Hopkins varsity football has absorbed a lot of criticism about pass defense over the last several years, but Friday night it had a pretty good excuse.

The Vikings saw their season end in a 46-35 loss to undefeated and top-ranked Kalamazoo United, which featured state career record-breaking passer Eric Wenzel and an ultra high octane offense. They gave United all it wanted and the outcome was still in doubt as late as three minutes away from the final gun.

Wenzel was as advertised, throwing for 377 yards and six touchdowns to bring his career total to 54, two more than previous record holder Mason Montgomery of Stockbridge. He also ran a yard for the other six points.

Yet Hopkins probably gave the Titans a game they won’t forget. The Vikings, who ended their season at 9-2 overall, dared to take a 7-0 lead after one quarter and they threatened to overtake their hosts several times late in the contest.

Perhaps the biggest difference in the ballgame, besides the massive and nearly unstoppable aerial attack, was a couple of mistakes that changed the momentum of the contest. Hopkins held the penalty-plagued Titans in their first drive and then dared to take a 7-0 lead on a 42-yard RD scamper by Hunter Lewellyn only five minutes into the game and Josh Glascott’s booted PAT put a scare into the hometown crowd.

While United marched the football down the field smartly afterward, QB Nolan Smith intercepted a Wenzel aerial to start another Viking drive. However, they stalled at the Titans’ 29, hampered by a penalty.

So Wenzel led his team down the field 71 yards with seven passes, the last one a 13-yard scoring strike to Andrew Widger. Bryce Smith came up with a block of the PAT attempt, so Hopkins still was up 7-6.

That that proved to be the start of a 10-minute second quarter scoring blitz of 25 unanswered points.

Lewellyn after a three and out was whistled for taking a knee while trying to field a snap for a punt attempt and United was awarded possession at only the 8-yard line. Wenzel made the Vikings pay on the next play with an 8-yard TD pass to Widger.

One the ensuing kickoff, Cole Marschall had a nice return but coughed up the pigskin. The Titans scored on the next play from 34 yards out on yet another TD aerial from Wenzel to Widger.

Not long afterward, Wenzel threw his fourth TD pass of the first half, this one to Chris Batholomew from seven yards away, thereby breaking the old state record of 51 touchdown passes thrown in a season.

Smith and Hopkins then grimly got to work and pushed the ball down the field all the way to the goal line, 67 yards in eight plays in just 3:21. Smith sneaked the ball over the goal line on the last play before intermission to make it 25-13.

The Vikings came out strong in the third quarter as well, taking the kickoff and marching to pay dirt with 57 yards in eight plays. Smith tossed the first of his three TD passes for the evening to Bryce Smith, covering 25 yards, thereby cutting the deficit to 25-19.

Wenzel replied not long afterward with a 21-yard touchdown pass to Aaron Verkaik and the Titans got a weird kicked PAT by Heath Baldwin from 37 yards out after a penalty.

The Vikings closed the gap to 32-27 on a 7-yard pass from Smith to Colin Weber and Haveman took advantage of an offside call to take in the two-point conversion.

Down by just five points, Hopkins put another scare into United on the next series when Smith sacked running back Lawrence Pelkey for a five-yard loss and set up a third and long. But then Wenzel hit Widger with a short pass over the middle and he broke loose, taking the ball all the down to the Vikings two. Wenzel took it in himself running for the flag, and widened the gap to 39-27 on the first play of the fourth period.

Things were really looking bleak later in the period when Hopkins stalled offensively and Wenzel hooked up with Widger for the fourth time of the evening, this one covering 15 yards. With just over seven minutes left and a score of 46-27, it appeared Hopkins was being left for dead.

But Smith, who himself had 201 yards in passing for the evening, got to work again and got back on the board with a 21-yard hook and ladder pass play to Weber, who flipped it to Marschall for the last few yards into the end zone. Smith then tossed the two-point conversion to Lewellyn.

Though the ensuing onside kick failed, Lewellyn came up with a pass interception in the end zone and Hopkins made one last gasp attempt to score one more time. The heroic drive was abruptly halted by a pass interception by Bartholomew in the end zone.

Defensively, Carsen DeLao had 12 stops and Ethan Gilder and Bryce Smith nine apiece.

The 35 points Hopkins scored was the second most yielded by the Titans all season. They also were held under their average of more than 50 points scored per game.

United, now 11-0 on the season overall, will play at home this weekend against Hudsonville Unity Christian.

COVER PHOTO: Hunter Lewellyn scored a TD on a 42-yard run and came up with a big interception in the end zone.