League champions. That sounds pretty good to the Viking football team, and they worked hard for it, beating Darrington on home territory Friday night 35-8 to win the league title.

“It was a wet game; we had a few fumbles but other than that we did pretty good,” Robbie Padbury, quarterback for the Vikings, said. “We were four for six and our running game did quite well…we had about three third down conversions. I made a 20 yard pass to Henry Bredouw. We didn’t score off that particular pass but it did put us in position for a touchdown.”

In the first quarter, Jacob Hansen scored a touchdown from a 25 yard run off of a handoff from Padbury. Padbury, in the pouring rain, then threw a pass to Taylor Diepenbrock to make the two points. In the second quarter, Hansen had a three yard run to score and the Vikings missed their conversion of the PAT. The score was 14-0 at the half. At the start of the third quarter Viking Michael Langworthy had a 40 yard run from a handoff, skittering through defensive linesmen and making it all the way down into the end zone. The PAT failed, however.

“Both teams played well. It was a miserable, rainy early evening,” defensive line coach Scott Harris said. “Basically our offense did a great job at maintaining our score. We put our junior varsity offense out there in the fourth quarter and they were doing well until they fumbled it and Darrington recovered it and ran it back, but that was the only score on us on Friday.”

Otherwise, the Vikings would have had another shut out.

In the third quarter, Darrington had a bad snap and the Vikings recovered that in Darrington territory for a two point safety, making the score 22-0.

Later in the third quarter Padbury had a two yard run to score but the extra point attempt failed. In the third quarter Nigretto had a one yard run to score and Diepenbrock’s kick was good on that attempt.

Langworthy was the leading rusher for the Vikings with 11 carries, 118 yards and a TD while Padbury was four for six, passing for 40 yards.

“We rushed for 227 yards against Darrington,” Dahl commented.

And the Vikings held Darrington to two first downs the entire game.

“Our defense ran hard; Tyler Nigretto, Jacob Hansen as fullback, Michael Langworthy…they all played up to their levels. We are accustomed to hard running and the leadership was strong with Padbury,” Harris commented.

Even though two experienced players were out with the flu, (Tommy Granger and Sam Prado) Mikail Van Maren came in and did a commendable job.

“We played good. Our defense was pretty impenetrable,” Tyler Nigretto, Viking running back, said. “We had a few break downs, we got some procedure calls, and that was tough because we wanted a shut out.”

Nigretto had nine tackles, Bredouw had three sacks, and Jansen had a sack. Peter Anderson had a blocked punt.

“Overall our defense kept up their great attention. I was very pleased,” Dahl said.

And how well the Vikings are playing this season can be attributed to the years of offseason, preseason and regular coaching that Viking head coach Dennis Dahl has brought to the table.

“His contribution is one of the greatest displays of head coaching I’ve ever seen, “ Harris said.

The young men in the football program have worked hard over the last couple of years and they are dominating the league now because of the work they have put into it.

“La Conner….we’ve only played them once; another opportunity to stay focused,” Padbury said. “We’re going to the state playoffs; we play against Napavine, who won state last year.”

The Vikings will play Thursday Nov. 5 in La Conner at the La Conner high school at 3 p.m., and will continue with post-season play on Nov. 14 against Napavine, in the state play-offs.

Chris Gill of West Boundary Photography has posted a slideshow of the Orcas vs La Conner game at http://westboundaryphotography.com/