The Four Norsemen of Niles show the way as No. 11 Vikings rout visiting Edwardsburg, 49-0

NILES — Growing up in the City of Four Flags, Julian Means-Fluellen remembers not too fondly the reputation of the Niles High School football program.

“Growing up, Niles wasn’t anything in football,” the 5-foot-10, 182-pound wingback said after Michigan's Division 4 11th-ranked Vikings blanked visiting Edwardsburg 49-0 Friday night to remain unbeaten in the Wolverine Conference at 5-0 and moved to 6-1 overall.

“It feels so good to be able to change that culture my senior year,” Means-Fluellen added. “Coach (Scot) Shaw is the major reason. He’s like our grandpa.”

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The 66-year-old Shaw knows a lot about winning football. As a player, he was the Mental Attitude Award winner for coach Bill Doba’s Mishawaka Cavemen state runners-up in 1974. As a coach, Shaw has won in Indiana and is a Michigan Hall of Fame member thanks to a stellar career at Three Rivers where he won the 2003 Division 4 state title.

In 27 games at the helm, Shaw’s Vikings are 17-10 and, more important, they are an offensive juggernaut with their option football attacks. Though they failed for only the second time this season to score 50 points in a game (they fell 15-14 to Lakeshore on Sept. 1), they had their way with the Eddies, who fell to 3-4 overall and 3-2 in the Wolverine Conference under first-year coach Dan Purlee.

“We’ve been doing this pretty much against everybody except Lakeshore,” Shaw said after his team outgained the Eddies 332-99 and set off the running clock 15 seconds into the second half, the time it took Means-Fluellen to ramble 65 yards for a touchdown to put Niles up 36-0. “We had a pretty good game plan for them. The great part of it was the shutout.”

Friday’s shutout for Niles was its second in a row after last week’s 50-0 whitewash of Vicksburg, and it’s the first time the Vikings have blanked two opponents in a row since the 1979 season when they beat old Big Eight Conference foes Portage Central (31-0) and Portage Northern (21-0) back-to-back.

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It’s the first time since 1988 that the Eddies has suffered back-to-back shutout losses when Buchanan, River Valley, Cassopolis and Berrien Springs hung out zeroes on them in consecutive weeks.

“They are a load,” Purlee said of the Vikings a week after his team fell 35-0 at home to unbeaten Paw Paw (7-0, 5-0 Wolverine). “We got beat up front and in every area. That’s a tough offense to defend to begin with, and they are fast and physical on defense. We knew they were going to be tough.”

The Four Norsemen

The Vikings’ backfield of senior quarterback Talon Brawley, junior fullback Paul Hess, junior wingback Sam Rucker and senior wingback Means-Fluellen is indeed a handful, and they were again against the Eddies.

“We have a four-headed monster that you can’t take them all away,” Shaw said. “There’s nothing prettier in my mind when that option hits the corner and there’s nothing out there. The pitch (from Brawley) is there and boom — he (Means-Fluellen or Rucker) has green grass right in front of him.”

Means-Fluwellen totaled 117 yards on seven carries. Brawley completed 2-of-4 passes for 25 yards, including an 11-yard scoring strike to 6-foot-4 sophomore wide receiver Brenden Olsen, and rushed for 17 yards on four carries, including TD runs of 12 and 1 yards. Hess carried 16 times for 143 yards and three touchdowns on runs of 12, 3 and 36 yards. Rucker, meanwhile, gained 16 yards on four carries and did most of his damage blocking and on defense at outside linebacker.

The guys up front

The Four Norsemen couldn’t say enough about their offense linemen — tackles Carson Clanton and Riley Cowan, guards Chase Brawley and Brandon Hamilton and senior center Jimmy Gaya, who replaced the injured Jordan Cunningham.

“Jimmy did a great job replacing Jordan,” quarterback Brawley said. “Our offensive line really gets after it — it’s awesome.”

Hess agreed. “I couldn’t do this without our line,” the 5-foot-9, 190-pound junior said. “They are my everything. I couldn’t go anywhere without them.”

Not giving up

Senior Keegan Parsons rushed for 35 yards on seven carries and Carson Cebra returned from a concussion to gain 24 yards on seven rushes to lead the Eddies, who are finding it tough in their first season under Purlee, who was 70-22 in eight seasons at Cassopolis before taking over for Eddies legend Kevin Bartz, the winner of 216 games and the 2018 Division 4 state title.

"I told them we have to stay together," Purlee said. "We've got two winnable games (against Vicksburg and Sturgis). "This season is far from over. There's a lot to play for."

The Eddies have made the state playoffs the past 13 seasons. Their four losses are their most since the 2012 team finished 6-4.

Up next

The Vikings travel Friday to Plainwell to meet the Trojans (1-6, 0-5 Wolverine) who lost at Otsego 48-21. The Eddies return home to play Vicksburg (3-4, 3-2 Wolverine), a 38-21 winner over Sturgis.

Niles 49, Edwardsburg 0

SCORING PLAYS

FIRST QUARTER

N: Talon Brawley 12-yard rush at 9:18 (Andrew Cutajar kick)

N: Brenden Olsen 11-yard pass from Talon Brawley at 2:15 (Max Rucker pass from Alex Cole)

SECOND QUARTER

N: Paul Hess 12-yard rush at 10:46 (Cutajar kick)

N: Brawley 1-yard rush at 3:53 (Cutajar kick)

THIRD QUARTER

N: Julian Means-Fluellen 65-yard rush at 11:45 (Cutajar kick)

N: Hess 3-yard rush at 6:11 (Cutajar kick)

N: Hess 36-yard rush at 0:17 (run failed)

FOURTH QUARTER

None.

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Niles football routs Wolverine Conference foe Edwardsburg, 49-0