THUNDER BAY – Who needs a playbook when you’ve got Luke Rennie running the ball?
The 15-year-old was nothing short of spectacular on Thursday night, carrying the pigskin four times for 204 yards and four touchdowns to lead the junior Hammarskjold Vikings to a 36-0 win over the Superior Collegiate Gryphons at Fort William Stadium.
Rennie had runs of 50 yards, 25 yards, 45 yards and capped the day off with an 84-yard scamper, mostly untouched, a performance for the ages.
It was about time, he joked.
“That feels great. My last few games I haven’t been doing as good, so it’s nice to show off my talent,” Rennie said.
“It was really just the practices that have paid off. I’m starting to understand things thoroughly. Shoutout to the coaches. They’re doing a great job and it’s just helping me so much.”
Matt Steele, the longtime Vikings head coach, said it was incredible to watch.
“It’s definitely a spectacular outing by him and a credit to the offensive line in front of him. He’s a player who came over and played on the defensive side of the ball for us last year and came to the offense this year,” Steele said.
“What an incredible job he’s done running the ball for us and being a leader on and off the field.”
Rennie’s success began on the second play from scrimmage, the 50-yard score coming just 55 seconds into the contest.
After a three-and-out, and a pass reception wiped out by a 10-yard penalty, he got the call again and this time took it 25 yards for the major, the Vikings having taken over deep in Superior territory.
Three minutes in and Hammarskjold was up 14-0.
To Steele’s credit, he began cycling players in and out of the game, which stagnated his offence a bit, but also gave him and the rest of the coaching staff time to evaluate the full talent on the Vikings roster, a team that’s started the 2024 campaign 2-0-1, the tie coming in Week 1 against Westgate.
The Vikings defence stood tall against a Gryphons team that did manage a pair of touchdowns in a Week 2 loss to the Tigers.
Superior’s best hope was through the air.
Quarterback Leland Lesperance was particularly fond of throwing to receiver Talan Douglas, connecting with him six times for 50 of the 63 yards he amassed through the air in the game.
However, only one of the completions went for more than eight yards and the Gryphons struggled to move the ball downfield, only once advancing beyond the Hammarskjold 40-yard-line – and that came on a roughing the kicker call when Superior was punting the ball away.
Lesperances was also picked off twice, the Vikings Ruben Sharman intercepting a Hail Mary attempt at the close of the opening half, Myles McLeod grabbing the second errant pass late in the fourth, with time winding down.
One play later, Hammarskjold’s Jason Turek borrowed a page from Rennie, racing 51 yards down the field for the game’s final major.
The Vikings also picked up a pair of single-point rouges on missed field goal attempts.
The loss dropped the Gryphons to 0-2-0 on the season.
Hammarskjold has a bye next week. The Gryphons take on St. Patrick at 7 p.m.
St. Patrick 30, Westgate 13: Jason Taw had a pair of touchdowns to lead the Saints past the Tigers. Nathan Miller had a 65-yard touchown run for Westgate.
