Vikings beat Plainsmen to reach playoffs

The Vincent Massey Vikings had plenty to celebrate after their bitter rivalry with the Crocus Plainsmen ended with a victory lap.

The Vikings (4-3) hit two birds with one stone after defeating the Plainsmen 38-9 at Crocus on Thursday, as they not only qualified for a spot in the Winnipeg High School Football League postseason (A side), but also claimed the title of being the top football club in Brandon for yet another year.

“It’s just an amazing feeling,” said Vikings quarterback Charlie Gauthier. “We had high expectations obviously going into this game because Crocus Week is always a big thing, so we were all just really excited. We prepared for this game the last two weeks of the season, so to get the win is phenomenal.”

Massey showed signs of dominance from the very outset of the match after it forced Crocus (1-6) to take a safety on its opening drive of the game before scoring a touchdown itself shortly after to make it an 8-0 lead. Not long after, the Plainsmen gave up another safety after the Vikings defence wouldn’t even give quarterback Joe Makori an inch.

Crocus responded after notching a rouge following a Vikings kneel in the end zone off a Kendrick Breemercsh missed field goal attempt and then cut into the lead on the following drive after Kayden MacEachern ran in 15 yards for a touchdown and a two-point conversion to make it 10-9 Massey. Although Breemercsh and Muqtadir Apena’s spectacular play on the ground helped Crocus reach the end zone, the success of their drive was also highlighted by the undisciplined penalties of the Vikings, who surrendered 45 yards with two unnecessary roughness penalties and one offside call.

Gauthier said only being up by one heading into the second half was all the motivation he and his team needed.

“First half, we definitely kind of came out a little slow, a little unsure, but in the second half, we were clearly the better team,” he said.

The Vikings came out guns a-blazing to start the half as Gauthier launched a 35-yard dart to wide receiver Thomas Seitz, who was all alone in the house, to get the Vikings back on the scoreboard. Gauthier followed that up with another beauty pass to Logan Van Santen, who locked in a 20-yard reception for another Vikings touchdown to make it 24-9.

Crocus was doing the best it could to stay in the game, but it’s hard to find offence when the ground game is 99.9 percent of the playbook. The Plainsmen were hesitant to throw the ball and instead just gave it to Apena, who racked up more than 115 yards.

“The game was just to run ball, and he (Apena) was just an absolute dog out there,” said MacEachern, who was the lone scorer for Crocus. “I promised him I was going to block for him, so hopefully he got the yards he wanted. Obviously, it’s a bummer that we lost because we tried to leave everything on the field, but the running game was immaculate.”

Apena landed some deep runs in the fourth quarter, which appeared to give Crocus some life, but that was all taken away quickly after Makori finally decided to throw but had the pass picked off by Callum Brosseau, who then escaped some Plainsmen tackles for a 50-yard touchdown.

On the following drive, Gauthier found receiver Gabriel McAuley for an 18-yard reception at Crocus’ 10-yard line, who sensed pressure was coming and tossed it back to lurking Haiden Samuels, who completed the run for another Vikings score to make it 38-9 and put the cherry on top of a clear-cut win.

“It was unreal,” Gauthier said. “Our O-line blocked phenomenally, receivers had touchdowns left and right, and our offence was just firing on all cylinders. We know that if we play like that, we can hang with anybody in this league.”

That’s exactly what Gauthier and this club will be looking to do as they enter the playoffs in the underdog role with a quarterfinals matchup against one of the Winnipeg clubs that are far better on paper.

The first-year varsity QB said finding a way through will be a tall task, but that it’s not anything his squad isn’t capable of.

“We know we’re going to have a tough team in the first round of playoffs, but if our offence plays like we did (Thursday), I think we will definitely make it close for sure,” he said. “We just have to show them who we are. People don’t really give Brandon’s teams much respect, so we just need to prove them wrong.”

As for the Plainsmen, they will enter the Vidruk Bowl playoffs, but their opponent is still yet to be determined. Nonetheless, MacEachern believes it should give his team a proper reset following a tough regular season.

“It’s a fresh start for us, so I’m just hoping we can take advantage of that and get a win under our belt here,” he said. “Hopefully our guys will be ready by then.”

» mdelucataronno@brandonsun.com