With a 4-2 record and a return to the Saskatoon Secondary Schools Athletic Directorate 3A playoffs, 2016 will be looked on as a successful year for the North Battleford Comprehensive High School Vikings senior football team.
That will take some time to sink in though for everyone involved with the team, as their campaign ended in disappointing fashion Friday after a 32-20 loss to the Marion Graham Falcons in a semifinal game at the Saskatoon Minor Football Field.
“We played hard from start to finish and it was a good game between both teams,” Vikings quarterback Damon Dutton said.
“It’s a tough way for our season to end, but I’m really proud of the boys. I think we’ll come back stronger from this experience and have a really good season next year.”
Friday’s game marked the second time the Vikings had faced the Falcons in Saskatoon this year, with Marion Graham coming out on top in a 30-7 affair Sept. 30.
The semifinal was back-and-forth until the fourth quarter when the Falcons were able to run the clock out and prevented the Vikings from staging a late comeback.
“On our side of the ball we had a much different approach to our offence, especially with JT Lamb being available for us in the backfield,” Vikings head coach Mike Humenny said.
“We had our chances and we had a couple of situations where we got close to getting points, but it’s a tough pill to swallow when you end up leaving points on the field in a game like this.”
Falcons running back Hayden Gollnick played a huge role for his team, as he rushed for 221 yards and three touchdowns.
Quarterback Adam Dyck threw for 145 yards and connected with Alex Dewar on a 17-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter.
Dutton was strong through the air in the loss as he finished the game with 204 yards passing, which included a 20-yard touchdown strike to Lamb.
Both Dutton and Lamb also reached the end zone on one-yard runs.
As he looked back on the game and the season as a whole, Humenny says he believes the entire experience will be huge for the Vikings as they look towards the 2017 campaign.
“For many of the guys on the team and us as a coaching staff, this was the first time that we were in a game like this, especially since we didn’t qualify for the provincial side of the playoffs last year,” Humenny said. “I don’t want to say that we panicked, but I think the immediacy of the moment got us into a bit of a bind on certain occasions.
“We can go back and second guess ourselves, but at the end of the day the only way you can learn to win big games is to play in them. It would have been nice to be in the city final and it’s tough to see those Grade 12 players in the locker room after their high school careers came to an end, but we took big steps this year that we can build on.”
The leadership lessons that the graduating players taught the younger Vikings weren’t lost on Dutton, who will be entering his third season with the team next fall.
“Having those Grade 12 players around was huge for us,” Dutton said. “They were tremendous both on and off the field and we all learned a lot from them, whether it was with plays in a game or around the school.
“We have a lot of returning starters coming back next year and we just want to keep the ball rolling. We’ve got a lot of room to grow and I can’t wait to get started.”
The Falcons will be going up against the defending champion Bishop James Mahoney Saints in the Saskatoon 3A final Saturday.
The Saints held off a late charge by the Tommy Douglas Tigers for a 10-7 victory in the other semifinal.
The winner of that game will host the Regina league champion Nov. 5 in a provincial semifinal contest.
The Moose Jaw league champion will entertain the semifinal victor in the provincial championship game a week later.
