The North Battleford Comprehensive Junior Vikings made their first appearance in the Kinsmen Football League bantam championship game count.
The Vikings downed the Schoenhals Titans 20-17 in the final to win the city championship. NBCHS's win avenged a 30-12 loss to the Titans during the regular season.
In the final, the Vikings won the coin toss and elected to defer choice to the second half. The Titans chose to receive the opening kickoff. On their first play from scrimmage, the Titans fumbled, but were able to recover the ball. On the next play, Kolby Heidt forced another fumble that was scooped up by Kaylem McCaw. After a short return, he was tackled inside the Titans 30-yard line. The Vikings were unable to capitalize on this turnover after a third down gamble.
The Titans scored on the next play - a 90-yard run by Adam Labrash, but a holding penalty wiped out the touchdown. The first quarter ended with the teams tied at zero.
Labrash opened the scoring for the Titans with a field goal in the second quarter.
The Vikings began clicking on offence midway through the second quarter. Presley Peterson scored a touchdown on a long pass from Damon Dutton. The two-point convert was good, making the score 8-3 for the Vikings.
The Titans threatened at the end of the first half, but the Vikings held strong on defence to keep it an 8-3 game at the break.
At the beginning of the second half, the Titans scored a touchdown after a long drive.
After a couple of strong inside runs by Logan Spence, Dutton threw his second touchdown pass of the day on the Vikings' following drive. This time it was Zach Wolfe on the receiving end of the play. Riley Rathwell was a half yard short on the ensuing two-point convert play on a quick slant pass from Dutton, but the Vikings still led 14-10.
The Titans responded again on offence scoring a touchdown early in the fourth quarter.
With eight minutes to go in the final quarter, the Vikings took over on offence. After consecutive runs by Rett Taggart and Damon Dutton, JT Lamb rumbled 25 yards on a quick pass from Dutton. This helped set up the final score for the Vikings - a six-yard pass from Dutton to Wolfe for his second major of the afternoon. The convert was missed, giving the Vikings a 20-17 lead.
The Titans took over on offence with just over three minutes to go in the game. They drove the ball inside the Vikings' 40-yard line, but they were unable to come down with the ball on a Hail-Mary pass on the game's final play to seal the Vikings' win.
In the regular season, the Vikings finished in second place with a 6-2 record. In the semifinal, the Vikings narrowly beat the Saskatoon Falcons by a score of 21-20.
It was a complete turnaround for the Vikings from last year. Last season the Junior Vikings were 0-8 in the regular season.
