Posen offensive line keys blowout against Hale

The drive toward a sixth straight playoff appearance was kept alive Friday, as the Posen football team dominated Hale, 38-6. The victory, the fifth straight against the Eagles, put the Vikings (4-3) to within two wins of a playoff berth. The remaining games are against Hillman and Atlanta, both on the home turf, but coach Glenn Budnick wants his boys to reach the post-season goal by winning one game at a time.

“You have to get one, to get to two,” said Budnick. The first of the two Montmorency County teams, winless Hillman (0-7), will be visiting Friday at 7 p.m. on Homecoming Night. The Vikings have won six straight against the Tigers and during the streak, Posen has averaged 40 points a contest against them. The closest of the games was at Hillman last year when the P-Town defense had to thwart a scoring attempt with time expiring at the one-yard line to lock up the 21-14 win. The Vikings have a lot of momentum going into their week eight battle.

THE OFFENSIVE line was blowing Hale off the ball, the defense kept the Eagles out of the end zone from the first quarter on, and emotionally, the players are coming together. It couldn’t be at a better time. “We finally played together and played the way we can,” said Budnick. “We came out fired up and ready to play,” said Matt Ponik. “We have to keep going forward. We have to play as a team to win.” Budnick told his players that they are one of the better teams he has had at PHS.

“They just have to gel together, and continue to play together, and if we continue to do that, we are going to continue get better,” said Budnick. The offensive line was impressive against Hale, leading the way for seven running backs to rush for 342 yards. On the Vikings’ first possession, Richie Kroll set up a three-yard touchdown pass from Ponik to Matt Szczerowski, with runs of 19 and 44 yards. He punched in the two-point conversion for an 8-0 lead.

WITH THE rain pouring down in the first half, Hale came back with a scoring drive of its own, which would be its last of the night. Kroll would add the other score of the first half on a 30-yard touchdown run. Ponik hit Aaron Hincka in the end zone for the two-point conversion for a 16-6 lead, which stood at halftime. Posen completely took over in the second half.

“I’m especially happy with the way we came out in the second half and played strong. I think our offensive line made a statement there with that first drive in the third quarter, just taking it down the field,” said Budnick. Ponik commended the line and said they controlled the line of scrimmage. Schuch, who rushed for 75 yards on 10 carries, scored two-second half touchdowns, including a 15-yard jaunt. Ponik added a two-yard quarterback sneak in the second half.

Hale coach Bill Lake said, “When you come to play Posen, you know they are going to be disciplined. I felt tonight that we had a team that could play with them and we did at times, but they were just

more disciplined than we were.”

“THEY JUST have to play,” said Budnick. “They know what they are capable of. We’ve had flashes all season of what we can do.” It also was satisfying for coach Budnick because it was his 100th win on the sideline for the red and white. He asked them to make it a memorable night for him and they did. “Win or lose, I just wanted to know that my team had fun on a Friday night and I think they did tonight,” said Budnick. Kroll, behind that tremendous push of the line and some typical bone-crunching runs, ran for 134 yards on 11 carries.

Here are the rest of the running backs who made their mark on the wet scoring sheet: Curtis Beach, 48 yards; Jason Romel, 16 yards; Josh Worthington, 16 yards; and Nathan Strzelecki, 12 yards. Ponik was three-for-nine passing for 54 yards with Szczerowski making all three grabs.

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