NEWS PHOTO RYAN MCCRACKEN - Dozens of Rangeland Football Conference alumni stand between members of the Hat High Mohawks, Crescent Heights Vikings, McCoy-Eagle Butte Colts and Brooks Buffalos for the league's 40th season alumni night at the Methanex Bowl on Friday.
rmccracken@medicinehatnews.com@MHNMcCracken
The Crescent Heights Vikings honoured their history with a 25-20 victory over the cross-town rival McCoy-Eagle Butte Colts on Friday night at the Methanex Bowl.
On an evening aimed at celebrating the Rangeland Football Conference’s 40th season, the Vikings held off a late push from the Colts to lock up second in the standings entering the post-season.
“It’s exciting. The fans love it, the guys love it,” said head coach Sean Davis, whose Vikings closed out the regular season at 2-1 with the win. “We would have liked to have a little more of a spread and be a bit more comfortable, but that’s why you coach football and why you play football. You love the tight games.”
The Colts put up all 20 of their points in the fourth quarter. While they were unable to complete the wild comeback, running back Toras Brooks-Kirsch says the late push leaves them fired up for their first-round rematch on Oct. 18.
“We’re going to come out and we’re going to be better than this time,” said Brooks-Kirsch, whose Colts finished third in the RFC standings at 1-2. “I think it might have been a different game if we started the way we ended, but it is what it is. I’m happy with what we ended with, it came to a really close game.”
Crescent Heights came out blazing. After pushing the ball downfield for a long opening drive, the Vikings worked their way onto the scoreboard on a two-yard quarterback sneak from Kobe Willis.
While they missed the extra point, the Vikings forced a punt from the Colts and went right back to conquering ground. After pushing the ball back into Colts territory, Willis found Tony Simmons for a deep reception, then Brian Davies punched in a short run to put the Vikings up by a dozen at the end of the first quarter.
“Both teams deserved to win it, but we just pulled it out executing more plays,” said Simmons. “I think it was a hard-fought win.”
While the Colts weren’t able to get much done with the ball in the first half, the defence picked things up in the second quarter, stopping a pair of deep Viking drives to preserve a two-possession game at the break.
Crescent Heights struck again midway through the third quarter when Willis hit Simmons in the end zone for a 12-yard touchdown reception on third down. Crescent Heights attempted a two-point conversion but was held short.
Simmons appeared to add another touchdown on a 75-yard punt return a few minutes later, but the play was called back due to an illegal block.
“I did challenge our guys this week to play better in the first half and they certainly did. The second half, not so much,” said Davis. “We made lots of mistakes and we laid down a little bit. I’m not ashamed to say that, I’ll call my guys out because I think they (laid down). We made some mistakes on the bench too – coaches get animated and stuff like that, and that’s on me.”
The Colts took advantage of Crescent Heights’ penalty trouble and started picking up steam late in the third. After switching ends, Brooks-Kirsch started up the comeback with a 15-yard touchdown run.
McCoy regained possession a few minutes later and muscled their way back into the red zone, then Seth Fandrick narrowed the gap to 18-14 on a run from 10 yards out.
“They have athletes over there and they made us pay for the mistakes that we made,” said Davis. “We’ve got to be more crisp. We’re making too many mistakes. Playoffs are coming and we’ve got to clean it up.”
With time ticking off the clock, the Vikings dug in and stole back the momentum on a 50-yard touchdown from Bradon Dechaine – restoring an 11-point edge for Crescent Heights.
Refusing to go quietly, the Colts took the ball back downfield and Brooks-Kirsch drove in his second of the day on a 17-yard rush. The Colts went for two, but were unable to complete the conversion, leaving them five points back with 45 seconds left on the clock.
In a last-ditch effort, McCoy attempted to get the ball with an onside kick but Crescent Heights’ Niall Weich recovered and the Vikings ran out the clock for the win.
“It’s a heartbreaking loss,” said Colts head coach Darrell Grass. “We didn’t come out and play very well for the first few quarters. We played one quarter, we made it close – a couple mental mistakes but it’s a learning experience. It’s something we can fix. It’s good in one way, but it sucks to lose. We know exactly what we have to do and we’ll work on that for the next couple of weeks.”
The Hat High Mohawks closed out alumni night at the Methanex Bowl with a 32-9 victory over the Brooks Buffalos to finish their regular season with a perfect 3-0 record.
Piercen Meier ran for 76 yards on eight carries while punching in three touchdowns. Meier also racked up 79 receiving yards on three catches.
Quarterback Brody Fink collected 154 passing yards while going 7-for-10 and running in one on his own.
The Mohawks will host the Buffalos (0-3) in the first round of the playoffs on Oct. 18.
