Whitehall shook off a good early start from Tri-County in Friday
night's pre-district matchup, scoring three straight touchdowns to go up
20 points on the way to a 38-22 victory.
The Vikings (6-4)
got in the end zone each of the first four times they had the ball,
riding an impressive running game. Quarterback Cole Essebaggers was the
standout performer on offense, rushing for 125 yards and two touchdowns
and throwing for 85 yards and another score. Essebaggers also sealed the
win with a pick-six in the fourth quarter.
"I think Cole
played a really good game in a lot of places, whether it was running the
ball or orchestrating the offense," Whitehall coach Tony Sigmon said.
There were times we were really dynamic. Liam (Leeke) ran the ball hard,
and the blocking was good."
Leeke indeed ran well, powering
his way for a workmanlike 89 yards and a touchdown on 24 carries. Hunter
Osborne posted 87 yards of offense.
Hunter Peterson recorded
12 tackles to lead the Whitehall defense. Essebaggers had 10 takedowns
and Corde Anderson nine, including two for a loss.
Sigmon said
Tri-County displayed a balanced offensive attack, though after falling
behind the visiting Vikings were forced to the air with 30 pass
attempts. Sigmon is familiar with Tri-County coach Phil Butler, who
played at Hope College when Sigmon was at Alma College, and said Butler
should be proud of the program he's built.
Tri-County briefly
applied some game pressure to Whitehall in the fourth quarter, cutting
the Vikes' 28-8 lead to 31-22 and getting the ball back, but Essebaggers
picked off the first pass of the next drive and took it to the house to
secure the win.
It's likely the Vikings' grueling
non-conference schedule, not to mention the West Michigan Conference
Lakes, contributed to their success.
"The one thing we talk to
the kids about with the schedule is that they should be numb to decals
and names," Sigmon said. They've played tough competition all year long.
On the front end and the back end, there aren't any gimmes there on our
schedule...and for us to navigate all that and be a playoff team is a
credit to our coaches and our kids."
With the win, Whitehall
earned a road trip to Saginaw Swan Valley for the district championship
next week. The Vikings know they'll likely have to play better than they
did Friday to come away with the victory; that's just the nature of
playoff football.
"We went from week 9 and everyone's playing,
to this week half the teams are playing, and next week it's 126,"
Sigmon said. "The more we can play consistently good football, that will
matter, because the margin of error is really not there anymore."
