WHITEHALL — The Whitehall Vikings have leaned hard on their defense the past couple of weeks, and the defense showed again Friday night they were up to the challenge, securing a dominating shutout of rival Montague and retaining the Bell trophy with a 12-0 win.
The Vikes capped the game with an interception return for a touchdown by Elijah Smith as time ran out. Montague secured one final chance to rally for the victory by coming up with a fourth-down stop with under a minute to go, but Smith's score slammed the door.
It was also Smith's second touchdown of the game, having gotten in the end zone on offense by taking an option pitch from quarterback Brayden Brown and outracing Wildcat defenders to pay dirt on the team's first drive of the third quarter.
Maybe Whitehall's most important drive, though, was one that didn't end in a score at all. After forcing a Montague punt with eight minutes to play and holding a 6-0 lead, the Vikings turned the game over to their offensive line and senior running back Liam Leeke. Leeke responded by carrying the ball on nine straight plays and gaining three first downs before the Vikes eventually fell short on a fourth down - but not before running over six minutes off the clock.
Leeke ended the night with 173 yards on a gargantuan 37 carries.
"With the way our offensive line was playing and the way Liam was playing, we said, 'It's really hard to pass right now because they're bringing seven, so we just have to play mano a mano and let our senior all-region running back from last year carry the mail for us,'" Whitehall coach Tony Sigmon said.
"We talked about dominating on the offensive line," Whitehall left tackle Billy Darke said. "That was one of our big keys this week, was our offensive line dominating their D-linemen. We came into this game knowing we're the best offensive line around here and we've just got to keep working. Every day we worked. We knew what we were doing and made a little adjustment at half to work on a double team on the outside linebacker, and it worked."
Montague's Cole Moss (0) is driven out of bounds by Whitehall's Liam Leeke during Friday's game at Whitehall.
The Vikings (1-4, 1-2 West Michigan Conference Lakes) faced the mental obstacle of bouncing back from a heartbreaking defeat to Swan Valley the week before, but with a rival on deck, the team had no issue focusing.
"These guys really hate Montague," Darke said with a smile. "Nobody loves Montague. We don't want to lose. Nobody likes losing,, and we were 0-4 coming to this game. Everyone wants to say we were the underdog, but we knew we were going to win this game. We were confident we were going to come in here and handle business like we did."
Montague's best scoring chance came in the second quarter, when the Wildcats drove the ball into the red zone, buoyed by a big run by Cole Moss and a third-and-10 conversion pass from Max Dyer to Dane Roesler. However, the drive stalled at the 10-yard line, and a 27-yard field goal attempt was wide left. Montague didn't get inside the Vikings' 35-yard line the rest of the night.
Wildcats' coach Phil Koops praised his defense and, as the offensive play-caller, said he felt "terrible" about not being able to get points on the board. He noted Whitehall's strong defensive play and its approach of protecting the perimeter to avoid giving up big plays.
"We're at the point of the year where I can even say it to the media, because everybody knows now," Koops said. "It's, 'Hey, don't let Montague big-play you.' Keep the perimeter protected. Keep the deep end protected. We struggled getting the ball going forward between the tackles. They sit right in their structure and smile at you and say, 'We're inviting you to run it in here.' We just couldn't."
It didn't help Montague's case that its best deep threat at receiver, Levi Auger, went out with a sprained shoulder during the game. That allowed Whitehall to focus even more attention on Cole Moss, and the Vikings limited him to 39 yards of offense.
Whitehall's late drive to run six-plus minutes off the clock was actually its second clock-eating drive of the second half. The Vikings also ran off the final seven-plus minutes of the third quarter with a workmnanlike drive that included a fake punt conversion run on fourth-and-5. That drive, like the Leeke-led one later, ended in a fourth-down stop by Montague.
Montague's Dane Roesler gains the first down on a fake punt early in Friday's WMC Lakes game against Whitehall. Jevon Hilliard (6), Tanner Woodworth (22) and Brayen Sorensen are in on the tackle for Whitehall. The Vikings won, 12-0.
That level of keep-away helped stifle Montague (2-3, 2-2 WMC Lakes), but the Viking defense earned the lion's share of the credit itself.
"We have had a lot of adversity this year, a lot of growing pains," Sigmon said. "I thought we were going to have a breakthrough last week, and obviously we came up short. For our kids to weather the storm, and block out all the noise and just focus on playing football, what a credit to those guys. I'm really proud of this group right now for this win."
One player that stood out for Montague defensively was JJ Atchison, who got in on several plays for the 'Cats, especially early in the game. He was moved from linebacker to defensive line this year, a move that Koops said has made him a more consistent threat to offenses.
"JJ is a kid that as a junior played linebacker and struggled," Koops said. "We were hard on him and he was frustrated. Everybody wants success for the kid. He's a great kid. He works really hard...He's tremendous in the weight room. When he gets that motor revved up and starts playing, he plays really hard. His quickness off the ball combined with his physical strength, it's really hard for people to deal with. They did the best they could, I felt like, to figure out where JJ was, and run the ball somewhere else."
The Vikings turned their focus to next week's homecoming game against Hart. Sigmon and Darke alike said Whitehall isn't going to dwell on the rivalry win, sweet though it was, because in a WMC Lakes that's proven any team can beat another on a given Friday, each opponent deserves its full attention.
"We feel our role is to just take it one week at a time and go pick up a victory," Darke said. "If we can pick up a victory, I think we see ourselves in a really good position down the road. I think we can win some more football games."
