More than a win, more than another game at Flint

by Peter Jakey– Managing Editor The latest chapter of Posen High School?s first eight-man season might have been the most unique experience of all, as the Vikings traveled to Flint and won their first game in two years against the Michigan School for the Deaf, 56-22. It turned into so much more than another game on the schedule — it was a learning experience on a couple of fronts. Head coach Wayne Karsten said, ?It was a great experience for the kids to be in that atmosphere. We had to wait 45 minutes in the school while we were there. To see the interaction between the teachers in the hallway and the students, just made (Viking players) aware of the disabilities those kids have.?

KARSTEN SAID there was only one play he could remember where one could tell the other team had deaf players. The Tarters were offside on a kickoff and a Posen player stood up with the ball instead of taking a knee on a pending penalty. The Flint players didn?t stop and ended up hitting the Viking player. The Vikings played tentative in the opening minutes. On their first set of downs, the offense struggled to get a first down. They barely moved the sticks, but were put in a fourth down situation. The early breakthrough play came on a tipped pass completion from Shane Hentkowski to Warren Beach for 38 yards. That set up the first score of the game, a four-yard touchdown run by Nathan Street. It was the first of four scores for the senior back. He took the pigskin in from 20 yards out on the Vikings? next possession. That was followed by a 20-yard sweep by Lucas Litwinski and a 31-yard bootleg TD by Hentkowski for a 28-6 first quarter advantage.

Street went 28 yards on a reverse for a score in the second quarter, Hentkowski caught a 58-yard bomb from Scott Couture for another, and then Hentkowski went up top to Street for a 45-yard TD. The halftime score was 50-14. ?A lot of the young guys got a lot of playing time and got to play some football,? said Karsten. Martin Mulka had an interception and a fumble recovery, while Jacob Boyke rushed for more than 100 yards. The final score of the day came on a one-yard TD run by Justin

Paull. ANOTHER HIGHLIGHT was having the upper classmen coaching and encouraging the underclassmen. The final regular season game will be played at Caseville High School Saturday at 2 p.m. against the Owendale-Gagetown (OG) Bulldogs (3-4). Posen and OG have both played Eastern Washtenaw Multicultural Academy and Flint School for the Deaf to similar results, losing high scoring affairs to the Ann Arbor school (30-44, 20-68), but blowing out the squad from Flint (68-20). The Bulldogs run the wing-T offense. ?Having a little knowledge about how the wing-T works, we feel we can defend against it,? said Karsten.

Statistics: Rushing: Shane Hentkowski 9/115/TD; Jacob Boyke 8/11; Nathan Street 4/55/3 TD; Corey Hentkowski 1/26; Justin Paull 8/24/TD; Lucas Litwinski 2/22/TD; Martin Mulka 4/5. Passing: Shane Hentkowski 5-for-7 86 yards/TD; Scott Couture 1-for-1 58 yards/TD. Receiving: Shane Hentkowski 1/58/TD; Street 2/50/TD; Couture 1/45; Warren Beach 1/38; Litwinski 1/2. Defensive leaders: Street 10 tackles; Boye 10; Corey Hentkowski 7. Mulka interception and fumble.