The wheels came off for Hopkins Thursday night in almost every way possible during the fourth quarter of a 36-30 loss to Manistee.

Just about everything that could possibly go wrong for the Vikings in the last 12 minutes, did.

Hopkins scored its fourth touchdown of the evening on the last play of the third period to take a comfortable 24-7 lead. But what followed was an exercise in horror, bordering on gridiron macabre.

The visiting Chippewas, who despite the nickname sported helmets much like Wolverines, somehow found their way to victory, taking advantage of the home team’s mistakes. Things got so bad for Hopkins during the horrible home stretch that head coach Cody Francis was ejected by referees and suspended for the next game.

Sophomore back Ryan Havemen busted out for a 36-yard touchdown scamper on a fourth down and one situation to enable his team to go up 24-7 in what a lot of spectators thought should have been the play that broke Manistee’s back. But Chippewa quarterback Tai Allen tossed a nifty 66-yard TD strike to receiver Andrew Pierson to cut the margin to 10 points, 24-14, on the first play from scrimmage in the fourth quarter.

Hopkins appeared to breathe a sign of relief when Grey Castello recovered the ensuing onside kick near midfield. Though the offense stalled and had to punt, the Vikings’ bend-but-do-not break defense seemed to come up with a nice stand, highlighted by a sack from Jake Cleypool and a key stop by Terry Thomas near midfield.

But Hopkins then came up with the first of two costly fumbles on the exchange from center and quarterback to give the Chippewas another chance. Allen immediately clicked on a pass to the 25 and sophomore back Bryson Jenson carried the ball down to the five for first and goal. Allen took it into the end zone on a keep on the next play.

So now it was 24-21 with 5:21 left in the ballgame.

Continuing the Murphy’s Law streak, Hopkins coughed up the football on another bad exchange at its own 26 on the first play of the next series. Francis genuinely thought Haveman had come up with the football by wrestling it away from a Manistee lineman, but referees ruled he was too late. Francis ran onto the field to protest, picked up a 15-yard penalty and was tossed out of the game.

This turn of events put the football on the five with first and goal for the Chippewas. Sophomore Jack Sandstedt scored from there on a reverse, and now the Vikings were behind for the first time all evening with 4:22 showing on the clock.

Running back Mason Schaendorf, on the third play in the next series, came up with a huge clutch 65-yard TD run with only 3:01 left on the scoreboard, and it appeared Hopkins somehow had snatched victory from the jaws of defeat.

But it was not to be. Allen answered less than a minute later with a broken play touchdown pass to Pierson that covered 50 yards. He fumbled the snap in the backfield, but rather than just fall on the football, he picked it up and heaved it as far as he could down the center of the field, into Pierson’s waiting arms.

To add insult to injury, the Chippewas recovered their surprise onside kick immediately afterward to salt away an unlikely victory.

The final verdict overshadowed some quality performances by Vikings in the first three periods.

Sophomore quarterback Nolan Smith scored his varsity touchdown on a one-yard plunge and he tossed a nice 38-yard TD pass to Brock Eller. Haveman scored on an electrifying 77-yard run on only the second play for the Vikings. Cleypool and Thomas came up with big plays to thwart a Chippewas’ drive late in the second quarter in which they came away empty by missing a 26-yard field goal attempt and Hopkins was up 18-7 at the half.

But the Vikings were hampered by the fumbles, a leaky pass defense and perhaps most disconcerting, inability to convert on two-point conversion attempts, where they were 0-for-5 for the evening. Both teams scored five touchdowns, but Chippewa kicker Tyler Peck converted on all four his his PAT attempts.

The Vikings, now 1-1 overall, will open their O-K Silver Conference season Friday evening at home against Belding without the guidance of Francis.

PHOTO: Sophomore back Ryan Haveman turns the corner toward scoring his first of two touchdowns, with help from a block by Jonathan Ryan (54).

Oops! Sophomore quarterback Nolan Smith looks back at the ball he fumbled on a punt, but he was able to recover it. Jason Battjes (6) is the other punt returner.