SHELTON — Revenge is oh so sweet. The Vikings earned their taste in Shelton last Friday night as they upset the Highclimbers in a battle for playoff prowess.

With the 27-10 win, NK shook up the top tier of the Bridge Division standings, knocking the Highclimbers out of a three-way tie. Leaving Gig Harbor and South Kitsap grappling for the top spot, NK jumped into a tie for third with Shelton, which it broke with the power of Friday night’s victory. GH takes the top seed by virtue of their regular-season win over SK.

The North victory is part of a late-season burst which has seen the Vikings to four wins in a row, including a 56-0 confidence booster over Bremerton at homecoming last week.

“(Shelton’s) first drive was big,” coach Steve Frease said, acknowledging his team’s attitude. “Our guys just had this sense that we could play with them.”

North’s defense made a strong statement early in the game. Combatting Shelton’s stellar ground game with a hard-nosed attack that allowed little yardage. After forcing Shelton to punt on its opening drive, NK came back on offense with a Greg Ottele field goal to get the scoring rolling.

On the kickoff, the Highclimbers answered with an assertion as Joe Espino took the kick 82 yards to the house enthusing the Shelton stands.

“You could feel the air get sucked out of our sideline,” Frease said of the TD.

But NK’s Jerrell Smith cut the celebration short as he hollered back, getting two-yards better. On the ensuing kickoff Smith took the ball 84 yards to the endzone leaping NK ahead, 10-7, and showing how special special teams can be.

“That answer kept our fire going,” Frease said.

Before the end of the first, Shelton booted a field goal to knot the score at 10.

North’s defensive line and the team behind them stepped up to the challenge of an ominous offensive line of Highclimbers in front of them.

Although Espino rushed for 146 yards on the game, NK held Shelton scoreless after the first quarter.

The teams stayed tied through most of the second quarter until Bubby Ditmer changed the tide, grabbing momentum along with an interception that he ran back into Shelton territory late in the half.

Paul Stock found Jamaal Smith for a 22-yard TD just before halftime. Stock completed only 4 of 12 for 91 yards with one interception, but coach Frease said the completions were key on an otherwise sloppy night for his quarterback.

Two of Stock’s four came on third-and-long downs when the Vikes needed them most.

In the third quarter, Greg Ottele kicked another field goal to up the score to 20-10. Then in the fourth, Stock scored a one-yard touchdown with the surge from his line to solidify the Vikings into the final playoff spot with a 27-10 win.

On that rainy Friday night, the Vikings were due. In the past two years, Shelton came out on top of monumental games, forcing NK out of the race. Two years ago, Shelton upset a powerful Viking squad, and last year the Highclimbers beat NK in Poulsbo costing them a share of the league title as well as a spot in the playoffs.

This year, the Vikings are headed to the 4A state preliminary round where they will face the South Puget Sound League’s top-seeded Puyallup Vikings (9-0) at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 5 at Sparks Stadium in Puyallup.