Above: Peter Warren (33) talks to his teammates during a break in the action. Warren, a running back, scored a 50-yard touchdown run against Deer River and had an all-around great game against the Warriors. Right: Mike Sjogren showed again his ability to get up for big games as he led the Vikings in a furious comeback against Deer River, catching a pass for a touchdown and running a kick back 89 yards for a TD. Far right: Dylan Quaife (10) scored the Vikings’ first touchdown of the game against Deer River on a 9-yard run.
The Cook County Viking football team’s season came to an end last Saturday, October 29, when they traveled to Deer River to face the always-tough Warriors in a Section 7A semi-final play-off game.
With each team sporting only one loss and a long history of hard-fought games between them, fans knew they were in for an entertaining game and the players on the field didn’t disappoint.
Each team scored on its first possession. Deer River used a 13-play drive and converted its extra point while the Vikings used 6 plays and converted its extra point to tie the game 7-7. Senior running back Dylan Quaife scored the Vikings’ first touchdown on a nifty 9-yard run.
The second quarter saw lots of great defense. Deer River managed to score a touchdown early and missed the extra point. Cook County couldn’t score and the two teams went into halftime with the Vikings down 13-7.
Third quarter action saw the Warriors score a touchdown and an extra point to take a 21-7 lead. The Vikings fumbled the ball to the Warriors three times in the quarter and only a late 50-yard touchdown run by Peter Warren brought the Vikings back into the game, trailing 21-13 going into the fourth quarter.
The fourth quarter was a flurry of scoring as Deer River ran for three touchdowns on 24 offensive plays and the Vikings scored two touchdowns on passes of 35 yards and 25 yards while using 16 offensive plays.
Early in the final quarter the Warriors went up 28-13 on a 20-yard run by Nick Schimek, his second TD of the game.
Deer River extended its lead to 35-13 on a one-yard run by Damon Benham. This was Benham’s third touchdown of the game and it looked like the Vikings were through for the night.
But all of that changed on the next play when Mike Sjogren returned the kickoff 89 yards to make it 35-20, giving the Vikings new life.
With the defense stepping up, Deer River’s offense was finally shut down and they punted the ball back to the Vikings. A couple of plays later Viking quarterback Kale Boomer hit Sjogren with a 35-yard touchdown pass to make it 35-26. The extra point kick was no good.
Despite their best efforts, the Vikings’ defense couldn’t stop Deer River and the Warriors added 6 more points to their total and led 41-26 late in the game.
The Vikings never quit though, and came back with one more touchdown on a 29-yard pass from Boomer to Quaife. Again the extra point try was no good and the final score was 41-32 in favor of Deer River.
For the day the Vikings generated 256 yards of total offense while giving up 348 offensive yards to Deer River. Deer River led the turnover ratio 5-1.
Following the game, Head Coach Mitch Dorr said, “I was really proud of the way our guys fought throughout the game. We fought hard and at one time were down by three scores. We then came back to get within six points. We just turned the ball over too many times, and you just can’t do that against a great team like Deer River.”
Deer River went into the game as the 3rd ranked team in Class A; the Vikings ranked 9th in statewide polls. Coming into this game Deer River was 7-1 and the Vikings 6-1 for the season.
While the season ended sooner than anyone would have liked (except Deer River), Dorr was proud of his players.
“What a fantastic group of young men to work with. It was a blessing to work with such a selfless group of guys. We had great team chemistry all year long and our guys bought into our program’s philosophy of ‘Fear No One, Love Each Other.’ This group will be remembered for years as their closeness brought Cook County their 12th Conference Championship and one of the most memorable games in Vikings’ history versus Ogilvie on Homecoming night.”
Six seniors will graduate from this year’s team: Dylan Quaife, Gunnar Anderson, Bradley VanDoren, Hunter Farley, Jordan Lack and Mike Sjogren, and Dorr had plenty to say about them, “All six young men gave their heart and soul to our program. From two wins just three years ago to a Conference Championship, they were selfless, determined, and all leaders in their own way. I am so very proud of these guys and they will be remembered for years to come. They truly are ‘Men Built for Others.’”
Deer River faced Braham on Thursday, November 3; the winner of that game will advance to the state play-offs. Braham defeated Ogilvie 32-6 in Section 7A semi-finals play.
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