WHITEHALL — Whitehall has lost its share of heart-breakers in the Battle for the Bell against archrival Montague in recent years.

The Vikings have had chances during a six-year skid against the Wildcats, but could never hang on.

Whitehall changed that Friday night. The Vikings used a dominant defense and a steady run game to score 20 unanswered points in the fourth quarter and beat Montague, 34-14, for the first time since 2014.

Vikings coach Tony Sigmon said he challenged his team to not “blink first” this year after a heart-breaking 34-31 overtime loss last year.

With the score tied at 14-14 to open the fourth quarter, the Vikings didn’t blink, and executed on both sides of the ball to pull out the win.

“I’m just so proud of our kids,” Sigmon said. “I’ll tell you what, we’ve been there (leading late) before. I challenged our kids — who’s going to blink first? In the past, we blinked first, whatever that looked like.

“I’m just so proud of our kids right now because of the second half that these guys played. They got after it. They just did a fantastic job.”

Whitehall, now 7-1 and ranked No. 4 in the state in Division 4, had a little extra motivation to get the win. By beating the Wildcats, the Vikings earned a share of a three-way tie for the West Michigan Conference championship with Montague and Oakridge, with each team at 5-1.

It’s the first conference title for the Whitehall football team since 1999.

“That’s such a big goal,” Sigmon said about the conference title. “To sit there and think of all the kids that I’ve been able to coach over the last nine years or so, and all that we’ve promised them as far as hope, and we were able to cash in tonight. This was a really big deal.”

Sophomore quarterback Kyle Stratton, who was six years from being born the last time the Vikings won the WMC, starred for Whitehall with three touchdown runs.

“This is the greatest feeling ever,” Stratton said. “It’s the best feeling ever to bring it back, and we’re hoping to do it for years to come.”

“We really felt like Kyle could be the X factor,” Sigmon said of his young quarterback. “Talk about that young man growing up, and what a stage to do it on.”

Montague, ranked No. 5 in Division 6, dropped to 6-2 overall and 5-1 in conference play. Although the loss is painful, Coach Justin Dennett said the team still has attainable goals to focus on.

“This one is going to hurt for a while, it’s going to sting,” the first-year head coach said. “We’ve just got to remind the guys that all of our goals are still intact. We still got a share of (the conference title). We’ve got to finish strong against Portland next week – they’re a good team – then prepare for the playoffs. All of our goals are still in place here.

“It sucks, it hurts, but we’re going to learn from it and get better.”

Defense dominated the first half, with both teams managing just a single touchdown.

Whitehall scored first after forcing a punt on Montague’s opening possession. The Vikings then marched down the field on a 15-play, 67-yard drive that took eight minutes off the clock. Stratton finished the drive off with a 20-yard touchdown run to put Whitehall up 7-0 with 1:41 remaining in the first quarter.

The defenses traded stops, including a missed field goal by Montague, until late in the second quarter. The Wildcats evened the score at 7-7 with 4:09 remaining in the half on a 42-yard touchdown run by Dylan Everett.

Montague had an opportunity to take control after Whitehall fumbled the ball away on the first play of the next drive, but the Viking defense stood tall and forced a four-and-out.

The Vikings got the ball with 2:16 to play in the half and drove all the way to the Wildcat five-yard-line, but missed a field goal to leave the score at 7-7 at halftime.

Whitehall scored first in the third quarter on a six-yard run by Stratton to take a 14-7 lead. A huge kickoff return by Red Watson allowed the Vikings to start the drive at the Montague 30-yard line.

After punts by both teams, Montague tied the game at 14-14 on a seven-yard pass from Andrew Kooi to Tugg Nichols with 1:59 left in the third. The score was set up by a 71-yard gain on a toss from Kooi to Chase Gowell.

The Vikings regained the lead for good at 21-14 with 9:27 left in the game on a seven-yard TD run by Alec Pruett. Whitehall’s Braydn VanPatten came down with an interception on the next Montague drive, setting up a five-yard touchdown by Stratton. A missed PAT left the score 27-14.

The Vikings came up with another interception three plays later, this time by Nate Bolley. On the ensuing drive, Bolley found the end zone on an eight-yard run with 1:44 to play, bringing the score to 34-14.

Stratton finished with 131 rushing yards on 21 carries. He also had 45 passing yards on 12 attempts. Pruett finished with 27 rushes for 116 yards. Bolley had 37 rushing yards and 23 receiving yards.

Van Patten, Bolley and Max Brown led the defense with 5.5 tackles each.

Kooi was 10-for-19 passing for 138 yards for Montague. Gowell was his top target, hauling in six catches for 103 yards. Everett finished with 70 yards on 18 carries.

Hayden McDonald led the Wildcats with eight tackles, followed by Adam Baird with 6.5 and Everett and Colton Blankstrom with 5.5 each.