**ARTICLE BY SEAN MASSA**
After both earning Week 1 victories, Hastings and Whitehall came into week two trying to leave undefeated. Ultimately, Whitehall would come out on top in this shootout, 41-30.
Hastings would open up the scoring in this one, as Owen Carroll‘s pass found Haiden Simmet to make it an 8-0 game. Whitehall would respond just minutes later, as Jackson Cook found the end zone, bringing the Vikings within one.
The second quarter would start with a splash, as Whitehall’s Kyle Stratton found Trannon Aylor for a 46-yard touchdown. This gave Whitehall the lead, 14-8. Less than two minutes later, Hastings would answer right back and regain the lead, as Carroll and Simmet paired up again to make the score 16-14.
The Vikings answered right back, via a Malcolm Earvin 15-yard touchdown run. With just over two minutes to play in the first half, Hastings would keep the back-and-forth battle going, as Lanny Teunessen broke off a 32-yard touchdown run, giving his squad the 24-21 lead.
That would not be the final second quarter score, as Kyle Stratton’s pass found Nate Bolley with just 17 seconds remaining, giving Whitehall the lead entering the break, 28-24.
It would be all Whitehall in the third quarter, as Kyle Stratton rushed for a score, and completed a touchdown pass to Nate Bolley, a 34-yard strike that made the lead 41-24 in favor of the Vikings with one quarter of play.
A 14-point swing in the third quarter proved to be too much for Hastings to recover from, as Lanny Teunessen ran for a 48-yard score to give his squad hope. A failed two-point conversion would keep this a two-score game in favor of Whitehall, and neither team would score the rest of the way.
Next week, Whitehall wraps up non-league play against Alpena. Hastings will start Interstate 8 action against Jackson Lumen Christi.
