The Viking football team is in! They'll head to Farson for their first-round playoff game Friday.
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GUERNSEY—They’re in the state football playoffs and the Guernsey-Sunrise Vikings feel like they really earned this one.
After scoring a pair of touchdowns to take the lead well into the fourth quarter, they held the Hulett Red Devils scoreless and slipped by with a 36-32 win to claim the fourth seed from the Class 1-A Six Man East Conference. Hulett ends their season with a 4-4 record.
Although Hulett was in a win or go home situation in Friday night’s final regular season game, the Vikes were in a somewhat better situation as a tie-breaker coin flip would still have afforded them a chance to make the post-season had they lost. But the Vikings came to the field prepared to settle for nothing less than a win and leave no doubt that they deserved to make the playoffs.
The first points of the game came at the 6:47 mark in the first quarter as the Red Devils’ Josh Stevens completed a seven-yard pass to Dalton Butler. The kick by Ethan Dykes was good for two points and Hulett was up 8-0.
The Vikings answered just four minutes later when Viking junior Austin Albrecht hit the end zone from three yards out. Albrecht also ran the conversion in and the Hulett lead was cut to just one, 8-7
Hulett’s next score came just a minute later as Stevens went in on a four-yard run. Dykes’ kick was good and the Red Devils were up 16-7.
Guernsey fired back just a minute into the second quarter as Gage Koeteman took the ball in from the three-yard line. His conversion attempt failed but the Vikings were down by just three, 16-13.
The with 6:38 to go in the first half, the Vikings took the lead when Viking quarterback Alex Delgado completed a 12-yard scoring strike to Garret Oneyear. Koeteman completed the conversion run and the Vikings took a 20-16 lead to the locker room for halftime.
Just when it seemed the Vikings had things figured out though, the Red Devils scored back to back touchdowns in the third quarter. The first came on a 48-yard run and the second, a nine-yard run, both by Stevens. Dykes was good on both extra-point kicks and Hulett and reclaimed the lead 32-20 with 2:42 to go in the third quarter.
With an uneasy feeling, the Guernsey-Sunrise faithful knew it was now or never. They would not be disappointed.
With just 39 seconds to go in the third quarter, the Vikings had worked their way all the way down the two yard line. Albrecht charged through the line and crossed the goal line to get his second touchdown of the game. Oneyear carried on the conversion but failed to get in, but the Red Devils’ lead was now just six points.
The Vikings managed to keep Hulett backed up over the next several series of downs and with 4:29 to go in the game, Oneyear got his second score of the game on an eight-yard run. Hulett kept Koeteman from getting the conversion and the score was tied at 32.
With the entire stadium tension level high, the Vikings held the Red Devils on the next series and got the ball with about three minutes to go. It was all they needed as Delgado connected with Dale Mote on a 66-yard catch and run. The Vikings went for the one-point conversion but the Hulett defense was able to keep Oneyear out of the end zone, putting the Guernsey-Sunrise lead at six points, 38-32.
It would all come down to the wire as the Red Devils completed a long third down pass play to put them well into Viking territory with a first and 15. The Vikings held them to very short yardage on the next two plays but on second down, the Vikings were whistled for encroachment, putting the Devils another five yards closer to the goal line. But the Vikes regained those five yards as Hulett returned the favor, jumping offside prior to the next snap.