Vikings season ends with home shutout

by Peter Jakey, Managing Editor

Posen football coach Wayne Karsten credited seniors Corey Hentkowski, Shane Hentkowski and Travis Hirschman for the Vikings best season in six years. They finished 6-2 overall, 4-2 in the newly formed Eight-Man Bridge Alliance and 3-1 on the home field.

The Vikings? 2010 season came to end because Bellaire (8-0) defeated Superior Central (7-1), 46-14, to earn a spot in the inaugural eight-man state championship game. Posen was originally supposed to play Bellaire in week eight, but the Traverse City (TC) Christian game was bumped up one week, so the two previously undefeated teams could get a chance to play each other.

Since the Michigan High School Athletic Association will not allow the eight-man teams to play more than nine games, Bellaire has to wait for week 10 to play. THE VIKES played TC Christian for the second week in a row and shut them out, 48-0, and put the finishing touches on the successful rebound season. Karsten said he knew when he walked in the locker room his squad was ready to play. ?They were focused and ready to play, which is tough to do, playing a team back-to-back weeks,? said Karsten.

The Posen defense stopped the Sabres? offense twice on downs in the first quarter, the second on TC?s 39. The Vikes ran five plays before finding pay dirt. Shane scored from 3-yards out. The early lead was 6-0. On TC?s next possession, John Zaborney stripped the ball loose and Tyler Kuffel recovered at the Posen 27. Shane Hentkowski connected with Lucas Litwinski for 36 yards to the TC 32 at the end of the first. Six players later, Shane Hentkowski ran in the 10-yard score. Hirschman, the Vikings? center, got the call and ran in the conversion for a 14-0 lead. Kuffel recovered his second fumble of the game, this time at the TC 41. Karsten then called ?gangster right reverse pass? for a 41-yard TD strike from Shane Hentkowski to Litwinski with 9:11 left in the half. That made the score 20-0. The Sabres turned the ball over again with Zaborney recovering for the Vikings this time.

A few players later, Shane found Martin Mulka on a hook-and-ladder play. He fed it to Nathan Lenard who took it the rest of the way for a 28 yard TD reception. TC had its best drive of the night to the Posen 30, before the defense stood its ground, forcing the Sabres to turn the ball over on downs. On the ensuing drive, Lenard converted a 35-yard pass play to Shane Hentkowski to the TC 42, setting up a 23-yard TD from Shane to Lenard. Mark Jakey stretch

ed across the goal line for the conversion for a 34-0 lead. With that play, every player but one scored a point this season, a very unique accomplishment for the 12-roster squad.

Shane Hentkowski scored his final touchdown of the season on a long 42-yard run to open the second half, while Corey ran one in late in the third for the final scoring. Karsten said, ?Without those seniors, we wouldn?t have had a team. We owe the season to them. Those three seniors were not only great athletes on the field, they made the program work off the field by getting kids in the weight room and recruiting kids to play.?

Stats: Rushing: Shane Hentkowski 11/129/3 TDs; Nathan Lenard 3/24; Corey Hentkowski 6/16/TD; Travis Hirschman 2/7; Martin Mulka 1/1; Nick Hincka 1/0 Passing: Shane Hentkowski 6-of-9/140/3 TDs; Lenard 1-of-1 36 Receiving: Lucas Liwinski 3/82/TD; Lenard 3/58/TD; Shane Hentkowski 1/36 Defense: Corey Hentkowski 17; Tyler Kuffel 10, 2 fumbles; Lenard 9; Hincka 9; Hirschman 8; John Zaborney, fumble; Lenard, fumble

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