The Gibraltar football team discovered their running game in a big way on Thursday night, beating their rivals Sevastopol 55-22 in Fish Creek.
The Vikings used four different quarterbacks in the game, showing different looks with Giovanni Mercier, Braden Sitte, Beckett Johnson, and Will Lecy all taking turns and providing the Pioneers' defense with different looks on every snap. That helped the Vikings drive down the field after the two teams traded punts early to score on a field goal by Sitte. After the Vikings recovered a short kick, Sitte caught a 35-yard touchdown pass from Johnson for the team's only completion. The Pioneers would narrow the lead on a three-yard run by Logan Schuh to make it 10-8 early in the second quarter.
The Vikings would then rattle off 35 answered points with Sitte and Lecy each rushing for two scores and Marshall Maltby scoring one of his own to provide himself with a happy senior night memory.
With a running clock in play for much of the second half due to a 45-8 halftime lead for the Vikings, each team had just three possessions a piece in the second half. Sladon Asher scored in the closing minutes of the third quarter to give the Pioneers the second touchdown of their day only to have Lecy match it for the Vikings on a four-yard rush.
The Vikings would set up their final score after a blocked punt by Wyatt Bultman with Sitte kicking a 33-yard field goal. The Pioneers would end the scoring with one last impressive drive that was capped off with a 16-yard pass from Schuh to Drake Olsen. The Vikings ended the evening with 318 rushing yards, 195 of which came from Lecy.
The Vikings end their season 6-2 and wait for their invitation to the WIAA Eight-Player Football playoffs for the second year in a row. The Pioneers end their 2023 campaign 0-8.
