WHITEHALL — Whitehall finished strong and disposed of Hart Friday night, 31-8, for its second consecutive win. There were a lot of positives. However, for Vikings' coach Tony Sigmon, one particular negative - penalties - is one that will have to be corrected in order for Whitehall to keep its momentum going and reach the playoffs.
The official record is that Whitehall (2-4, 2-2 West Michigan Conference Lakes) had six penalties for 40 yards, but the miscues came at very important moments. The Vikings twice had the ball in the Hart red zone in the first half without scoring, and both drives were pushed back by penalties.
"We've got to get it through our heads that penalties are going to kill a drive and kill a game," Sigmon said. "Tonight, it's almost like being in the twilight zone with it. It's driving me nuts. We've got to correct it. At this point of the season, we have to clean up penalties. We have to. That's my biggest message as far as things that we can improve upon."
Another penalty, in the third quarter,didn't cost any yardage, but a small shoving match, which broke out after an interception by Keandre Maybanks, resulted in unsportsmanlike penalties and the ejection of a player on each team. Sigmon said his team has to put a lid on mistakes like that in order to be the team it wants to be.
After a frustrating first half ended with the Vikings ahead 8-0 - Liam Leeke's 13-yard touchdown run and following two-point run were the difference at that point - Whitehall regrouped and leaned on its significant size advantage up front, turning the game over to Liam Leeke as it did against Montague the previous week. Leeke again responded, gaining 181 yards on 25 attempts, including two touchdowns.
Hart's Carlos Guijarro (left) tries to hang on for a tackle against Whitehall's Keandre Maybanks during Friday's game at Whitehall.
"We felt like it was going to be one of those situations where, we've been able to come out against Swan Valley and score (to start) the second half, and we were very physical against Montague in the second half as well, so we felt like this was leading into, 'Hey, we've been here before. We've done this before,'" Sigmon said.
Brayden Brown also played a bigger role than he had in his previous two starts. The sophomore quarterback hit Elijah Smith for an 18-yard touchdown on fourth down on the first possession of the second half. He also ran in a two-point conversion after Leeke's second scoring run, late in the third quarter. Later, with the Vikes ahead 24-8, it was Brown who sewed up the win by scrambling for a 25-yard score, again on a fourth down. He had 90 total yards in all.
"Think about a kid who's playing against one of the top teams in Division 5 his first start, goes and plays in arguably the most important rivalry in the community and then follows it up with homecoming," Sigmon said. "Don't worry, we've got a road game next weekend. He's really going through a baptism by fire. There's a lot of different challenges for a lot of different places in that schedule. He's growing, and he's progressing, and he's doing the things we're asking him to do."
Whitehall's Jevon Hilliard (right) takes down Hart's Kole Thomas on a carry during Friday's game at Whitehall. The Vikings won, 31-8.
Whitehall isn't out of the playoff hunt, even at 2-4, but at a minimum the Vikings will likely have to win two of their final three games, and it will decidedly not be easy. They visit Oakridge, which even at 1-5 is likely to be a tough out, followed by unbeaten Ludington and area foe Reeths-Puffer.
Sigmon knows better than to think the Vikings can accomplish their goals by worrying about anything, though, besides the next week's game. Whitehall also may have to bounce back from the loss of lineman Eli Loera, who had to leave the game Friday and got X-rays.
"If you want to go make the playoffs, great," Sigmon said. "You've got to do things playoff teams do well. That is, attention to detail, effort and energy at practice, extra film work, and then when it's time to play, you've got to be at your absolute best. That's where I think we have to be at. With Oakridge coming up, we have to be able to lock in to do that.
"We've got three weeks to make some things happen here, and it starts with how we approach our Sunday meeting and how we approach Monday."
