The Barrie North Vikings scored two defensive touchdowns in the second half to roll to a 23-0 victory over the Bear Creek Kodiaks to win the Simcoe County Athletic Association (SCAA) senior football championship Friday afternoon.
The game took place at the neutral venue at Maple Ridge Secondary School and its state-of-the-art new turf football field in the city's south end.
But the game was a rematch of an old SCAA rivalry as today’s game reversed two Bear Creek wins over the Vikings in the 2022 and 2023 finals.
It was also a measure of revenge and redemption for a group of Barrie North players who had been on the wrong side of the score both previous years.
“These guys are all brothers to me,” Luke Kidson told BarrieToday after the game. “This is special. We are all so close and we put in so much effort to get here and I wouldn’t want to win it with anyone else. It was great to get this (done) after, unfortunately, losing to Creek two years in a row.
“We have worked so hard to get here," he added.
Vikings head coach Burke Erwin moved up to coach senior football this season after a stint with the junior squad. Though not part of the past two near-misses by North, he said it was a critical factor in Friday’s Viking win.
“Our junior focus was to (prepare) them for this,” explained Erwin, “but for our senior guys, this is a lot sweeter.”
Kidson, 18, knowing it could potentially be his last game of high school football if North lost, galloped more than 100 yards in the game’s waning moments after picking off a pass just inside his own 10-yard line.
Following picket-fence blocking by running to his left, Kidson broke into a full gallop and then crossed the Kodiaks' goal line to make the score 23-0 with little time left on the clock.
“I managed to break one tackle right away and then I just trusted my team with the blocks,” said Kidson.
Kidson’s run was a fitting end to a game that was dominated by Barrie North’s defence, which forced turnovers all day long and allowed little wiggle room when it wasn’t stripping Kodiak ball carriers of the football.
Though temperatures were mild, wind was a factor and Bear Creek’s offence struggled when it was forced to air out the ball.
Not long before Kidson’s exploits, and with the outcome still somewhat in doubt, North’s Nate Vlaho ran back a shorter pick-six to make the score 16-0.
Bear Creek tried to claw its way back by forcing a turnover on the next possession and then tacking on a long run to get within shouting distance of Barrie North's end zone. But the Vikings forced another fumble two plays later to snuff out any faint chance that Bear Creek were clinging to.
Christian Giguere scored a touchdown in the first half and Ryan Minns added a field goal to give the Vikings a 10-0 half-time lead. Minns’ boot also provided two singles on the Vikings first two touchdowns.
Giguere, the beating heart of the Barrie North offence for much of the season, was named player of the game.
North remain unbeaten at 9-0 and now awaits the winner of the Catholic School Athletics of Simcoe County (CSASC) final between the St. Joan of Arc Knights and St. Joseph's Jaguars, which takes place later Friday night at J.C. Massie Field on the campus of Georgian College.
The Georgian Bay final, with the winner earning the right to advance to the provincial final the follow week, goes next Thursday at Maple Ridge.
“We’re not done, but we played well, I’m proud of the kids," said Erwin.
Kickoff next Thursday is 2 p.m.
In Friday's SCAA junior championship, Bear Creek fell to the Maple Ridge Ravens.
