THUNDER BAY – In a one-and-done play-in game, the Westgate Tigers were determined to get the job done and advance the high school junior football semifinals.
Mission accomplished.
Hudson Van Dyk opened the scoring on Tuesday evening at Fort William Stadium with a 35-yard touchdown run and upped the Tigers lead to 21-0 on the first play of the second quarter with a one-yard burst up the middle – after his 47-yard reception landed the ball on the Superior Collegiate one-yard line to close out the opening quarter.
The Tigers (1-2-1) went on to defeat the Gryphons 32-6, earning a semifinal date with the top-ranked St. Ignatius Falcons on Sunday afternoon.
“It was really great. Everyone was pumped for the game,” Van Dyk said. “We got it done. There were some mistakes throughout the game, but we got it done.”
Van Dyk, who finished with 71 yards on 11 carries and 52 more yards on a pair of receptions, was happy to help out anyway he could.
“It felt great,” he said. “Obviously I can't take all the credit for it. My line did a great job. But we’ll take it and move on to the next game.”
The Tigers scored on two of their first three possessions, the second major coming midway through the first when quarterback Graham Deans connected with Carter Buchanan for a 20-yard touchdown pass. The Gryphons only put up 34 points in four games this season, but weren’t about to be shut out in their most meaningful match since returning to the junior program this fall after a six-year absence.
It started with the Superior Collegiate defence.
Deans dropped back to throw, but instead of finding his own receiver, Superior’s Daven Jamsa leapt for the ball and snagged it out of mid-air, the interception giving the Gryphons the ball on the Westgate 30.
Quarterback Kehl Thompson connected with Landon Blackshaw on a 25-yard catch-and-run to the Tigers nine, and two players later Thompson ran a sweep to the left and cruised into the Westgate endzone and Superior Collegiate trailed 21-6 with 3:39 to go in the opening half.
Van Dyk, sensing the Gryphons were a little too close for comfort, took over on the next Westgate drive, which started at midfield, taking four straight carries to the 44.
Deans did the rest.
A 21-yard run brought the ball to the Superior Collegiate nine and then, after Van Dyk was stopped on the one, Deans ran it up the middle for a 28-6 lead.
Michael Morrow booted a 19-yard field goal eight-and-a-half minutes into the third, as the Tigers worked more and more of their reserves into the lineup, the game’s outcome all but decided.
Van Dyk rounded out the scoring with a rouge late in the fourth.
Westgate coach Tyler Height said he told his team to focus on Tuesday’s game first, then worry about the weekend.
“We knew that we couldn’t underestimate our opponent for today. We had to set the tone for what we wanted to do going forward and we came out and did it,” Height said. “I’m looking forward to Sunday’s game.
