Norse sink Vikings in opener

The Whitehall football team controlled the line of scrimmage and pulled away from Colfax late for a 38-0 win in the season opener for both teams.

Whitehall scored on its first two possessions and broke the game wide open with three touchdowns in the second half. The Norse ran for 287 yards and five touchdowns in the game and the defense forced three interceptions — one returned for a touchdown. The game ended due to inclement weather with about five minutes remaining.

The Norse will play its home opener this Friday, welcoming Arcadia. The Raiders began their season with a 26-13 win over Webster last week. Area veterans will be honored before the game.

Whitehall 38 Colfax 0

Whitehall showed what its offense is about on its first possession and never looked back.

The Norse received the opening kickoff and began at their own 36-yard line. Whitehall leaned on junior Bo Killian to move down the field until it got to the 28 when Devin Hutsell took a carry around the outside and found daylight for a touchdown run. The two-point try was stopped, but Whitehall took a 6-0 lead with 9:43 left in the first quarter.

The team didn’t have to wait long for another score as Aiden Evans intercepted a pass over the middle and returned the ball to the Colfax 5-yard line. Killian scored on the next play, and Caden Hansche ran in the two-point conversion to put the Norse ahead 14-0 with 7:46 remaining.

Whitehall’s offense stalled for a bit after that. The team had multiple empty possessions and were close to another, facing a third-and-five deep in its own territory. The Norse again gave the ball to Hutsell, who got around the corner and broke into the open field for a 73-yard touchdown run. That put Whitehall ahead 20-0 with 1:27 remaining in the first half. 

The Norse broke the game open in the second half, scoring three touchdowns in about 10 minutes of game action. 

The first was a short run by Killian, which made the score 26-0 with about five minutes remaining in the third quarter. 

Evans grabbed another interception on Colfax’s next possession. This time he read the quarterback to jump in front of a pass and returned it for a touchdown. That made the score 32-0 with 1:21 left in the third.

Sophomore Kivin Juresh got in on the action on Whitehall’s next possession, breaking free on a run up the middle for a 37-yard touchdown with 10:17 left in the game.

With the running clock, the game ended about five minutes later when lightning was seen in the area. 

Hutsell ran for 119 yards on six carries while Killian totaled 115 on 17. Whitehall attempted just one pass.

Hansche had three quarterback sacks for the Norse. Evans intercepted two passes and Deacon Steig picked one off. 

Whitehall

Rushes (att./yds) — Hutsell 6/119 Killian 17/115 Juresh 7/44 Evans 2/8 Ausderau 2/1

Passing (comp./att./yds) — Ausderau 0/1/0

Tackles — Herman 5.5 Hutsell 4.5 Hansche 4.5 Killian 4 Evans 2.5 Bautch 2 Smith 1 Kulig 1 Semb 1 Foss 1 Stevens 0.5