In the past two years, the Vikings playoff run has ended with a loss to the Jays in their stadium but a Viking home field advantage, an opportunistic offense and a stingy defense kept the Jays from winning and brought the Class 6 sectional title back to Howell.

Taking two big hits during a scoring drive at the end of the first quarter (one resulted in a Jefferson City penalty),  quarterback Brett Graves had to leave the game. Before leaving Graves completed a 16-yard touchdown pass with 19 seconds left in the quarter to wide receiver Josh Haarmann. Zac Perkins, the running back, gained an extra point and his 4-yard touchdown gave Howell a 14-0 lead after the first quarter.

Junior Eric Siebenshuh replaced Graves in the second quarter. Defensive lineman, Josh Brown, impressed with the biggest defensive play of the night. He picked up the Jay’s Devin Moore’s fumble and returned it 80 yards for the lead of 21-6 going into halftime.

Though the momentum started to turn in the Jays favor during the third quarter, the Viking’s relentless defense kept them from scoring all but one touchdown and maintained Howell’s lead into the fourth. With only five minutes left, Vikings secured their win when Siebenshuh completed a pass to wide reciever Keith Brown who ran for 67 yards for the touchdown and a 28-14 Howell win.

The Vikings face Fort Zumwalt West (9-2) in the state quarterfinals Nov. 12. The winner will be the first Class 6 St. Charles football team from the county to reach the state semifinals.