THUNDER BAY – The hallways of Hammarskjold High School are lined with reminders of past football glory.
The pictures of the school’s eight previous senior football titles are starting to get a little faded though, the most recent coming 15 years ago, in 2008.
The players on the 2023 team were three or four years old the last time the Vikings hoisted the trophy, a fact not lost on running back Owen Renn, whose three-yard touchdown run, his second of the afternoon, proved to be the difference as Hammarskjold outlasted the Westgate Tigers 14-7 on Saturday to claim the school’s ninth senior football championship.
They’ll take their own spot on the wall of honour at some point in the very near future, after ending the decade-and-a-half title drought.
“It’s been a while,” said Renn, who opened the scoring late in the first with a 25-yard scamper to the Tigers end zone, Hammarskjold taking a 7-0 lead into the second quarter.
“You walk down our halls and there are pictures of the last team that won, I think it was in 2008. It’s crazy to think that we’re the team that did it.”
Vikings coach Mike Judge, who let out a howl as he raised the trophy over his head, cheered on by the 50 or so players on the team’s roster, said it was an unbelievable feeling to be a champion again.
“It’s fabulous. It’s been a long time coming. A lot of great teams have come and gone, a lot of great people, but this was a special group and they really earned it this year, right from spring through the summer, and into this fall,” Judge said.
“I just couldn’t be happier for the boys out here.”
It’s a match that could have gone either way and came down to the wire, the Tigers nearly completing a 100-yard drive as time ticked down at Fort William Stadium, quarterback Mitchell Papineau leading them nine-tenths of the way to paydirt.
But the Vikings defence stood tall under pressure, forcing incompletions on the Tigers final two attempts to get the ball across the goal line to potentially send the game to overtime, forcing a turnover on downs.
With 18 seconds left quarterback Taylor Main took a knee and the celebration was on.
“I have no words,” said Vikings running back Daniel Kapush, who did a lot of the heavy lifting for Hammarskjold in the early going, rushing for 55 yards before an injury sent him to the sidelines.
“Honestly, it’s just amazing.”
Both teams went three-and-out on their first possession of the game, the Tigers also failing to move the chains on their second chance with the ball.
The Vikings, on the other hand, put together a strong drive on possession No. 2, Kapush, Renn and Gabriel Stieh chewing up chunks of yardage before Renn took a direct snap and rumbled 25 yards for the game’s first score.
The Tigers offence was still sputtering when they took over on their own 30. Papineau, who finished 12-for-25 for 155 yards, helped his own cause with a 21-yard run and then handed the ball off to Hudson Gerry, who stormed down the middle for 26, depositing the ball on the Vikings eight. Two plays later Lance Basalyga scored from five yards out, tying the game 7-7.
Late in the third the Tigers took over on their own 39, but Papineau’s pass was intercepted by Jake Kuzik and the Vikings took over on the Westgate 28. Aided by an unnecessary roughness penalty, Hammarskjold marched to the Tigers five and Renn needed two tries to find the endzone.
The Vikings head to Windsor later this month for provincials.
