Vikings’ dominant defence drives win

If you subscribe to sporting clichés, then you’re familiar with the old adage: Defence wins championships.

The Vincent Massey Vikings proved on Friday afternoon that defence can flat-out win games by stifling the Elmwood Giants in a 35-6 victory.

“It was a good team effort. I feel like that was our best team game this year,” said Grade 12 defensive end Markus Stevenson. “It was an important game for us to hopefully host a playoff game here, and that’s what we were working for.”

The Vikings (3-2) entered the game as favourites against a Giants squad that is without a victory this season.

Vincent Massey linebacker Cash Laluk immediately stole momentum from the Giants by recovering the opening kickoff to give quarterback Charlie Gauthier and the offence a short field to work with.

Just a few plays later, a grinning Gauthier forced his way into the end zone on a one-yard run to take a 7-0 lead with 6:35 remaining in the opening quarter.

The early score set the tone and also the pattern for the rest of the game. The Vincent Massey defence bottled up Elmwood’s offence before securing a takeaway to give the offence short yardage to work with.

“Any time we can create opportunities for a quick turnaround or a short field for the offence that gives us momentum,” said Vikings defensive co-ordinator Adam McClelland. “It’s the same thing the other way in a game like this where our offence comes out and gets a touchdown right away; it gives our defence a big energy boost.”

Stevenson led the charge on defence, slipping past the O-line along with fellow D-linemen Deklan Tegg-Knight, Max Lepper and Oakley Peters. The trio spent the first half terrorizing Elmwood quarterback Seth Ducharme with their pressure.

“We’re fast. We’re not the biggest D-line, but we play with heart. We’re fast and we beat the big guys,” said Stevenson.

On Elmwood’s first drive, the Vikings defence recorded back-to-back tackles behind the line of scrimmage, forcing the Giants to punt the ball.

On their next possession, Stevenson charged into the backfield and recovered a fumble with 1:31 remaining in the opening quarter. This time, the Vikings offence failed to score.

The Giants seemingly had no answers to Vincent Massey’s pressure, which resulted in Ducharme throwing an interception to Aaron Rodin, and the Vikings offence starting their attack on the Giants’ 29-yard line.

“I was more to the outside zone, but I saw all three guys going deep, so I kind of just took my man and made the play,” said Rodin about the interception.

With 8:45 remaining in the half, Gauthier found Thomas Seitz running through the seam for a 14-yard passing TD, which gave the Vikings a 14-0 lead and Seitz touchdowns in back-to-back weeks.

On the kickoff, Timi Fadare pounded the ball into the end zone, forcing the Giants to take a knee and surrender another point in the process. He made his presence felt again at the end of the half by kicking a 20-yard field goal to take an 18-0 lead into the half.

In the second half, the Vikings kept the intensity high. Seitz caught his second touchdown of the afternoon on a play where he was left wide open in the end zone with 3:28 remaining in the third quarter.

“I was lining in trips, which we don’t do very often, but we ran a lot this week. That means there are three receivers on one side,” said Seitz. “They both ran a slant, and I ran to the back of the end zone, and nobody followed me.”

Seitz finished the day with four catches for 20 yards and two touchdowns. He credits the three touchdowns over the last two weeks to Gauthier’s passing and good play calls by offensive co-ordinator Brady Dane.

Gauthier finished his day with 187 passing yards, two passing touchdowns, 50 rushing yards and a rushing touchdown.

Vincent Massey’s 35-point lead meant the game was pretty much out of reach for Elmwood. The Vikings defence continued to look unbeatable, forcing multiple three-and-outs, though they did not record a turnover in the second half.

With 2:43 remaining in the third quarter, Elmwood running back Darius Genialle showed his blazing speed on an 80-yard dash down the sideline to secure the Giants’ lone touchdown of the afternoon. They failed to convert on the extra-point attempt, making the score 25-6.

“We kind of blew our contain responsibility on that and let that back get outside,” said McClelland. “He’s a great player that we watched on film. I thought we did a really great job containing him for most of the game.”

The Vikings offence snuffed out any hope gained from Genialle’s touchdown on their next drive. On second and long, Leighton Lefebvre made a highlight-reel catch on a wild throw by Gauthier to keep the drive alive and set up the eventual five-yard touchdown run by Ethan Smith that made the score 32-6 with 7:47 remaining in the game.

A few drives later, Fadare kicked another 20-yard field goal to ice the 35-6 victory for the Vikings, who killed the final four minutes of game time seemingly with ease.

“The guys all really gel very well together and they keep the intensity all game, and that’s all you can really ask for; pedal-to-the-metal mentality and guys giving it all on every single play,” said McClelland about the game.

Next week, the Vikings go back on the road for the first time since Sept. 26 to face the Miles Mac Buckeyes in their final contest of the season.

With a 4-2 record, Stevenson says the goal is simple: “Beat Miles Mac.”

» rmccarthy@brandonsun.com