Four rushing touchdowns, a pick-six, and a lack of available bodies on the other sideline helped the Sevastopol Pioneers secure the 38-0 win over Gibraltar Friday night.
After forcing a shot punt on the opening possession, Logan Schuh drove the Pioneers to inside the five-yard line before Chase Haberli took it into the end zone for the game's first score. After another Vikings punt, Schuh engineered another touchdown drive, this time taking it in himself to extend the lead to 16-0. The Pioneers padded onto their lead their next time out on a short field with Bo Tanck punching it in from inside the five yard line for the touchdown.
The Vikings followed the Tanck touchdown with one of their more impressive drives of the evening before negative plays piled up, forcing them to dig deep into the playbook to try to pick up the first down. After milking the clock and calling a timeout, the Vikings called a trick play only to have it blown up by the Pioneers defense with a 68 yard interception returned for a touchdown by lineman Anthony Estevez.
The Pioneers would score their final touchdown on the heels of Tanck for his second score of the game.
Vikings head coach Mike Peck said after the game that his team was down several players entering halftime due to injuries, and made the hard decision to forfeit the second half in an effort to preserve the players he had remaining for its homecoming game next week rather than play the second half and risk the rest of the season.
Pioneers head coach Dan Judas was proud that his team started fast and carried that momentum on both sides of the ball, scoring on all four offensive possessions while forcing the Vikings to have negative yards on nearly half of their drives.
The Pioneers return to action next Friday when they play Algoma on the road at 7 p.m. The Vikings will try to recover in time to play Gillett for their homecoming next Friday in Fish Creek. 105.1 The GOAT will carry the game live beginning at 6:45 p.m. with the pregame show followed by the kickoff at 7 p.m.
