THUNDER BAY – It’s been 21 years since the St. Patrick Fighting Saints hoisted the senior high school football trophy.
They may not have a better chance for the next 21 years.
The Saints on Friday made easy work of a determined Hammarskjold Vikings team, downing their crosstown rival 44-25 at Fort William Stadium, thanks to the blistering speed of running backs Manerplaw Winning and Jouni Kamppainen.
Kamppainnen had an 85-yard rushing touchdown, and not to be outdone, Winning ran a punt back 86 yards for the score, adding two more touchdowns on the ground to lead the Fighting Saints into next Saturday's championship game against the St. Ignatius Falcons, who pounded Westgate 71-27 in the other semifinal.
The Fighting Saints (5-1) last played in a senior final in 2014, losing 21-14 to the Falcons.
At 18, Winning wasn’t yet born when the Saints last tasted a title, and said the team is excited for the chance to end the drought.
“We’re ready. We’re going to reset and we’ll be waiting,” said Winning, who 75-yard touchdown on the Saints first play of the fourth quarter ended any thoughts of a Hammarskjold comeback.
“It would mean everything. A lot of us, we came back for this reason, to win and bring the championship back to St. Patrick, all of us Grade 13s. It’s been too long. Too long,” Winning said.
Vikings coach Mike Judge took an early gamble that led to the Fighting Saints first major of the evening, going for it on third-and-three from the Hammarskjold 22. Dylan Halls, who finished with 249 yards and two touchdowns, was stopped and the Vikings (0-6) turned the ball over on downs.
Four plays later Kiran MacKenzie punched it in from the one-yard line and St. Patrick led 7-0. They’d add another seven points on their next possession, their next play in fact, Kemppainen racing down the left sideline untouched for the 85-yard score.
“I got good blocking by Brett (Lovis) and Kiran and the hole was there. I was running and I got tired halfway through but kept pushing and kept pushing and got there,” Kemppainen said.
The Vikings missed a 31-yard-field goal attempt on their next possession, but after holding St. Patrick to a three-and-out, Halls proved instrumental in getting the Vikings on the board late in the second, taking it 38 yards to the St. Patrick two, then pounding it home up the middle, cutting the Fighting Saints lead to 14-7.
However, a fumble recovery by Ryan Litt led nowhere and the Vikings punted it away, only to have Winning grab it at his own 24 and not stop running until he hit the endzone.
“I told Jouni, ‘If I get this, you’ve got to go block for me and I’m going to take it to the house. He executed for me and I got the touchdown.”
Up 22-7 to start the third, the Fighting Saints added another major on a one-yard Winning run coming out of the break, eventually going up 44-13 when Iene Auger connected with Thomas Hardie for a 44-yard scoring strike.
Vikings quarterback Nolen Sloan threw a pair of touchdown passes late in the fourth to close the gap to 20, the first a 22-yard connection to Kai Aldridge, the second a 44-yard effort to Forrester Yaschuk.
“We were hanging with them for a bit, and a couple of big scores really took the momentum. That punt return, right before halftime, was hard to overcome,” said Hamamrskjold coach Mike Judge. “That’s a really talented team. We knew we were up against it and had to play perfect and although I think we played inspired, we weren’t quite there yet.”
