Opening Night was unple
asant on the Hopkins gridiron Thursday night.
The Vikings played visiting Newaygo to a 21-21 draw over the first three quarters in a knock-down, drag-out, bruising see-saw battle, but then collapsed in the fourth period and absorbed a 41-21 defeat.
The collapse came right after an impressive tackle-to-tackle clinic throughout the third quarter in which Hopkins used old-fashioned smash mouth offensive football to run all but four plays in the entire 12-minute stretch and tied the score at 21. The Vikings took the second half kickoff from their own 28 and smartly marched the football down to the 6-yard line, where Cole Marschall hauled in a pass from quarterback Nolan Smith, but the play was nullified by a holding penalty and the drive fizzled.
But Hopkins’ defense rose to the occasion, as it did three other times in the first half, and limited the Lions to a three-and-out. Mixing up running plays with bruising junior back Ryan Haveman right, Mason Schaendorf around left end and Marschall up the middle, the Vikings pounded the rock 60 yards to pay dirt and Elliot Fair’s kick after an 8-yard TD run by Schaendorf knotted the count with just 6.9 seconds until the start of the fourth period.
But things went south fast after that.
Newaygo opened the final stanza with a 25-yard pass to a wide open Cooper Heinzman and the Lions used a couple more passes and quarterback keepers by Connor Swinehart, with his last effort crossing the goal line, and there was 9:29 left in the ballgame. There was still a chance, because Newaygo’s kicker missed the PAT, so Hopkins was down by six.
The Vikings had a crucial series at their own 44-yard line with about 7:30 left. They faced a fourth and three and tried to lure the Lions offside with a razzle-dazzle move just before lining up, but referees ruled them guilty of illegal procedure. So it was fourth and eight and coach Cody Francis decided to gamble and go for it with a pass that fell incomplete.
Newaygo answered on the next play with a 39-yard scoring strike from Swinehart to Anthony Hudson, thereby driving a stake into the hearts of the home team. The Lions put more frosting on the cake just moments later with a 25-yard TD scamper by hard-running David Gonzalez, probably the shortest player on the field.
Hopkins was plagued by mistakes all evening, Announcer Bob Beck no fewer than seven times reported, “The ball was mishandled in the backfield” with poor exchanges and one was a fumble that the Vikings lost.
Other mistakes were penalties, like the one that negated a pass from Smith to Marschall, and another, an unsportsmanlike conduct call, pushed Hopkins deep in its own territory and led to a Newaygo touchdown just before halftime.
The Lions wasted little time in scoring the first touchdown, taking the pigskin 58 yards in just six plays after the opening kickoff. Interestingly, Hopkins’ defensive unit did not yield a first down during the next three series. Leading the charge were Drew Vandenberg, Jake Cleypool, Cameron Kennedy and Lexi Miller.
Gray Castillo made a touchdown-saving open field tackle on Swinehart in the second period, but it only forestalled the inevitable.
The Vikings tied the game at 7-7 on a 29-yard run by Haveman on fourth down and two. Newaygo responded with a 14-yard scoring run by Gonzalez. Then Haveman broke loose on a 50-yard electric TD run, breaking lots of attempted tackles and outrunning the secondary to tie it at 14-all.
The Lions were backed up to their own 6 after an illegal block was called, but Hopkins failed to take advantage after forcing a punt and was backed up to its own 21. Newaygo took over at midfield and Swinehart brooke loose on a keeper for 37 yards. Gonzalez scored from three yards out just before intermission to put the visitors up 21-14.
PHOTOS: HunterLewellyn (14) was probably a bit more busy than he wanted to be in trying to stop the running and passing game of Newaygo.
Cole Marschall (12) lobbied referees for a pass interference call here and gets it.
Newaygo QB Connor Swinehart (10) gave the Vikings fits with his passing and occasional keepers for big yardage.
