventura Vikings assured themselves a spot in the playoffs with a 56-0 drubbing of Rockwell-Swaledale Friday night.
The Vikings used a balanced attack and rang up 554 yards of offense on the Rebels. The effort keeps Ventura atop all schools (170 eight-man and 11-man reporting) in total rushing yards this season with 3,350.
Ventura’s offense wasted no time striking against the Rebels. Cody Kadolph scored on the first play from scrimmage and an interception by Brian Mostrom set up a five-yard touchdown run by Josh Henely, giving the Vikings two scores within the first two minutes of play.
Ventura scored 49 of its points in the first half, leaving junior varsity players with a lot of playing time in the second half.

The Viking reserves added the final TD.
“Our offense is getting better at mixing the run with the pass. “We also used a mix of players running the ball,” said Coach Mike Horstman.
Kadolph and Josh Henely provided a powerful one-two punch for the Viking offense. Kadolph ran the ball nine times for 161 yards and had three Ventura touchdowns, while Henely carried 17 times for 162 yards. He had two scores.
“Cody and Josh had another outstanding game, due in part to some fine blocking by our offensive line. Those guys in the trenche just absolutely get it done, week after week,” said Coach Horstman, pointing to Scott Watson, Jeremiah Hagen, Brian Mostrom, Tyler Betz, Aaron Christians and Brandon Harthan.
Henely is currently at 1,203 yards for the year, ranking him third among players in the eight-man game.
Kadolph completed seven of 10 pass attempts for 157 yards and three touchdowns. Betz had three receptions, with two going for touchdowns.
Christians returned to the team after being sidelined with an injury for a few weeks. The senior long snapper, receiver and linebacker grabbed three passes for 49 yards and scored one touchdown.
Tyler Peterson rushed five times for 24 yards and caught one pass for 16 yards for the Vikes. He also kicked eight extra-points for the team. Trevor Jackson carried the ball five times for 40 yards and Brian Mostrom ran three times for 10.
The coach said he was also pleased with his defense, noting they allowed just over 100 yards through the entire game and completely shut down many facets of the Rebels’ game.
“I think our defensive ends Scott Watson and Tyler Betz were the turning point of this game. They didn’t allow much on their outsides and pressured the quarterback every pass play. That would free up our linebackers to blitz and angle attack whenever possible.”
Watson and Betz were credited with 13 and 14 tackles respectively. Watson had one sack in the game and Betz stuck the Rebel QB twice. Brian Mostrom also had a sack to go with his 11 tackles.
Josh Henely had a team-high six solo tackles and 12 assists for a total of 18. Jeremiah Hagen and Peterson were credited with 14 tackles, Kadolph 12, and Dustin Dyre nine. Brandon Harthan had five tackles, Christians and Shane Hanley four apiece, Alex Avery, Cody Christy, Jake Amundson two each and Damian Beard one tackle.
The win over Rockwell-Swaledale (4-4, 2-2) assured the Vikings (7-0, 3-0) of a berth in the State play-offs, but Coach Horstman said he doesn’t want his squad to look past Clarksville (1-3, 1-6) this Friday (Senior Night in Ventura) in anticipation of their final week showdown with No. 1 ranked Northeast Hamilton (8-0).
“I’d like us to keep the momentum going and continue to play aggressive,” said Hortsman.
Fans might want to look ahead to the NEH game, so they can make an adjustment to their schedule. The two teams have agreed to play on Thursday, Oct. 25, instead of the usual Friday night, so that they can gain an extra day of recuperation and preparation prior to the first round of the post-season play-offs Wednesday, Oct. 31.