THUNDER BAY – Don’t ever count the Churchill Trojans out.
Down 14-0 in the second quarter and their offence stalling, Mike Doromko’s squad instead turned to its defence to spark a comeback that eventually led to a 22-20 win over the Hammarskjold Vikings to secure a firm grip on top spot in the senior football standings.
“It was a pretty good game,” said defender Thomas Thompson. “They played really well, but we overcame and flipped it in the second half.
Thompson, who normally plays defensive linebacker, snagged a Gavin Perkins pass and returned it 51 yards for a touchdown, the first of two pick-sixes the Vikings quarterback would surrender in a hotly contested game between the first- and second-place teams in the Superior Secondary Schools Athletic Association.
“That added lots of momentum for us. It really shut down Hamm there and we just built off that,” Thompson said.
The score came with 1:23 left in the half, Conner Byerley catching the two-point conversion to make it a 14-8 battle.
Unfortunately for the Vikings, the Trojans weren’t done in the opening half.
In the dying seconds of the second quarter Ford hit Braeden Prochnicki on a deep ball that gave the Trojans (4-0) a first-and-goal on the Hammarskjold one-yard line, just 12.3 seconds left on the clock. One play later Ford ran it in on the quarterback keeper, Dyk Taw booting the convert to give Churchill a 15-14 lead at the break.
After a scoreless third it was James Basalyga’s turn to turn a Perkins mistake into a touchdown, returning the interception 35 yards for the major 81 seconds into the fourth, the Trojans going up by eight, leading 22-14.
The Vikings, who entered play with three wins in four outings, struggled to move the ball for most of the fourth, but with time running down, they drove deep into Churchill territory, Marti Martinez barging through the Trojan goal-line formation for a one-yard score, his third touchdown of the evening.
He also had one-yard scoring runs in the first and second quarters.
However, Perkins couldn’t connect with Nolan Florindo on the two-point conversion, his pass sailing well over his receiver’s outstretched hands.
“He got pressure and that’s what we needed to do,” Doromko said. “There was a guy on (Florindo) and he would have had to make a really good catch in order to secure the two points.
Churchill’s Conner Byerley, who picked off Perkins in the first, said the Trojans may have been down, but never thought they were out of it.
“We had to trust every guy next to us to play his role. That’s what coach tells us to do. Every day they run us hard. They make us know our responsibilities and trust each other,” Byerley said. “We just had to pound the rock. That’s what we do every day.”
Perkins finished with four interceptions on the day for the Vikings, who are 3-2 and own sole possession of second spot for now.
Westgate 28, St. Patrick 7: Hunter Mackenzie and Darian Fuchs each scored two touchdowns as the Tigers climbed back to .500 at 2-2. Eric Nisioiu had the lone score for the Saints, yet to find the win column at 0-5.
