By By ERIKA PICKLES / Niles Daily Star
BATTLE CREEK - Niles' varsity football team suffered its first loss of the season Friday night to host Battle Creek Harper Creek, 26-20, when another come back victory attempt fell short in the final minutes of the game.
After trailing the Beavers, 26-7 for two and a half quarters, the Vikings showed no sign of giving in when Mason Stephenson scored the first touchdown of the second half 9:20 into the fourth quarter. Blaise Nsengiyumua kicked the extra point for Niles to bring the score to 26-14.
The Vikings' attempted an on side kick, which was successfully recovered with nine minutes left in the game on Harper Creek's 46-yard line.
Nick Etzcorn caught Jake Messner's pass for a 26-yard gain, giving the Vikes another first down on the 20-yard line.
Short yardage gains shared by Lyle Watson and Stephenson gave Niles another first down at the 10-yard line.
Faced with a fourth and eight, Messner's pass attempt went incomplete, but Harper Creek was flagged for pass interference, giving Niles a desperately needed first down on the five-yard line.
Watson scored another touchdown for the Vikings with five minutes left in the game to close the gap within one touchdown.
The PAT by Nsengiyumua was inches to the left of the goal post, bringing the score to 26-20.
On the Beavers' next possession, faced with a third down, Justin Boughton fumbled the ball and Niles recovered to give it one last shot at a come back tie or victory with three minutes left to play.
After three unsuccessful attempts to gain a first down or touchdown, Niles was again in a fourth down situation. Messner dropped back to pass to Etzcorn, who was interfered with by a Beaver defender, giving the Vikings a first down with one minute remaining.
Harper Creek was able to obtain a strong defensive hold on the Niles rushing game.
Faced with a fourth down, the Vikings decided to pass and landed the ball in the hands of the Beavers' Lu Esquivel with 28 seconds, ending any hope of a comeback.
Battle Creek was the first to hit pay dirt in the game 7:44 into the first quarter, when Brayden Lauderman drove his way into the end zone from the two-yard line. The attempted extra point failed, giving the Beaver's a 6-0 lead.
The lead only lasted one quarter, when Messner ran in a two-yard touchdown of his own for Niles. The PAT was good, giving Niles a 7-6 lead with 5:05 left in the first half.
The lead was short lived as Harper Creek scored another touchdown at the 1:16 mark when the ball bounced off of a Niles player and into the hands of Esquivel, who was standing in the end zone.
A two-point conversion was attempted, but was no good and Harper Creek entered halftime with the 12-7 lead.
The ball was in Niles' possession entering the third quarter, but an interception by Kyle Johnson on the 39-yard line gave the Beavers' control.
Rocky Weaver added another touchdown to Harper Creek's score at the 9:21 mark and a successful to-point conversion gave the Beavers a 20-7 lead.
Harper Creek scored its last touchdown of the night 3:19 in the third, when Weaver again came through for the Beavers to give them the 26-7 lead entering the final quarter.
The Vikings, now 1-1, will host Sturgis on Sept. 9. Game time is set for 7:30 p.m.