Not once, not twice, but three times did Haze Hamrick find paydirt with punt return touchdowns as part of a 77-6 dismantling the Loggers put on the Vikings Friday night to maintain possession of the Old Helmet trophy.
The three scores by the junior were from 50, 50 and 55 yards out and all were in the first half. Onalaska (6-1, 2-0 C2BL East) piled up 64 points in the first half to coast to another rivalry victory.
“I thought our kids played well and the rivalry game is important to them,” Loggers head coach Mazen Saade said. “The helmet stays home yet again and they should enjoy this victory for 24 hours.”
Despite amassing just 176 rushing yards, that didn’t stop Ethan Thayer from scoring three times while Cooper Albertson and Jovani Hernandez-Ruedas each had a rushing touchdown. Lane Gordon’s lone completion was a 43-yard TD pass to Morgan Allen.
Defensively, Saade felt his crew “did their job” on Friday. Allen and Gordon each had an interception and Conner Gordon pounced on a Vikings fumble.
“(They’re) doing a good job understanding their assignments,” he added. “Our guys are buying into that.”
Mossyrock (1-6, 0-3) avoided the shutout with a 6-yard plunge from Atrayewe Brown in the fourth quarter. Brown had the most net yards with 33 and also hauled in a 20-yard catch from Blue Sievers.
The Vikings now get a bye week before wrapping up the regular season on Thursday, Oct. 29 at home versus Toledo.
“It is more so to end the season on a high note,” Vikings head coach Robbie Dailey said. “Still play 48 minutes of hard-nosed football.”
Onalaska gets a date with Toledo on the road next week in what likely determines the C2BL East champion. It was a year ago when the Riverhawks put up a one-sided win over the Loggers en route to a Class 2B state championship game appearance.
“It is the next game on the schedule. If that’s where the league title happens, that’s where it happens,” Saade said. “They are a really good football team and hopefully we can give them a good game. Our kids are obviously excited. They are the league champs until they are knocked off.”
