MANISTEE — Grayling jumped on Manistee early, establishing a three-touchdown lead at the end of the first quarter and rolled on to a 49-14 victory in a Division 6 district semifinal football playoff game in Manistee on Friday night.
The victory was the Vikings’ fourth straight and propelled them into the district championship game where they will meet a familiar foe in Boyne City, which defeated Glen Lake, 29-28 in overtime in its district semifinal for its fifth straight win.
The Vikings received the opening kickoff after Manistee won the coin toss and deferred to the second half, and they took their opening possession 70 yards in nine plays with David Millikin capping the drive with a four-yard run. Eric Boik’s kick for the extra point gave Graying a 7-0 lead with 8:33 left in the opening period.
Grayling exhibited its explosive ability on its next touchdown, when quarterback Hunter Ventline hooked up with Anthony Fisher on an 80-yard pitch-and-catch play at 1:49 of the first quarter that boosted the Vikings’ lead to 21-0 at the half.
Manistee returned the Vikings’ second half kickoff 34 yards, and moved the ball down to the Grayling 29-yard line before the Vikings defense stiffened and forced the Chippewas to give the ball up on downs to keep the Chippwea scoreless after the first 30 minutes.
The Chippewas fumbled the ball on the second half kickoff, with Grayling recovering on the Manistee 10. Millikin scored on the next play, bumping the Vikings’ lead tup to 28-0.
Grayling’s defense had Manistee’s offense completely throttled and forced a Chippewas’ punt on their next possession. The short kick set the Vikings up at Manistee’s 46, and Millikin scored on the first play from scrimmage to increase the score to 35-0 with 10:03 left in the third quarter, starting a running clock.
Another fumble recovery gave the Vikings possession of the ball at the Manistee 37 later in the third quarter. Manistee was penalized for a personal foul on the play, which moved the ball down to the Chippewas 12.
Ventline tucked the ball in and ran into the end zone himself to extend the Vikings lead to 42-0 with 5:56 remaining in the third quarter.
The Chippewas spoiled the shutout with a five-yard touchdown run by sophomore quarterback Jeff Huber. Running back Landen Powers also scored on a short run.
Ethan Kucharek scored on a five-yard run to close the scoring for the Vikings.
Millikin made history in the game, surpassing coach Joey Bancroft’s record of 21 touchdowns in 2005. He now has 22 this season. He finished the game with 104 yards rushing on 15 carries with four TD’s.
Ventline was 5 of 10 passing for 125 yards and the one TD. Fisher ended the game with three receptions for 111 yards and the TD.
Defensive leaders included Drew Kanary who had eight tackles (four solos) and a fumble recovery, Ventline had five tackles (four solos), Reid Cvitkovich had five tackles (four solos) and Jordan Wakeley had four tackle (three solos) and one fumble recovery.
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