Vikings feel playoff fever and pressure with two games to go

by Peter Jakey– Managing Editor

While the Michigan High School Athletic Association football post season begins in three weeks, where teams need to win or they?re done, Posen?s got underway last week with a 31-26 win at Hale to keep their playoff dreams alive. The Vikings (3-4) crammed a season?s worth of highlights into one game and showed they are capable of scoring in several different ways. Posen scored on a 58-yard touchdown reception, 94-yard TD run, a 75-yard interception return, and a rare field goal.

?That doesn?t happen too often in a season, let alone one game,? said head coach Glenn Budnick. ?The guys rose to the occasion tonight and did their jobs.? The Vikes have won the last two games against the Eagles by nearly the same scores (31-26, 2007; 30-21, 2006), and seven of the last eight games. Next up is the Hillman Tigers (5-2), who Posen had owned for eight consecutive years until last season when the Vikes lost by two. Hillman has gone from 0-9 in 2005, 6-4 and a playoff berth last season, to one win from a second consecutive playoff appearance. Posen needs to finish 5-4 to become playoff eligible, and even then there is still no guarantee they?ll get in. Friday?s road contest begins at 7 p.m. FROM THE early moments of last Friday?s game against Hale, it appeared as if the Eagles? running back Robert Amicone was going to give the P-Town defense all it could handle. He scored the first points of the game on a 63-yard touchdown run in the opening minutes of the game.

Posen would counter with a one-yard plunge from Paul Kroll, and on their next possession, with an impressive block from tackle Nick Idalski, Kroll was sprung for a 94-yard touchdown run, the longest run from scrimmage this season. The conversion was good for a 14-7 Posen lead. On the ensuing kickoff by Jordan Hincka, Amicone tied the game by bringing the ball back 94 yards for his second score of the night. The Eagles would lose their speedster, though, as Amicone spiked the ball in the end zone, a no-no in high school football. It was his second unsportsmanlike conduct penalty of the game, as he blindsided Nick Delekta earlier in the quarter. He received an automatic ejection.

The second quarter was all Posen as they went on a time consuming 13-play drive to the Hale three. On fourth-and-goal, after Romel went in for an easy score, Posen was flagged for holding, which pushed the ball back to the 13. Budnick trotted out Scott Couture to kick a 32-yard field. The snap by Nick idalski was executed perfectly to holder Tyler Krajniak, and Couture nailed a bullet right between the uprights.

?Scott has been practicing it all year,? said Budnick. ?In pre-game warm-up he was hitting them from 35 to 40 yards.?

TO HALE?S credit, they put together a nice drive down to the Posen 39, before the Hale QB tossed an interception to Krajniak. The Vikings? drive ended on a punt to Hale, and a nice return by the Eagles to the Posen 47. The drive continued to the Posen 35, before the quarterback felt the pressure of another Viking blitz and threw the ball into the arms of Nathan Street, who ran the ball back 75 yards in front of the Hale sideline and a 23-14 lead. That is the way the score would stay until halftime. To Hale?s credit, even without their star back, they did not roll over.

?I told Bill Lake, Hale?s coach, what his kids did after Amicone got tossed is a credit to his coaching staff and his team. They did not give up,? said Budnick. Hale started the second half with a 15-play drive, which included two fourth-down-and-short conversions, and two third-down conversions. The final third-down play was an 11-yard touchdown run. Street blocked the point after attempt by the Eagles to keep the score at 23-20.

Posen answered again, though. Three plays into their first drive of the second half, Romel threw a pass to Couture over the middle, who came back for the throw and did the rest with his legs for a 58-yard touchdown reception. Kroll ran in the conversion for a 31-20 lead with 2:56 remaining in the third. Hale would come back again with a touchdown at the start of the foruth quarter.

Posen came through down the stretch, eating up nearly seven minutes of clock, and overcoming a couple of penalties. The key drive stopped at the Hale 25, when a fourth-and-three run with 3:05 left came up short. Posen needed one defensive stand to claim victory. It wo

uld take four plays to wrap it up. The first play was a pitch out which was fumbled and recovered by the Eagles. Corey Hentkowski and Idalski made the stop to force a third-and-13. Hincka and Hentkowski teamed up on a tackle on a reverse play, and then on fourth-and eight, the Hale QB lost the snap resulting in a loss on the play, a loss of the ball on downs, and a loss of the game. A final pass from Romel to Strzelecki to pick up the first down, and the game was over. With playoff atmosphere in full force, Posen puts all of its focus on Hillman, and a chance to keep their playoff hopes alive for another week.

Statistics: — Posen offense: 45 plays/353 yards offense. Rushing: Paul Kroll 24/201/2 TDs, Tyler Krajniak 7/43, Nathan Street 7/23, Aaron Romel 5/8. Passing: Romel 4-for-5/108/TD. Receiving: Scott Couture 1/68/TD, Nathan Strzelecki 2/29, Krajniak 1/-5. Defense: Jordan Hincka 25 tackles; Street 12 tackles, interception TD, blocked kick; Nick Delekta 7 tackles; Corey Hentkowski 7 tackles; Nick Idalski six tackles; and Krajniak 4 tackles, int.

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