Early deficit doesn’t phase state-bound Niles football team

Published 6:59 am Sunday, November 24, 2024

By Scott Hassinger

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THREE RIVERS — As the song ‘Celebration’ by Kool and The Gang blared over the sound system at Armstrong Field in Three Rivers late Saturday afternoon, the Niles Vikings’ football team and community celebrated a 62-30 Division 4 semifinal win over Grand Rapids South Christian.

No. 9-ranked Niles (12-1) advances to Friday’s state championship at Ford Field in Detroit to face No. 3 Goodrich (12-1) at 12:30 p.m. 

It will be Niles first-ever appearance in the state finals. Goodrich beat defending champion Harper Woods 28-14 in Saturday’s other semifinal.

Scot Shaw’s Vikings relied on its high-powered Flex-Bone offense and opportunistic defense to down the Sailors, last year’s state runners-up.

South Christian (8-5) recovered a Niles fumble and took a quick 7-0 lead on Jesse VanDeGreind’s 28-yard TD dash. Wyatt Sall booted the PAT for the Sailors. 

“I was worried about stopping them (South Christian) but as it turned out they couldn’t stop us. I just told our kids to take a deep breath. We’ve been down before and we just played a great game and battled back,” said Shaw, who spent 19 seasons at Three Rivers as head coach and lost to South Christian in the state playoffs his first year there in 1986. 

Niles responded well and got two scores of its own to lead the Sailors 16-7 after one quarter. 

Peyton Gordon ran 17 yards for Niles’ first score and Sam Rucker added the two-point conversion for a 8-7 Vikings’ lead. 

Junior Ward Cheney, starting inside linebacker, intercepted a Vis pass deflected by Sam Rucker at the Vikings’ 20-yard line on South Christian’s next drive. 

Niles capitalized five plays later with Alex Anderson galloping 10 yards to paydirt and Vikings’ quarterback Talen Bennett completed the conversion pass to Max Rucker. 

Vis’ nine-yard TD pass to Owen Burgess with 6:32 left in the second quarter pulled South Christian within two points (16-14). Austin Burgess booted the Sailors’ PAT. 

Niles responded with three late second-quarter TDs to boost its lead to 38-14 at halftime. 

After suffering what appeared to be a knee injury, Sam Rucker was carried to the Niles’ sideline. But the star senior tailback returned moments later and returned a Sailors’ kickoff 91 yards for a Vikings’ TD. Gordon ran in the conversion.

Niles’ next score was set up by an interception by Dane Asmus.

“That interception was crazy. I dropped back into the flats and saw the ball and picked it off. It was energetic and definitely a game changer,” Asmus said.

Bennett would connect with his 6-foot-7 junior tight end Brenden Olsen for a nine-yard TD catch on fourth down. 

Gordon added the final Vikings’ TD of the half on a five-yard dash. 

“Sam’s kickoff return was pretty big in a semifinal game and the momentum shifted greatly with those three second-quarter touchdowns,” Shaw said.

Hess scored from one yard out then added the conversion run to increase Niles’ lead to 46-14 with 6:50 left in the third quarter. 

“Stopping them (Sailors) on their first possession of the third quarter was exactly what we talked about at halftime and then taking one down and scoring ourselves was key,” Shaw said. “We told our kids to come out and play their best half and not let something that happened in the first half get away from us.” 

Vis’ 46-yard TD toss to Burgess and a conversion toss to  Bryce Kenyon made it 46-22 at the end of the stanza.

Sam Rucker crashed over the Sailors’ goal line at the 11:48 mark of the fourth period. Hess added the conversion run for a 54-22 Vikings’ lead. 

Vis’ 15-yard scoring pass to Burgess with 11:17 to go and another conversion toss to Kenyon capped the Sailors’ scoring. 

Gordon’s 23-yard TD sprint and Sam Rucker’s conversion run with 5:58 left ended the Vikings’ scoring. 

Niles rushed 58 times for 425 yards led by Hess with 28 attempts for 217 yards and one TD. Hess also had the three two-point conversions. 

“Going to the state finals is amazing. It’s never happened here at Niles so just to see everyone happy is incredible. It’s not just for us but for the entire community as a whole,” Hess said. “After giving up that early score we did a nice job of adjusting.” 

Sam Rucker piled up 138 yards in 16 tries. 

“This feels great, but we can’t stay comfortable because we still have next week (finals) to go. I got a charley horse in the first half and the only thing I was worried about was how soon I’d be able to get back into the game. I wanted back in there right away. When I got back in I saw an open hole and had one guy to beat. He knicked my leg, but I was able to keep going. It was a great adrenalin rush. We know our offense can put up plenty of points so its just about our defense making enough stops to win the game,” Sam Rucker said. 

Although his stats don’t always show it, Bennett’s presence on the field has been very important to Niles success on offense.

“We just had to put that early fumble out of our minds. We did that and moved on and scored on most of our drives after that. We know that as long as our line is moving people that we are going to be fine. Talon Brawley had alot to do with my development at quarterback as his backup last year. It’s crazy to think that now we’re going to Ford Field next week,” Bennett said.  

Gordon finished with five touches worth 45 yards and three TDs for Niles. 

“It all starts with the guys we have up front. Sometimes our ballcarriers weren’t getting touched until they were already five or six yards upfield,” Shaw said.

The Vikings’ offensive line consisted of Malachi Burris, Asmus, Jordon Cunningham, Chase Brawley and Evan Williams. 

“Our offensive line has alot of good chemistry and we just need to work hard every day and be effective for us to keep winning. South Christian was strong up front, but we did our job and came out on top. We just kept our heads up and kept driving to win this game,” Brawley said.   

On the defensive side of the ball, Niles was led in tackles by Olsen and Anderson with five each. Gordon, Elijah Norris and Sam Rucker all had four apiece.

“Defensively our kids were stellar today. The Vis kid has a nice touch and can put the ball in all kinds of places and has torched opposing defenses his whole career. I’m disappointed to see that he’s not going to play football in college because I think he’d be a great player at the next level,” Shaw said.

Niles’ contain unit consists of linemen RJ Fielder, Bryce Young and Max Rucker; Hess and Cheney at inside linebacker and the secondary of Anderson, Olsen, Gordon and Jaden Ivory.

“Turnovers were big today and we scored off of them and that w as even better. We never had to punt and that was also big with Sam getting hurt because he wasn’t going to be able to punt. Our kicker was also out with a concussion. But things just fell into place for us. We rode Sam. Paul (Hess), Peyton, Talen today, just like we have all year. Our offensive line controlled the line of scrimmage,” Shaw added.

South Christian was led on the ground by VanDeGreind with 10 carries for 61 yards and Vis, who has signed to play basketball at Western Michigan University, tacked on 11 attempts worth 25 yards. The Sailors gained a total of 85 yards on the ground in 24 attempts.

Vis completed 15-of-32 passes for 217 yards in the air. Burgess caught nine passes for 121 yards and three TDs.

“With how well he (Vis) throws the ball nothing is ever safe until you get the ball back,” Shaw said.

It was Niles 12th consecutive win after dropping its season opener to St. Joseph. 

“Who would’ve thought we’d be where we are at right now after losing that first one. Other people didn’t give us much of a chance then. We knew we were good, but we just had to go out and prove ourselves,” Shaw said. 

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