By Jack Lydon
The Payton Grizzlies edged the Amundsen Vikings 13-12 at Winnemac Stadium Saturday afternoon.
Most of the first half was not pretty. Penalties, fumbles, miscues of all sorts by both teams. Late in the first half, Payton found a rhythm late and put together the first sustained drive of the game. Grizzlies senior quarterback Jackson Peters lead his squad down to the nine-yard line. Senior tight end Kobe Ferguson slipped under the coverage at about the five. Peters dropped a pass into him. Ferguson split defenders and carried his tacklers to goal line stretching the ball over the goal for the first score of the game.
“I did do that. Yes sir. I am the stronger player. I think I’m the best player on the field at all times and I think I proved that today,” Ferguson said. His hyperbolic statement wasn’t too far off. His play was the best play of the game.
“It’s not supposed to go to Kobe. It was supposed to go to the other big tight end. Kobe just was special and made an incredible play. He’s a beast,” said Payton head Calvin Clark.
There was no quit in the Vikings. Immediately after Ferguson’s touchdown, Amundsen put together a long drive of their own including a gutsy deep sideline pass on fourth down for a 33-yard gain down to Payton’s 3-yard line. Vikings’ senior running back Milton Follmar scored right up the middle. The PAT failed making the half time score was 7-6 Payton.
“We felt confident at half time. We saw things that we liked, things that we could take advantage of,” said Amundsen head coach Nick Olson.
Late in the third quarter, Payton lined up for a 30-yard field goal. The Vikings blocked it. Momentum shifted. On the strength of the running of Amundsen senior quarterback Jake Siefert, who had the bulk of the carries on the drive, the Vikings moved down the field. Siefert scored the go-ahead 12-yard touchdown run with seven minutes to play. Vikings took a 12-7 lead.
“We’ve got this thing called ‘next play.’ We don’t get down. We don’t get on each other. At the end of the day, it is about the next play. It’s about what we can do next,” Clark said.
The Grizzlies were onto the next play. Quarterback Jackson Peters lead his Grizzles methodically down the field bringing up a second and goal from the 6-yard line.
“We had a pass play queued up. But I had a free end and I knew it was easiest if I just run it in and we win the game,” said Peters.
That he did, putting the Grizzlies ahead 13-12 with 3:31 left. That’s where it would end.
“We are a very young team. I told my coaches [the team is] young. They have never experienced this before. We have a lot of kids that never played football until they got to us. [Payton] just wanted it more and we were not disciplined,” said Amundsen’s Nick Olson.
Payton improves to 3-0 and will face Morgan Park next week. Amundsen falls to 1-2 and will face Bull College Prep.
