Vikings knock off Heartland Christian in home finale
STANTON — The Stanton Vikings picked up the 67-22 win over Heartland Christian, in the final regular season game for Stanton.
Stanton jumped right out of the gates early on, as Greg Focht scored a touchdown on a 42-yard run on the first play of the Vikings’ drive. After the two-point conversion, Stanton led 8-0.
The Vikings scored on their second drive when Brent Hanson caught his first of two touchdown receptions in the game, a 38-yard completion from quarterback Jeff Marshall. Stanton led 16-0, following the two-point conversion with 9 1/2 minutes remaining in the first quarter.
With their lead at 16-0, Stanton opted to insert their junior varsity players on defense.
“We needed to work on some things offensively and if we were going to get guys in the game, we needed to get them in on defense and we did that early,” Stanton Head Football Coach Jake Nimrod said.
Heartland Christian marched down the field, as Jeffri West scored his first touchdown of the game. The Eagles missed the two-point conversion and trailed 16-6.
Stanton responded on the next drive when Brent Hanson caught his second touchdown pass of the game. Hanson had three catches for 81 yards in the game.
“When he’s focused and playing at a high level, [Hanson] a really good receiver,” Nimrod said.
Following the two-point conversion, Stanton led 24-6 with eight minutes left in the first quarter. Heartland Christian fumbled on the next drive, giving the Vikings the ball deep in Eagles territory.
Tyler Walter ran one in for a touchdown. However, instead of going for the two-point conversion, Stanton opted to kick the extra point. Austin Becthold lined up for the extra point, but missed it. Stanton led 30-6, but it would not be the last time the Vikings went for the extra point.
Nimrod said it was a game-time decision.
“The guys wanted to try and we thought tonight might be a good night to try,” he said.
The scoring for both sides wasn’t done as Heartland Christian scored on their next drive on a touchdown run by Zach Nichols.
After the two-point conversion, the Eagles trailed 30-14 early in the second quarter.
Stanton responded with a 44-yard touchdown reception by Becthold. Becthold would hit the PAT, giving the Vikings a 37-14 lead.
A Tyler Walter touchdown catch, as well as a two-point conversion gave the Vikings a 45-14 lead.
Heartland Christian scored their final touchdown on a 16-yard run by Seth Owens. The Eagles cut the lead at that point to 45-22.
Becthold would give the Vikings another seven points as he ran one in from 38 yards to give Stanton the 53-22 lead, after his PAT, at halftime.
Tyler Walter scored a touchdown on a 34-yard run, giving Stanton the 60-22 lead with 9:55 left in the third quarter, following the Becthold PAT. Becthold was 3-for-4 on extra point attempts.
The continuous clock would run following that touchdown. Stanton’s final touchdown came on a 63-yard run by Walter. The lead was 67-22 by the end of the quarter.
Walter finished the night with 84 yards rushing, on only two carries.
Heartland Christian had a couple of opportunities to score late, but weren’t able to accomplish the task.
Marshall passed for four touchdowns and 161 yards in the game. Nimrod said passing was one of the focuses for the game.
“We wanted to be able to prove to ourselves that we could throw the ball and have some success there,” he said.
Greg Focht had five carries for 54 yards.
The Vikings finish the regular season with a 7-2 record. They now hit the road Wednesday to take on Ar-We-Va in Westside in the first round of the state playoffs.
Nimrod said the short week can help as it can lead to urgency at practice.
“It’s not like transitioning from week one to week two,” he said. “As long as you’re injury free, a short week I think is something the guys are looking forward to.”
The game starts at 7 p.m.