THUNDER BAY – It took the Westgate Tigers offence a quarter to get going, but once it did, it was lights out for the Hammarskjold Vikings.
The top-seeded, undefeated Tigers on Friday rode the legs of running backs Lance Basalyga and Hudson VanDyk, each good for a pair of touchdowns on the ground, and cruised into the Superior Secondary Schools Athletic Association championship with a 42-0 win over an overmatched Hammarskjold Vikings squad.
What a feeling said the lanky Tiger, a year after Westgate bowed out in the semifinal round.
“Last year we had a tough end to our season, but this year we’re feeling good. It feels good to be back in the finals. One more, but the job’s not done,” he said.
Basalyga, who finished with 163 yards rushing on the night, said it was a slow start, with each team making a turnover on their first play with the ball, but once they figured things out there was no looking back.
“We just had to come out, dial ourselves in and start trying, I guess,” said the Tigers back, pressed into extra duty when VanDyk was sidelined of a large chunk of the game, nursing an injury.
“Our line gave good block, our receivers, everybody, it was all-around good blocking,” Basalyga said.
“I just ran through the holes.”
Kicker Cole McVety, who booted three field goals and a rouge, opened the scoring three minutes into the second quarter with a 17-yard three-point try.
The Tigers D forced a three-and-out and, thanks to a facemask penalty assessed to the Vikings special teams, they took over on the Hammarskjold 35.
VanDyk barrelled ahead for an 18-yard gain, then took it 17 yards up the middle, barely touched, for the major and a 10-0 Tigers lead.
A McVety field goal and a rouge on the kickoff made it 14-0, and the Tigers added to their lead before half, the Vikings taking a knee in the end zone for a safety and then McVety booted his third field goal of the half, this one from 28 yards out for a 19-0 Westgate advantage at the break.
The Vikings got the ball to start the third, and on their first play from scrimmage, quarterback Taylor Main connected with receiver Calvin Shott for a 50-yard gain that, with a 15-yard horse collar penalty called against the Tigers, deposited the ball on the Westgate 15. But on third-and-eight, Main lofted a ball toward Shott in the end zone, only to have the Tigers Matt Smelow bat it away, the Vikings turning the ball over on downs.
Late in the third, the Tigers up 26-0, Ubida Shasho burst free for a 55-yard run before being tacked on the Westgate three-yard-line. Main was stuffed on back-to-back keepers and Shasho lost two yards on the third-down play, handing the ball back to Westgate.
Basalyga ran one in from 11 yards out to up the Tigers lead to 33-0, then VanDyk re-entered the game and took it 18 yards for the score. Another safety with the Vikings pinned deep rounded out the scoring.
“Last year we had a tough (end) to our season, it ended in the semifinal. But the first final of my football career, I think we’re going to do good,” VanDyk said.
The Tigers, who lost last year's final 14-7 to the Vikings, will take on the St. Patrick Fighting Saints in next Saturday's final.
St. Patrick 10, St. Ignatius 7: A week after a disastrous 44-0 loss to the Falcons, the Fighting Saints got a game-winning 29-yard field goal off the foot of Tyler Wyleki and earned a berth in the senior football final. Quarterback Boston Bortolin gave the Saints a 7-0 lead at the end of the first quarter, an advantage that held until the fourth when his St. Ignatius counterpart, Lucas Dupuis, ran one in from five yards out with 72 seconds left in regulation. St. Patrick last won a senior title in 2022.
