By By ERIKA PICKLES / Niles Daily Star
NILES - No team enjoys ending the season on a losing note. Unfortunately, that was the case Friday evening for the Niles varsity football team as the Vikings fell to Lakeshore 43-7 in the final Big 16 West Division regular season game.
The Lancers had most of the answers to stop the Vikings, which included taking away Niles' running game, one of the biggest threats the Vikes have.
Lakeshore was able to hold senior Lyle Watson, who usually rushes for over 100 yards a game, to only 41 yards on 12 carries. The next highest was Ben Brandstatter with 24 rushing yards on eight carries.
Lakeshore's Josh Jackson led the way for the Lancers with 101 rushing yards on 21 carries. Jackson also had three touchdowns for Lakeshore.
The Lancers opened up the scoring with a 24-yard field goal by Mike Hendrix to give Lakeshore a 3-0 lead with a little over eight minutes left in the first quarter.
Niles was able to take control of the lead when Watson ran the ball in for an 11-yard touchdown with 3:33 on the clock. Blaise Nsengiyumua's kick was good, bringing the score to 7-3. But little did Niles know that that was the last time it would see a touchdown for the rest of the game.
Jackson scored the last touchdown of the first period on a 13-yard run with 48 seconds left to give Lakeshore the lead back, 10-7.
Five minutes into the second, it was quarterback Shaine Tierney, who had 292 passing yards on the night, hitting paydirt for the Lancers on a five-yard run. Hendrix's extra point was good, bringing the score to 17-7.
Niles had a chance to stay with Lakeshore when quarterback Jake Messner threw a 27-yard pass to Nick Etzcorn, but as he reached the endzone, the ball fell out of Etzcorn's hands.
After the Vikings attempt to score was unsuccessful, Lakeshore turned around and scored yet another touchdown with 2:58 left in the half. Nick Bizer scored a 36-yard touchdown when he found a gap in Niles' defense and sprinted to the endzone, bringing the score to 23-7.
The Lancers made an attempt to widen the score on a 26-yard field goal from Hendrix, but the kick was wide right.
The second half didn't get any better for Niles as Lakeshore added three more touchdowns to the already bruised score.
Jackson scored two of the three, running one in from the 16-yard line.
As the Lancers prepared to kick off, Lakeshore attempted an on-side kick and was successful in regaining control of the ball.
Janicki was furious, rushing to the center of the field, where he exchanged words with Lancer head coach Denny Dock. But the talking didn't solve anything, except another touchdown for Lakeshore on a two-yard run from Jackson.
Janicki denied to comment on the play and the words that were exchanged.
The final touchdown of the night came from senior Ryan Weber on a 13-yard run with 11:16 on the clock. Hendrix, who had two previous blocked PAT's from Niles defenders, made the last point of the night count, as the Lancers took a 43-7 advantage, eventually leading to the victory.
For the juniors and sophomores on Niles' team, it is a big lesson to be learned and something that can be worked on before the start of the 2006 season. But for seniors Watson, Etzcorn, Nate Parks, Tom Robson, Marcus Aldridge, Rick Storm, Mason Stephenson, Michael Cole, Jake Groves, Brandon Mellott, Dan Lawson, Justin Henry, Pete Brandstatter and Nate Orr, it was the final night to step on the Viking football field.