“Return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear… The Hopkins Vikings ride again.” — With apologies to Clayton Moore, Jay Silverheels and “The Lone Ranger.”
Hopkins is on track to earn a post-season playoff berth, to win the O-K Silver Conference football title and perhaps most importantly, regain its status as one of the premier high school football programs in West Michigan.
The once-proud Vikings, who made the playoffs eight years in a row before suffering through a three-year drought, seem to have righted the ship, as evidenced most recently Friday night in an explosive offensive showcase and 58-21 triumph over NorthPointe Christian. Despite a few lapses on defense, they dominated an opponent that entered the contest with a 3-1 overall record.
Hopkins needs just two more victories to qualify for the playoffs, and that seems a certainty unless the wheels come off for coach Cody Francis and Company. The Vikings are heavily favored to run the table in their remaining league games to go 6-0 in the Silver and to finish 8-1 overall.
These prospects in the wake of frustrating consecutive seasons of going 2-7, then 3-6 and 4-5.
Hopkins has had some problems with defense, particularly against opponents’ aerial games, yielding 108 points in its first three games, but at the same time has amassed exactly 200 points in its five contests thus far with a 4-1 record. And unlike those storied smash mouth teams in bygone days, this outfit has a bona fide passing attack.
NorthPointe moved the ball from its own 20 to midfield after the opening kickoff when Colin Weber intercepted a Drew Wurn pass. On their third play from scrimmage, Cole Marschall broke loose on a 57-yard inside reverse. Hopkins was up 7-0 with the game not even five minutes old.
And that’s not all.
Carsen DeLeo came up with a big fourth down stop, Ethan Gilder and Bryce Smith combined on a sack and Hopkins started another possession at midfield. Shortly afterward Ryan Haveman, just returning from injuries, bowled his way into the end zone from 26 yards out and Hunter Lewellyn scored the two-point conversion to make it 15-0.
Smith, who easily accounted for 300 yards in total offense, tossed the first of his three TD passes, this one an electric 50-yarder to Lewellyn, which featured a Barry Sanders move after to catch to spring him loose.
Will Koehler then picked up 33 yards on one carry for the Mustangs, Wurn hit Jake Shepherd with an 18-yard pass and Koehler rambled to pay dirt from 15 yards to bring the visiting ballclub to within two scores, 21-7. But that’s about as close as they’d get.
With just over four minutes to go until intermission, Smith and Lewellyn did another TD pass routine, this one from 45 yards, and Smith tallied the two-point conversion.
The Vikings had NorthPointe seemingly stopped at fourth down and seven, but Wurn found Shepherd with a clutch pass and then scored on a 15-yard keeper.
But Hopkins wasn’t done. It went 79 yards in just four plays, as Smith hooked up with a 28-yard pass to Bryce Smith and a 37-yarder to Lewellyn. He took it in himself from about a yard and a half out with just 30 seconds left in the half and Haveman picked up the PAT, giving the home team a 37-14 advantage.
At this point, Nolan Smith already had 160 yards passing on just four of his completions.
The Vikings struck early in the third quarter on only the second play after the second half kickoff when Weber fooled everybody during a left end run covering 80 yards. Moments later Lewellyn picked off a trick halfback pass by Koehler at midfield. Two plays later Nolan Smith tossed a 35-yard scoring strike to Weber and hit Bryce Smith with added two-point pass. Suddenly, the game had turned into a rout, 51-14.
Wurn broke loose for a 50-yard TD scamper not long afterward, but in the fourth period Smith went 69 yards on a quarterback keeper to finish off the evening’s scoring.
The Vikings will step outside O-K Silver play Friday to take on a Buchanan team that started the season 0-4. Ditto for Calvin Christian for the following two weeks and Wyoming Lee started at 1-3.
If Hopkins can avoid injuries and overconfidence, and if it can get past a Kelloggsville team plagued by heavy graduation losses, it will indeed finish at 8-1 overall. And the days of glory will be back in town.
COVER PHOTO: Hopkins Homecoming King Jessie Dykstra and Macy Arndt.