HEM defends against Vikings

Though the Hanna, Elk Mountain, Medicine Bow (HEM) Miners fells 50-13 to the Guernsey-Sunrise Vikings, the resulting game on Saturday was a great one to watch.

While the Miners lost against the much larger Viking team, HEM put on a show of commitment and heart although the eight players on the team never got much breathing time.

"I am proud of every single one of these players," Head Coach Zach Scott said. "Every single one of those kids went out there and played their heart out. They didn't give up and gave their best all the way until the end."

Scott words are true. The Miners, down 37 points as the 4th quarter was ticking away, kept at the Vikings, making Guernsey-Sunrise lose yards. The Vikings kept in their varsity players in the entire game. The Vikings had 21 players on their roster with four of them over six feet tall.

"Three of my players had never played football until this year," Scott said. "These kids are doing amazing things that have impressed me and made me proud to coach them this year."

The 1st quarter saw the Vikings scoring 21 points without the Miners getting anything. That changed on the first possession of the 2nd quarter when Tom Wagner ran in for a touchdown. The score was 21-6 in favor of the Vikings, but the home crowd was excited to see their team not giving up against a team that was physically larger and had a bench to go to.

The Vikings did score again before the half, but the Miners defense stopped the Vikings several times although the score of 50-6 did not reflect their effort.

The Vikings wouldn't score any more points during the game.

The opposing team kept in big players and it seemed to many in the crowd the clock would be running continuously soon. The Miners team didn't lose heart and stop after stop, when the Vikings got the ball, the HEM team kept them scoreless.

Dylan Romero, with 1:54 left in the game, scored for the Miners. The conversion was good and the Miners had 13 points.

Although the game was almost over, the Miners kept at it, pushing the Vikings in the last possession back. They kept losing ground until the clock ran out.

"There is no person that watched this game who could not be happy with how every kid played," Scott said. "Anthony (Solaas) completed his first pass. He was the quarterback for the I-formation and Dylan did the spread. Tom rushed up against a defense that was keyed on him and he still scored. I can say something excellent about every player today."

Wagner had a total of 212 all purpose yards, but it was the total tackles that showed how hard each boy played. There were 33 solo tackles fairly evenly distributed and 35 assisted tackles making a total of 68 tackles.

"This was done with eight kids getting little resting time and our team has some players coming into their own," Scott said. "We have some real talent that is surfacing and as I said, I couldn't be prouder of the effort and heart these boys are putting into the game."

The Miners will go to Midwest High School and face the Oilers on October 1.