The Gibraltar Vikings paid a steep price for their 48-6 victory over the NEW Lutheran/Oneida Nation United Friday night in Fish Creek.
The United shocked the Vikings' defense with a long, clock-consuming drive that took almost half the quarter to complete before Reid Nelson found Griffen Steffel for the early touchdown.
The Vikings answered quickly with Brady Kita found Will Friedenfels for a 33-yard score to take a 7-6 lead into the second quarter. Giuseppe Mercier took over from there, scoring four touchdowns in the second quarter from 16, 3, 25, and 20 yards out to make 28-6 at the half. Mercier's fourth touchdown came after a lengthy delay due to a season-ending injury to Kita.
After being crowned homecoming king, Mercier capped off his player of the game performance with touchdown runs in the third and fourth quarters to send the Vikings to their seventh victory.
The Vikings will try to clinch the Peninsula Conference with a perfect record next week when they travel to Insitute to play county rival Sevastopol. The Pioneers lost to Algoma 64-20 on the road in their Friday night matchup.
