NEWS PHOTO RYAN MCCRACKEN - Crescent Heights Vikings (from left) Tony Simmons and Garrett Little take down Hat High Mohawks' Ashton Larson during Rangeland Football Conference action at the Methanex Bowl Friday.
rmccracken@medicinehatnews.com@MHNMcCracken
The Crescent Heights Vikings have been waiting for their day to steal back the Rangeland Football Conference limelight – but it didn’t come Friday.
Lining up against the five-time reigning champion Hat High Mohawks, the Vikings managed to keep things close early but were unable to string together any sustained momentum in a 33-6 loss.
“We didn’t play very well, but I take that on myself as a coach,” said Vikings head coach Sean Davis. “I obviously didn’t do enough to prepare the guys for the game this week, so I’m going to take that one on the chin.”
Hat High put up points in all areas of the game. Running back Piercen Meier led the charge with three touchdowns on the ground and Ashton Larson added another, while the defence helped set up two safeties and special teams added three rouges.
“We worked hard this week. The boys knew it would be an emotional game playing against our cross-town rival and they came to play,” said Mohawks head coach Quinn Skelton. “Our running game was spectacular. I’m really proud of the way the O-line has worked lately and the boys running behind them did a really good job.”
The result pushes the Mohawks to 2-0 on the season with wins over both the Vikings and McCoy-Eagle Butte Colts. While the pair of victories would usually lift Hat High to a Moose Cup city title, this year’s schedule has every team face each other twice – giving Crescent Heights (1-1) the chance to exact some revenge before playoffs.
“We’ll have to see what the tape says. In a loss like that there isn’t much to build on,” said Davis. “What we do need to look at is the guys who are putting in the effort. Those will be the guys from here on out. Hopefully once we look at the film we get an idea of who those guys are going to be moving forward. And that’s what I’m looking for, I’m looking for effort.”
Meier put Hat High on the board early before back-to-back safeties – one intentional and one forced – left the Vikings trailing by 10 at the end of the first quarter.
“We had four perfect days of practice before this – perfect days. There were no flaws or nothing. We were ready,” said Meier, adding he anticipates the Vikings will come back stronger. “I’m expecting they’re going to go practice, work hard and be ready for next time.”
Meier struck again on a gritty 28-yard run early in the second, which was quickly followed by a kickoff rouge. The Mohawks then repeated the feat in the dying minutes of the half, with Meier storming through the Viking defence for his third score of the night before another rouge stretched the gap to 24-0.
“He’s a real tough kid. He plays for us tough on offence and on defence. I really had to yank him off in the second half there,” Skelton said of Meier. “We wanted to share the ball a little bit so we pulled them out and gave some carries to the other guys.”
Larson picked the offence back up less than a minute later after an interception put Hat High back in the red zone – leaving the Vikings on the wrong end of a 32-0 game at the break.
Crescent Heights put together a stronger effort in the second half, adding a few lengthy drives and ending the game on a 45-yard touchdown run from Tony Simmons, but it wasn’t enough to keep them in the win column.
“The effort in the second half was significantly better, but I’m certainly not impressed with how the game went today,” said Davis.
The Vikings and Mohawks return to the Methanex Bowl Friday for an exhibition doubleheader. Crescent Heights will kick off the evening against the Chestermere Lakers at 5 p.m., followed by Hat High against Claresholm’s Willow Creek Cobras.
Colts come back to beat Buffaloes
At Brooks, McCoy’s Colts came from behind to beat the Buffaloes 27-23.
Coach Darrell Grass described it as “not a textbook win, but we will take it” via text message.
Haedyn Davis, Seth Fandrick and Toras Brooks-Kirsch had touchdowns for McCoy. Josh Cockill added two field goals.
Quarterback Thomas McCue threw one touchdown pass. Brooks-Kirsch amassed more than 150 yards rushing according to Grass.
The Colts’ next league game isn’t until Oct. 4 when they play Crescent Heights at the Methanex Bowl.
