Coach Dennis Dahl got the opportunity to play all his eligible team members last Saturday, as the Orcas Vikings’ trounced the Evergreen Lutheran Eagles 55-0.
From the very first play, when the Eagles receiver was smothered by the Orcas defense, the Vikings excelled in reception, defense, passing, running and scoring.
The first Orcas down saw the defense protect Cedric Wooding for a 47-yard run. Taylor Diepenbrock and Michael Langworthy advanced the ball to within the 10-yard line, but penalties and further play ran the game back to the 30-yard line, before Tyler Nigretto, Langworthy and Diepenbrock advanced the ball. Wooding made the touchdown, with Diepenbrock kicking the extra point.
On the kickoff return, the Eagles fumbled the ball and were able to progress only about four yards. The defense held them to three and out, which was the theme for the day. Wooding made a second touchdown, with Diepenbrock kicking the field goal.
In the next Evergreen drive, the Eagles were tackled at the line of scrimmage, and lost 12 yards in the next two downs, before Orcas regained possession of the ball at the 35-yard line. Allen Coe made the touchdown on a screen pass early in the second quarter. There extra point was missed.
The Lutherans’ next drive made it to the second down before Viking Henri Bredouw recovered a fumble on the 20-yard line. The following pass to the end zone was not completed, but the referee was heard to remark, “That’s a respectable play!”
With the ball in their possession again, the Eagles saw their quarterback sacked by Kyle Hoffman, before achieving a first down on their fourth down. That drive was the closest they came to scoring, though Jacob Hansen stopped a breakaway run, the Vikings blocked the Eagles’ pass to the end zone on the third down, and a Hail Mary pass to a receiving Eagle in the end zone on the fourth down was incomplete.
In the second half, with a beginning score of 27-0, Evergreen saw quarterback sacks, fumbles and tackles by Vikings Spencer Sayre, Jared Grantham, Justin Taylor, Nick VanMaren, Hoffman, Coe and Nigretto, while Orcas continued to complete passes, recover fumbles and evade tackles. Tyler Nigretto scored the next Viking touchdown, an Dienbrock again scored the extra point.
The next Viking drive saw the kick return by Nigretto for a first down, followed by Jacob Hansen recovering a fumble on the snap and carrying the ball, with Coe catching a 22-yard pass on the next play, and Wooding running 23 yards before being brought down at the one-yard line. Langworthy carried the ball over the line for that touchdown, and Diepenbrock kicked the field goal, for a 41-0 score.
On the next Viking drive, Robby Padbury caught a pass and advanced several yards, avoiding attempts to tackle him before being stopped. Jacob Hansen completed the touchdown drive, with Diepenbrock kicking the extra point and 7:43 left in the game.
The next Eagles’ kickoff return was tackled by Tom Granger. The ensuing drive was unsuccessful.
Padbury took over as Vikings’ quarterback for the remainder of the game, with Hansen making a first down run. The final Viking touchdown was made by Nigretto with the final score 55-0.
Coach Dahl said, “I’m real pleased for the boys to get a home win. It’s a good way to start out an early season. We hope we can improve on it.”
The next Vikings games is Sept. 19 at Port Townsend at 5:30 p.m.
