Vikings crush Tigers on opening night

But 19 seconds into the second half, the Vikings went back to work when Zach Wolfe ran a 75-yard kickoff return for a touchdown.

The final score in the season opener was 42-7.

“I was very happy with our efforts,” Vikings head coach Mike Hummeny said. “The guys that we expected to make plays, they did. I’m extremely happy offensively. But more importantly, our defence – I think we made some strides… and as the game progressed I think we dominated the line of scrimmage. We’re very happy at this point.”

Prior to the start of the season, there was a lot of optimism from the coaching staff. That’s because a large contingent of players were returning, including quarterback Damon Dutton and running back Wolfe.

On Thursday, Dutton looked great, throwing three touchdown passes and Wolfe looked unstoppable, scoring four scores, including a 75-yard return.

“Those two guys have been playing tackle football together now since grade five and they clicked tonight,” Humenny said. “Zach [Wolfe] is one of our go-to guys and Damon [Dutton] we knew was going to be as advertised.

“[Dutton] emerged as the clear leader for us on offence tonight.”

On the other side of the ball was a very young Tigers squad, returning a meagre nine-player roster. Because of that, expectations in the season opener were understandably lower.

“We’re a very young team,” Tigers head coach Leo Grosjean said. “Scoring a touchdown and being able to stop them a few times was a plus for us tonight. We’re hoping to really grow through the season and be a playoff contention team by the end.”

As for the Vikings, they will travel to Prince Albert next week on Thursday to take on the Carlton Crusaders.

Nathan Kanter is battlefordsNOW’s sports reporter and voice of the Battlefords North Stars. He can be reached at Nathan.kanter@jpbg.ca or tweet him @NathanKanter11

by Nathan Kanter

Vikings crush Tigers on opening night

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