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The Goderich Signal-Star, 1978-11-16, Page 12r PAGE 12--GODERICH SIGNAL -STAR, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 1978 Defence holds opposition scoreless Vikings end perfect year wit BY TD Playing before a crowd estimated at over 1000 here Saturday afternoon, the GDCI senior Vikings football team methodically demolished the Stratford Central Rams, 62 - 0, to win the Huron -Perth championship. The team became the proverbial legend in its own time by going through the entire Huron - Perth Conference schedule, and playoffs without giving up a point white scoring an average of 59 points per game. Many observers rank this year's Vikings as perhaps the best senior team from a school that has produced a good many championship calibre football teams through the years. The championship was the second in a row for coaches Ray Donnelly, George Young and the Vikings, and the Vikings eighth in the last ten years. The Vikings won all six of their league games by runaway°shutout scores With the "closest" game being a 5,3 - 0 score. The Vikes scored 474 points in extending their winning streak over the past two seasons to 16 straight games. Once again on Saturday the Vikings, as they have been all season, were devastating on the ground. Tailback Randy Little had his third four -touchdown game of the season to lead the - offence. Little's touchdowns all carpe on short yardage situations, but he got the ball into scoring position by ripping the Stratford defence apart .with his. hard.running. However, the Vikings were no one-man team. Their strong, quick line played a -key role. As Rams coach Bill Hildebrand put it, "Its hard enough to stop Little, but when their of- fensive line is moving our defensive line back five yards from the line of scrimmage it becomes impossible." Referring to Little, Hildebrand went on, "Either he had holes you could drive a truck through or he found them where you thought none existed, and his ac- celeration is something else. We certainly haven't seen anyone like him in this league for a long time." Dennis Donnelly scored two touchdowns for the Vikings, also on short yardage situations. Chris Wood, who served primarily as a Mocking back, but ran well when given the ball, had one touchdown. The other Vikings scores came on a super catch by Dave MacKenzie of a 40 yard pass from quarterback Jon Barz and -a 35 yard run on a pass interception by Jim Van Osch. Van Osch had another interception later in the game and Wood recovered a Stratford fumble that led to one of Donnelly's touchdowns in the second quarter. Eric Mitchell kicked eight of°nine attempted converts for the Vikings. In analyzing his Vikings offence, coach Donnelly paid tribute to his line, consisting of Ben Worsell at centre, Neil Sager and Eric Mitchell at guard, Jim Van Osch and Mark Alexander at tackle and Perry Teichert 'and Dave MacKenzie at end. The back field he rated as one of thebest he had ever seen with Chris Wood at fullback, Dennis Donnelly at halfback, Randy Little at tailback, Mark Frayne at Wingback and Jon Barz at quar- terback. The Vikings defence performed as a unit. As Donnelly explained, "When your defense has not given up a single point after eight games, ic.s impossible to single out two or three players as the reason. On defence each player has to do his lob or its only a matter of time 'til the unit collapses." ' The Vikings defensive line had Rick Leddy at middle guard, Mark Alexander and Eric Mitchell at tackle, and Chris Wood and John O'Keefe at end. Rob Trebish and Dennis Donnelly were the outside linebackers,and Jim Van Osch and Perry Teichert were the inside linebackers. Mark Frayne played at safety and Dave MacKenzie and Tom Doherty filled the halfback slots. Donnelly felt one of the strongest features at this year's team was their excellence in all phases of the game, including his specialty teams. The kick-off, kick-off return, punt, and punt receiving teams were all contributing factors in the Vikings success. It was the Vikings ability to block in the open field in returning kicks that most impressed the Kit- chener -Waterloo -officials who worked -the Huron -Perth Conference games. They com- pared the Vikings favourably with any team they saw among- the big -city schools they had seen. Coach Donnelly loses about one half of -the 30 man squad through graduation, leaving a good nucleus for next year. With 25 juniors coming up from this year's -Huron-Perth champion Viking juniors, it looks as though the Huron Perth Conference can look forward to another strong performance from the Vikings next season. Donnellyexpressed the hope that those players who are leaving through graduation take something more than a little football knowledge with them, and to those who- will return next year, he held out the challenge of the excellence of this year's team. Offence pileslup 474 poi • A winning combination. GDCI senior football coaches George Young and Ray Donnelly strike stoic poses on the sidelines in Satur- day's championship game against Stratford. The coaches had reason to smile though, as their team won its second consecutive Huron - Perth Championship and the eighth in the last ten years. The Vikes won the game 62-0 to cap a perfect season in which they averaged 60 points per game while the defence held