WHITEHALL – A trip to Ford Field was diminished in the regional final game against GR South Christian. Yet, in a season plagued with multiple obstacles, Whitehall overcame them and defied the odds during its prized playoff run.
Whitehall was led by senior quarterback Camden Thompson, who was surrounded by many playmakers, including seniors Blake English, Gavin Craner, and Nate Betz.
Ryan Goodrich, Parker Mott, and Abram Stoudt, all seniors, suffered season-ending injuries that put the Vikings into a mid-season crisis. However, it didn’t last long; they needed guys to step up, and that’s exactly what happened.
Betz played a vital role in getting the season back on track. He subbed in for Goodrich defensively and offensively at linebacker and running back.
Junior Jacob Alger and senior Peyton Ossenfort picked up Mott’s spot on the offensive line, and some would say both are the Vikings’ most improved players.
Whitehall opened its 2024 campaign on the road against Unity Christian, a team they had beaten the last two seasons. This season, however, the opposite happened. The Crusaders defended their home turf with a 43-21 rout. In Thompson’s varsity debut at quarterback, he threw an efficient 10-for-14, accumulating 133 yards and a touchdown. The lone touchdown pass was to junior Corde Anderson, which foreshadowed a remarkable year for him.
Whitehall would then roll past Orchard View the following week with a 54-7 victory.
The Vikings wouldn’t host their first game until Week 3, when they welcomed Zeeland West to town. Zeeland West is in the Division 3 state title game against Detroit MLK, where they will play Saturday at 12:30 p.m.
The first half was a disaster for Whitehall, trailing 30-7 at the break. Whitehall, coming into the game, knew it was going to be tough to knock off the Dux. In the second half, Whitehall clawed back with a 22-point fourth quarter, but it wasn’t enough in a 60-43 loss.
After one-third of the regular season, Whitehall was sitting at 1-2.
The next five games for the Vikings were all against WMC opponents: Montague, Manistee, Oakridge, Ludington, and Fremont.
None of these games were close. During that stretch, Whitehall outscored its opponents 223-36 and came away with five wins.
Whitehall would then suffer a 49-7 blowout to Portland to close out the regular season.
Then came the playoffs. In the pre-district game, Whitehall faced Forest Hills Eastern, who was 7-2 at the time. Many journalists picked FHE to beat Whitehall, especially after seeing how the Vikings fared against Portland.
The Vikings made a statement that threw off every prediction, every take, and all the doubt people had about this Whitehall team.
Whitehall was dealt a tough hand early when FHE quarterback Jackson Arnold (not the Oklahoma Sooners QB) picked up a blocked punt on fourth down and threw it for a first down, leading to a Hawks touchdown later in the drive.
Heading into halftime, Whitehall trailed 14-7 but would receive the second-half kickoff. The Vikings marched down the field on their first drive of the second half and punched it in to tie the game at 14-all. After a FHE touchdown, Whitehall answered with one of its own. The Vikings delivered the knockout punch with a Craner touchdown run, leaving Arnold and the Hawks with just 11 seconds on the clock.
Time expired, and Whitehall kept its season alive, advancing to the district final against Big Rapids.
In a defensive battle that felt like the Cold War for most of the game, the Vikings held a 3-0 lead at halftime against Big Rapids.
Junior Hunter Osborne emerged as one of Thompson’s favorite targets in the postseason. At the start of the fourth quarter, Osborne caught a pass from a scrambling Thompson near the left sideline. Osborne made two Cardinals miss on his way to the end zone and extended the Viking lead.
Another late score for Whitehall was followed by a Big Rapids touchdown. The Vikings recovered the onside kick and slammed the door on the defending district champions, winning 17-7.
Whitehall returned home for the regional final against GR South Christian in a game filled with highs and lows.
An 8-minute drive, led by senior quarterback Carson Vis, ended on a 4th-and-4, where Vis escaped the pocket to the left, then to the right, and found Chuck Dehaan in the corner of the end zone for a touchdown.
Whitehall answered late in the first quarter when Thompson took a 23-yard touchdown to the house. South Christian, however, led 14-7 at halftime.
Chaos ensued as soon as the second-half whistle blew. Whitehall marched down the field for a touchdown that tied the game at 14. South Christian then scored back-to-back touchdowns, including a strip fumble recovery score.
Another Thompson touchdown on the ground put Whitehall in attack mode, trailing by just a touchdown. The Vikings had a chance to tie the game and possibly win it late, but the Sailors’ defense held strong and fended off Whitehall, 28-21.
A storybook season that ended with a district title in the hands of South Christian.
Whitehall hopes for another successful season next year with key returnees: Anderson, Osborne, Cody Manzo, and Hunter Peterson.
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