LUDINGTON — For the last three years, Whitehall has dominated the West Michigan Conference with impressive line play, speed at the skill positions and terrific quarterbacks. It was fitting, then, that the Vikings' three-year run of league titles ended Friday because they ran into a team that boasted all those same things.
A second-quarter fumble recovery enabled the host Orioles to score a go-ahead touchdown just before halftime, which they followed with a scoring drive to open the third quarter on the way to a 32-7 victory. Ludington won at least a share of the WMC Lakes with the win and only needs to beat Orchard View next week to take the league outright.
Oriole quarterback Cam Gunsell, a Ferris State University commit, showed his athleticism, toughness and elusiveness on several key plays, maybe none more so than his 51-yard run that sparked the Orioles' third-quarter touchdown drive that made it 20-7 and created a very tall task for the Vikings.
"You've got to credit them, because I think they're
an excellent football team," Whitehall coach Tony Sigmon said. "I think that's really where it starts. I thought Cam played exceptional. He was as good as advertised. Their skill kids are very good, and I
thought that they did a really nice job being physical on both
sides of the ball. They made more plays than us and our
kids played their hearts out."
The big shift came late in the second quarter, with Whitehall (4-3, 3-2 WMC Lakes) on the
verge of getting to halftime tied at seven. Unfortunately, a miscue on
the snap led to the ball coming loose, and Ludington grabbed it in
Vikings' territory. Whitehall's defense did what it could to hold
Gunsell and his teammates back, but the quarterback connected with Mikey
Hines for a go-ahead five-yard touchdown with 17 seconds left.
Ludington was able to double up by scoring again out of halftime.
"When (we thought it would be) 7-7
going into halftime, I felt like that was probably a game-changer for us as much as anything else," Sigmon said. "When they got two scores ahead of us, it became a heck of a lot harder."
Gunsell was the centerpiece of Ludington's efforts, going 11-for-11 for 126 yards through the air and rushing for 157 more. The Orioles wasted little time showing off their belief in Gunsell when they had him leap over the top of the line on a fourth-and-1 from their own 12-yard line on their first drive.
That drive ended when Cody Manzo jumped on a Ludington fumble, giving the Vikes the ball in scoring range. Whitehall cashed that chance in early in the second quarter when Liam Leeke ran it in from four yards out, a few plays after Cole Essebaggers converted a fourth-and-3 with his legs.
That was Whitehall's last serious scoring threat, which was just another day at the office for the Oriole defense; in fact, the seven points the Vikings scored were a season high against Ludington by a league opponent, and the 25-point margin of victory was the Orioles' closest game of the season.
Whitehall's Caden Bowyer (78) and Jamison Jeffery try to chase down Ludington quarterback Cameron Gunsell as Gunsell lofts a screen pass during Friday's WMC Lakes game at Ludington. Gunsell had 283 yards of offense in his team's 32-7 win.
Liam Leeke managed a workmanlike 78 yards rushing, and Essebaggers had 66 yards of offense. On defense, Corde Anderson starred with nine tackles, three of them for a loss, and Hunter Osborne chipped in seven.
Outside of two blocked extra points by Whitehall, it was a struggle to find an area of the game at which Ludington didn't excel. Sigmon has been fortunate to see some great teams, and he was effusive in praising the Orioles.
"There were a couple of times that as far as the point of attack, we had three guys right where we needed
to be, and (Gunsell) was able to cut backside and then turn what, probably for
everybody else, is a two-yard loss into a 12-yard gain," Sigmon said. "That kind of stuff is
really hard to defend. Believe me, at Whitehall, after having the
quarterbacks that we've had, I know how hard that is to defend that.
We've just been on the positive end of it for so many years. Now it's their turn.
"They have a really good football
team in every phase. There were
times that we made some plays defensively, but the way they played defensively, we could never really get our offense going."
Despite consecutive losses, though, Whitehall still remains in solid playoff position. Another win will all but secure a playoff berth, and one-win Fremont is on deck. The focus will be on cutting down on mistakes; Whitehall had three turnovers Friday.
"That's my challenge to our
kids the next two weeks," Sigmon said. "We've had times where we've
looked really dominant, and then we'll have this what I call a gaffe...If we get that fifth win, looking at playoff points, we're in the
playoffs. That's a big thing. When the playoffs happen, everyone's 0-0
again."
