WHITEHALL – Trannon Aylor was on the sideline back in 2014 when the Whitehall football team won a wild game against Comstock Park and captured a district championship.

His older twin brothers, Zarren and Keenan, were on that team, and helped the Vikings battle back from a 17-point halftime deficit to steal a 41-36 victory and the district trophy.

Zarren Aylor was the quarterback and Keenan was a receiver. The twins connected on a 48-yard touchdown pass in that game to help spark the comeback.

“It was just like one thing after another in that game – you couldn’t do anything but cheer,” said Aylor, who was an elementary-age water boy for the team back then. “They came out and had a huge comeback in the second half. To win a district title like that was pretty exciting.”

Aylor remembers dreaming of the day when he would get his chance to play for the Vikings and accomplish even more.

“I was always wanting to show my brothers I could do better than them – in a fun competitive way,” he said.

Aylor and the 2022 Vikings will get a chance to at least match that 2014 team on Friday when they host Fruitport in a big showdown for a Division 4 district title.

Aylor helped to set up the showdown by catching two long touchdown passes and returning a kickoff for a TD on Friday in a 42-12 victory over Big Rapids in a pre-district matchup.

A win over Fruitport would bring the first district championship to Whitehall since 2014. The Vikings have been in the playoffs every year but one since then and reached the district finals three times, but lost to Grand Rapids Catholic 42-7 in 2018, Forest Hills Eastern 41-13 in 2020 and Cadillac last year 24-14.

Aylor and his teammates are eager to finally break through that playoff barrier and keep their perfect 10-0 season rolling.

“There were some tough seasons in the past when we felt we could have gone farther (in the playoffs) and didn’t,” Aylor said. “This year we want to change that and make it all the way. This whole season has been about making a name for Whitehall.

“It’s been a blast, just being able to play with all the friends I grew up with. There’s nothing like it. And having the success we’ve been having is just insane.”

Aylor’s path to varsity has not been as smooth and direct as one might imagine for a kid who grew up in a Whitehall football family. At one point there was no certainty that football would even be in his future.

He broke his wrist in the sixth grade playing football and decided to sit out the next two seasons.

“I should have played,” Aylor said. “I regret it now. I just played basketball.”

He returned to the sport as a freshman in high school and showed a lot of potential, despite the missed seasons, and the varsity coaches took notice.

At many schools he would have played varsity last season as a sophomore, but the Vikings were loaded with talent at the receiver position, so he played mostly with the junior varsity team while getting a few opportunities with the varsity.

Aylor wanted to be on the big team but maintained a positive attitude and kept learning and developing.

“There were some great players ahead of me last year,” he said.  “I practiced with them and it made me a better player. I knew I wasn’t there yet. I knew I wanted to play (varsity), but I should have been a JV player.”

After last season he spent a great deal of time in the weight room, and also decided to work on his speed by running track for the first time in his life.

Aylor ended up having a lot of fun being part of Whitehall’s 200-meter relay team – along with Nate Bolley, Lukas Palmer and Malcolm Earvin – that won the Division 2 state championship in that event.

“I wasn’t really expecting anything, then we kind of took off and ran with it,” he said. “We were all pretty excited.”

Aylor’s big opportunity in football finally came this season, and he’s made the most of it, to say the least.

In the regular season he was one of the area’s leading receivers with 18 catches for 492 yards and nine touchdowns.

He was at his best last Friday in the first playoff game of his career, catching a pair of big touchdown passes covering 49 and 42 yards, respectively.

Aylor’s biggest moment came at the start of the second half, when he returned the opening kickoff 92 yards for a touchdown.

The kickoff return touchdown was the first of the year for the Vikings, who had been scoring in every other way imaginable all season, putting up at least 40 points every game.

“All year we had been so close to getting one, and all week last week we talked about finally getting one,” Aylor said about the kickoff return. “I just did what I did. There was a huge hole, I ran through it and the blockers did the rest.

“There wasn’t much to it besides avoiding the kicker at the end. He was chasing me down the sideline, right on my shoulder. He dove at me – he might have touched my arm a little bit.”

Whitehall head coach Tony Sigmon said Aylor’s performance – last Friday and all season – is a testament to the work he put in to prepare for varsity.

“He’s been fantastic for us from the word go,” Sigmon said. “We knew we would have a special one with him. His offseason was second to none, in terms of what he did in the weight room. He looks different and plays different this year. We’re really proud of him.”

Aylor’s success as a receiver has been extra fun this season because the passes have come from standout quarterback Kyle Stratton, who has been a close friend for years.

While Aylor and Stratton grew up together, they had limited playing time together in the past. They were frequently on different teams in little league. Aylor didn’t play in middle school and Stratton became the starting varsity QB last season while Aylor played JV.

“We were always real close friends, but we weren’t on the same team that much,” Aylor said. “They would always have a black and a red team, because there were a lot of kids playing, and we usually ended up on different teams.”

Aylor and Stratton developed their passing chemistry on their own, throwing the football around at home on their free time.

“We’ve been working on it since our freshman year, just throwing the ball around and running routes,’ Aylor said. “We were waiting for the chance to play together at a high level. We knew we could perform. We just needed the opportunity.”