WHITEHALL — The record will show a loss for Whitehall after Friday's 60-43 shootout against Zeeland West, but the Vikings will be able to take a lot of positives from a game against one of the power programs of the area - most importantly their resilience.
Whitehall looked as though it may get run out of the stadium after Zeeland West stormed to a 38-0 lead, knifing through the Viking defense and stonewalling their offense. Instead, the Vikings, leaning on several different players, battled their way back and, if nothing else, made a game of it Friday.
"I'm very proud of the way that our kids fought," Whitehall coach Tony Sigmon said. "We had to keep
pushing because we want our kids to be bought in, and so we tried to do
that until the 11th hour. I'm proud of our kids. When you play an elite
football team and you make a lot of mistakes - which we
definitely shot ourselves in the foot early and even sometimes late in the game here - that's what
usually happens, we lose the game.
"I'll tell you this, our kids poured their hearts out, and they did a wonderful job. I'm very proud
of them for that."
It was a nightmare start for Whitehall (1-2), which surrendered two third-and-long conversions on Zeeland West's first possession, then jumped offsides on a fourth-and-5 on the Dux' second - both drives ended in touchdowns. Then came an interception, another touchdown run, a three-and-out, a blocked punt for a touchdown, another interception and a 98-yard scoring drive that included a third-and-long defensive holding penalty to give the Dux a first down.
A lesser team might have let frustration get the best of it, but the Vikings focused on performing to their standard the rest of the game. While they never seriously threatened to steal the game from the Dux - the 17-point margin was as close as they got - they at least forced their opponent to go all 48 minutes to make sure it didn't happen.
Whitehall seemed to find something in the second half by rotating Camden Thompson and Ryan Goodrich at quarterback. Thompson was a star at wide receiver the last two years prior to becoming the signal-caller, and Goodrich is a very capable running back who also showed off a rather impressive throwing arm at times Friday. The Vikes want them both on the field, in whatever capacity that means. It's hard to argue the results - Thompson had 282 yards of offense, 71 of which came on a remarkable play on which Thompson danced out of a sack and found Blake English for a catch-and-run score. Goodrich was less statistically productive but provided a change of pace and enabled Thompson to use his athleticism at wideout.
"It's one of those things where we do have a luxury," Sigmon said. "We know that (Cam)
is a very good wide receiver. We know that Ryan Goodrich is a very
capable football
player, and so we want to make sure that we utilize our entire roster to
its fullest. That's really all we're trying to do. We feel like both
kids give us a great shot of
winning in a lot of different positions."
English had 118 yards receiving and 21 rushing, scoring twice. His name was not one dotting most preseason previews, but he showed Friday how important he can be to the Viking attack.
"He's
been working on this for a long time," Sigmon said of English. "It doesn't start
this week. It doesn't start during the summer. He's invested a
ton of time into this. We're happy for him, and really it just
goes to show what happens when you don't give up on plays. Good things happen, and that's exactly what Blake is doing."
The game became a track meet in the final 13:25, a span in which seven touchdowns were scored. Three of them came on consecutive plays from scrimmage during the fourth quarter. Parker Mott did have a big day on defense, with six solo tackles, one of them a sack, but the highlights Friday came on offense for both sides. Zeeland West's impressive T-formation attack kept the Vikings off balance, and once Whitehall played more freely in the second half, it had a ton of success as well.
While the Vikes could look back at early miscues and lament that they took away a shot at what would've been a signature victory, Sigmon credited the visitors for impressive play. The Dux' offensive work was even more notable considering quarterback Trey Sloothaak left the game in the first half after sustaining a head injury while making a tackle on defense and did not return. The visitors' offense continued to hum with backup Drew Albrecht.
"That's an elite football team," Sigmon said. "There were things that we hadn't
struggled with in the past and we did struggle with them tonight. I
don't want to take anything
away from Zeeland West. They came in here and performed at a
high level. They performed to standard. We did some things where I wish
we would have played a little
bit cleaner at times, but good teams make you do that sometimes."
The Vikes' imposing schedule doesn't ease up much next week, either, as rival Montague comes to town fresh off two impressive victories of its own. Sigmon welcomes the challenge.
"Last year, our schedule maybe didn't age as well as we would have liked
it to," Sigmon said. "I've got a feeling this one's going to age really well, and I
think that's
going to help us. We're going to be battle-tested. We're going to have a
lot of grit going into any game that we
play, and our kids are going to play with a lot of confidence...We've got to really hunker down and make sure that all eyes and all efforts are on Montague."
