Though Hopkins has had one of the storied high school football programs in the last quarter of a century, it seems to have developed a couple of Achilles heels.

The Vikings apparently have some trouble with defending the forward pass and they have difficulty lately beating archrival Allendale.

And so it was Thursday night, as Allendale came to town and then came away with a 23-7 victory. The Falcons last year were so pesky that they dealt Hopkins its only regular season loss in 2014 by a 27-12 count, and in 2013 by a score of 21-8. Allendale also is the last team to shut out the Vikings.

The aerial culprit this time was Colton Kloote, who completed 16 of 20 passes for 241 yards and two touchdowns. He connected with his favorite receiver, Drew Couturier six times for 104 yards.

The impressive aerial performance came on the heels of last week’s 28-for-43 for 363 yards by Wayland’s Tanner VanDyke. Hopkins won that contest 34-28 by the skin of its teeth. So that’s more than 600 yards yielded through passing in just two games.

Kloote also ran in the other TD himself and picked up 56 yards on 11 carries.

Allendale scored first in the opening period on a 25-yard field goal Jeremy Wiersmema. Kloote later in the quarter hooked up with Cody Schuiteboer on a 20-yard scoring strike to make it 9-0.

The Falcons added a couple of touchdowns in the second period on a 7-yard run by Kloote and his TD aerial to Nate Umlor covering 11 yards.

Down 23-0, the Vikings finally got on the scoreboard in the fourth quarter on a 57-yard by Michael Smith, who finished the game with 104 yards rushing. Somehow, Allendale was able to contain the strong running game of junior Cyrus Miner and seniors Jimmy Lipscomb and Sid VanderTuin.

Jeff Oosterhouse booted the extra point after Smith’s TD.

PHOTO: Michael Smith (5) scored Hopkins’ only touchdown Thursday night in its 23-7 loss to Allendale. (Photo courtesy Jim VanDyke)