WHITEHALL — Few teams in the state of Michigan would've gotten more out of a week four win than Whitehall, considering its 0-3 start and considering the opponent - Saginaw Swan Valley, which not only beat the Vikings in last year's district finals, but entered this game undefeated and among the higher-ranked teams in the state in Division 5.
The Vikings came tantalizingly, painfully close to getting that win, but a late safety swung the game for Swan Valley and handed Whitehall a 15-14 defeat that knocked the home team to 0-4 but also created optimism that the best of its season is on the way.
"That team right there can probably, depending on their draw, that might be a regional or semifinal team," Whitehall coach Tony Sigmon said of Swan Valley. "They certainly think that they are, and they can be. So what does that make us? One point away from that."
The safety was part of a whiplash-inducing sequence of plays in which both teams likely felt multiple times that victory was in their grasp.
Whitehall certainly must have when, holding a 14-13 lead and with Swan Valley driving down the field, it came up with a defensive stop on fourth down at the one-yard line when Swan Valley elected to go for it rather than kick a chip shot field goal (albeit in the rain) to go ahead with 2:09 to play. Then, on second down, the visitors' gamble paid off, in a way, when their defense buried Liam Leeke in the end zone for a safety that gave them a 15-14 lead.
The host Vikes got another chance, though, when they attempted and recovered an onside kick on the free kick that followed that safety. However, four downs yielded only a couple of yards, and Swan Valley was able to escape.
Whitehall's Liam Leeke breaks away from the Swan Valley defense for a 15-yard touchdown run during Friday's game at Whitehall. Leeke ran for 111 yards in Whitehall's 15-14 loss.
It was a sour ending to a big night for Leeke, who took over much of the offensive load in the second half when the Vikings, Sigmon said, "simplified some things" and were able to create much more running room for him. Leeke led the way on Whitehall's first touchdown drive, to start the third quarter, a drive that included his fourth-and-1 conversion run and ended with a 15-yard touchdown burst. He ended his day with 111 yards on 20 carries.
The reason Leeke's scoring run gave Whitehall an 8-7 lead (the Vikings went for two after electing to enforce a Swan Valley personal foul on the conversion instead of on the kickoff, with Leeke punching that in as well) was a spectacular effort from Whitehall's defense in the first half. Playing almost the entire half in its own end of the field due to a sputtering and penalty-ridden Whitehall offense, the Vikings somehow managed to only give up one touchdown and go into the half down 7-0.
For the game, the defense surrendered just 194 total yards and just over three yards per rush attempt, coming up with some timely plays along the way, including a third-down sack by Tanner Woodworth early in the second quarter that forced a punt and a forced fumble by Elijah Smith on a would-be Swan Valley touchdown.
Wyatt McFarren led that side of the ball with five solo tackles and 11 assists. Keandre Maybanks added four solo stops and six assists, and Woodworth had two tackles for a loss.
"I think the defense was fantastic," Sigmon said. "First and foremost, I thought Coach (Kyle) McGrew had a great game plan. We came together as a defense. I thought our kids played phenomenal. They played winning football all night. I'm so proud of them. That's going to net us wins. If we can keep playing like that, that's going to net us wins."
Whitehall gave sophomore Brayden Brown the start after Brown relieved Isaiah Lewis the previous week against Orchard View. (Lewis played both ways, at wide receiver and in the secondary.) The young quarterback didn't light up the scoreboard, but also didn't turn the ball over, and his screen pass to Smith early in the fourth quarter turned into a 35-yard touchdown to put the Vikings ahead.
"I want you to imagine you're a sophomore," Sigmon said. "You're playing against the No. 2 team in the division, or the No. 3 or No. 4 team or whatever. It's raining, and he's been sick all week, and he comes out and plays that way, and he's mad. He's upset. There's a lot of competitors that I've had the luxury of coaching here for 14 years, and he reminds me of some others."
No one in the Vikings' postgame huddle felt satisfied, but Sigmon said with the rivalry game against Montague on deck, his team must harness their emotion from the tough loss, build on the positives it saw, and get ready to play again in seven days.
"It really is hard right now, because there's a lot of positives to build off of this," Sigmon said. "So we need to feel bad for a day, and then erase it. Wash it. Learn from it...Because obviously, we've got a rivalry game next week, and that's a big deal. And it's here, which is nice."
