Big plays help Norse sink Vikings
Whitehall senior Jonathan Thorn had already proven himself as a big play threat over the past two seasons, but he took it to another level with four long touchdowns in Whitehall’s 47-8 win over Colfax last Friday night.
The senior scored four touchdowns from more than 45 yards in distance to help the Norse take a 27-0 lead before they added two more scores to take a 41-0 advantage into halftime. In all, Thorn had seven offensive touches for 179 yards and added a 60-yard punt return for a touchdown.
The win was Whitehall’s most lopsided since they scored a 39-0 win over Eleva-Strum in 2013. Whitehall’s game against Arcadia this Friday will be a nonconference matchup between two 1-0 teams. Arcadia defeated Lancaster 22-6 on Friday (see story elsewhere in Sports).
The Norse will open Dairyland Conference play with a game at Melrose-Mindoro next week.
Whitehall 47 Colfax 8
Thorn got going early and the Vikings never quite caught up to him.
The Norse senior’s first touchdown came on a 65-yard pass from Aidan Sonsalla. Devon McCune’s point after made the score 7-0.
Whitehall got the ball back and Thorn struck again, this time taking a handoff from Sonsalla and racing 60 yards for a touchdown. McCune made the score 14-0 with his point after.
After Whitehall’s defense got another stop, the offense didn’t even step onto the field as Thorn took a punt 60 yards for a score.
The Norse got the ball back again and, again, Thorn ended the possession in the end zone, this time with a 46-yard run. McCune missed one of the four extra points as Whitehall took had a 27-0 lead with eight minutes left in the first half.
While Thorn’s night was done, Whitehall wasn’t finished.
The Norse got the ball back after a punt and Sonsalla connected with McCune for a 21-yard touchdown. The two then hooked up on the two-point conversion to make the score 35-0.
Whitehall’s defense then recovered a lateral and added another score as Eric Kleinhans capped a drive with a three-yard touchdown run. McCune’s point after was no good, but the Norse took a 41-0 lead into halftime.
Colfax got on the board early in the second half and ran in a two-point conversion, making the score 41-8.
Whitehall got most of the points back almost immediately, however, as Seth Lambeck returned the ensuing kickoff 80 yards for a touchdown. The point after kick was no good.
The Norse finished with 291 yards of offense along with two touchdowns on special teams. It was a balanced attack as they had 120 passing yards and 171 rushing yards.
Thorn ran for 115 yards on five carries and caught two passes for 64 yards. Sonsalla was four-for-six for 99 yards and two touchdowns.
WHS CHS
Rushing 171 108
Passing 120 29
Total 35/291 53/137
First downs 9 7
Turnovers 1 2
Penalties 5/27 8/53
Whitehall
Passing (comp./att./yds.) — Sonsalla 4/6/99 Team 2/2/21
Rushing (att./yds.) — Thorn 5/115 Kleinhans 5/23 Skoyen 4/17 Lambeck 8/16 Team 1/1
Receiving (rec.yds.) — Thorn 2/64 McCune 2/35 Johnston 1/7 Team 1/14
Tackles (solo/asts.) — Kleinhans 5/1 Lambeck 4/1 Sluga 4/0 Spittler 4/0 Skoyen 3/0 Katzman 3/0 McCune 2/0 Kulig 2/0 Sonsalla 1/0 Thorn 1/0 Coburn 1/0 Pank 1/0