the opposition scoreless. (photo by Jeff Seddon) Members at the GDCI junior Vikings football team accept the plaque symbolic of their victory in the IF•Iuron-Perth football championship game against Exeter Saturday. The Juniors en- joyed a phenomenal season as they went undefeated in all league and playoff games, and won the final with a tough 21-8 victory over Exeter Saturday. The junior coaching staff includes Bruce Baker and Bill Garrow. (photo by Jeff Seddon) Jr. Vikes cap season with championship win BY TD The GDCI Junior Vikings capped off an undefeated season here Saturday when they defeated the South Huron Panthers, 21-8 to win the Huron -Perth Conference championship. The game was a close, hard-hitting contest all the way, with the level of execution by both teams surpassing that usually found in junior footbal,i. The Vikings scored their first touchdown on the opening series of the game, marching back the kickoff from their own 35 -yard line on the running of Mike Wedlock and Larry Madge. The touchdown came on a third -and -goal -to -go eight yard pass play from quarterback Steve Gallow to Brian Shewfelt. Larry Boyce kicked the convert and added a single in the second quarter on a wide field goal attempt from the 22 -yard line. The second quarter featured strong defensive play by both teams including one key stand by the Vikings when the Panthershad the ball on their 15 yard line but lost it on downs when a third down pass • into the end zone went incomplete, The Panthers, despite the loss of key running back Rick Lindenfield late in the second withan injury, dominated the third quarter. They scored their only touchdown on the first drive of the third quarter using an effective screen pass play to move the bail. Quarterback Steve Pearce finished off the drive with a one -yard keeper play and then threw to Dave Bell for a two-point conversion which tied the game at 8- 8. The game remained deadlocked until the Vikings scored with just three minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. The Panthers gambled on a third down at the Vikings' 40 and did not get it. From there, the Vikings began the game -winning scoring drive. The key play was a 30 yard "pro -pass special" from Steve Gallow to Steve Frayne, a play put into the Vikings repertoire five minutes before game time by offensive coach Bruce Baker. Mike Wedlock took the ball in from the four yard line ^i.pr the touchdown. Larry Boyce kicked the &invert. The Panthers mounted a last desperate of- fensive drive following the kickoff after the Viking touchdown but again the Viking defensive held and Exeter lost the ball on downs, giving the; Vikes excellent field position. Steve Frayne got the insurance touchdown for the Vikings on a five yard reverse to make the final score 21-8. The Viking offence gained a total of 321 yards compared to Exeter's 227 and - had 20 first downs to Exeter's 13. Mike Wedlock rtished for 156 yards and Larry Madge gained 65 yards. Steve Gallow ac- counted for another 34 yards of the Viking of- fence on quarter keeper plays. Pass receivers Steve Frayne and Doug Alexander caught three passes for 71 yards. In' their nine league and playoff games, the Viking were undefeated, scored 331 points and gave up 49. Wedlock was the leading scorer with 60 points, Madge was second with 54, Steve Frayne had 50 and Brian Shewfelt scored 46 points. Mike Wedlock was also the team's leading rusher over the season with a total of 918 yards. Larry Madge was next with 645 yards gained. Kicker Larry Boyce accounted for 35•points. Seven other Vikings also got on the score sheet, indicating the depth that this year's team possessed, Coach Bill Garrow commented that he and his assistant Bruce Baker had never had a team with so many players capable of making a real contribution to the team's success. Many of the junior Vikings were in their third year with the team and Garrow and Baker were looking forward to this season to see what they could do. Twenty-five of the junior Vikings will move up to the senior team next year. GDCI senior Viking running back Dennis Donnelly crosses the goal line: for a touchdown in the championship game against Stratford Saturday. Goderich won the game 62-0 to win their second consecutive Huron -Perth crown. Donnelly and team mates Randy Little, Stuart Crew and Chris Wood formed the most for- midable backfield in the league. (pi'ioto by Jeff Seddon) Gee Gees lose first game to Owen Sound 89-59 ' The Goderich Garb and Gear Gee Gees, after a good first half effort, went down to defeat to the powerful Owen Sound entry in the Lakeshore Intermediate Basketball League on Sunday. The loss,evened the Gee Gees' record at win and one loss. Goderich led by as much as eight points in the first half but were unable to contain Owen - Sound's fast break. The end result was an 89-59 loss for the local squad. Warren. Watt led the Goderich scoring wjth 14 points. Greg Beacom scored 12, Jo Jo Watt had 9 and Brian Mackenzie bagged eight points. Greg Smith and Al Sygrove both added six points with Rob Riehl and Jeff Baechler each tossing in a basket. The Gee Gees begin an important week of • action with a game in Port Elgin on Thursday, November 16. They then host Walkerton the next night in the GDCI gym At 8:00. A return engagement in Walkerton on Monday, November 20 rounds out the week's play.