Top: A hallmark of Viking football is gang tackling. Here Rory Bakke (left), Owen Anderson and Colton Furlong (right) work together to take down the Littlefork-Big Falls ball carrier. Left: Owen Anderson made a leaping catch on this ball despite the defender’s best attempts to break up the pass. Above: Jack Wieben stiff-arms the would-be tackler as he scampers for a big gain.
The Cook County Vikings entered the playoffs fresh off a win against Northeast Range in a game played at home on October 9.
Coming off a narrow loss to Silver Bay the week before, the 4-3 Vikings left nothing to chance as they took an early lead and pulled away to win 51-0 in their last regularly scheduled game of the season.
After taking a 22-0 lead in the first half, Owen Anderson returned the second half opening kickoff up the middle of the field, weaving his way through would-be tacklers all the way into the endzone to end any hopes the Nighthawks might have had of getting back into the game.
The Vikings scored two more touchdowns and Andrew Lashinski kicked a 37-yard field goal in the third quarter to completely put the game out of reach. Head Coach Mitch Dorr brought in his younger players after that but they held the shutout throughout the fourth quarter.
Rory Bakke led Viking rushers with 92 yards on 8 carries, averaging 11.5 yards per carry. Sam O’Phelan carried 15 times, gaining 65 yards and scoring a touchdown. Josh Prom rushed for 47 yards on 8 carries and scored a TD while Leo Johnson carried 7 times for 43 yards and scored two touchdowns. Jack Wieben gained 18 yards on 5 carries, scoring a touchdown and Dillon Sjogren ran for 11 yards on two carries. Ethan Sporn gained 6 yards on one carry.
Leo Johnson completed 4 of 6 passes for 86 yards. Andrew Lashinski caught two passes for 52 yards, Owen Anderson picked up 19 yards on a catch and Josh Prom caught one ball for 15 yards. Johnson finished the game with a 118.2 quarterback rating.
Bakke also led the team in tackles with 3 unassisted and 11 assisted for 14 tackles. Frankie Miller had 4 unassisted tackles and 8 assisted while Lashinki finished with 2 unassisted tackles and assisted on 9. Colton Thompson ended with 10 tackles, Owen Anderson and Dylan Works 7 tackles; Ethan Sporn 6 tackles (4 unassisted), Leo Johnson and Riley Somnis had 5 tackles, Billy Hackett 3; and the following players each had one tackle, Noah Roth,
One thing was guaranteed in this Section 7 9-man game; the Vikings were going to win.
But which Viking team was that? Well, that had to be decided on the field and after the first quarter it was clear the Cook County Vikings were the superior team.
The 5-3 Cook County High School Vikings faced the 3-5 Littlefork-Big Falls (LFBF) Vikings at home on Tuesday, October 13 in front of a sparse crowd on a cold night where you could see your breath by game’s end and couldn’t feel your toes if you were silly enough to be wearing tennis shoes.
Early on both teams exchanged fumbles before Jack Wieben picked up a loose ball and took it to LFBF’s five-yard line. Rory Bakke took it across the line on the Vikings’ first play and the CCHS Vikings led 6-0 after the point-after (PAT) kick failed.
With 2:40 to go in the first quarter Leo Johnson threw a perfect pass to Owen Anderson for a 20-yard gain, which put the ball on LFBF’s 13-yard line. Behind some nice upfront blocking, Sam O’Phelan got free and scampered in for a 13-yard TD run. This time Andrew Lashinski’s kick was good and the Vikings led 13-0.
As time ran out in the first quarter Leo Johnson hit Lashinski in stride across the middle and the Vikings’ big tight end ran in for a TD from about the 38-yard line. The PAT failed and the Vikings were up 19-0 going into the second quarter.
Littlefork’s one nice offensive series came in the second quarter when they converted a long pass to the CC Vikings’ one-yard line. After our defense stopped them on two runs they threw for a touchdown and trailed 19-6. Eut that was all LFBF would do offensively, and defensively the Vikings broke them down behind a nice mix of passing, power running by Jack Wieben, Bakke and O’Phelan, and some good gains on the ground by Johnson who occasionally ran with the ball when he wasn’t throwing perfect passes.
The Vikings’ next touchdowns came this way: Wieben ran for 35 yards to score and Lashinski’s PAT was good, pushing the Vikings’ lead to 26-6. Next Wieben caught a short touchdown pass from Johnson right before the half and the PAT was no good to give the Vikings a 32-6 lead at the break.
In the third quarter Bakke broke free for a 65-yard run before being tackled at LFBF’s five-yard line. Bakke ran it across the line on the next play and the Vikings led 39-6 as Lashinski converted his PAT. Still in the third quarter, Johnson hit Anderson for a 17-yard TD and with the PAT the Vikings were up 46-6.
For much of the fourth quarter Coach Dorr put in substitutes. Freshman Josh Prom came in and ran the offense very effectively, showing his good speed on a half a dozen carries, including one run for a TD to make the final score 53-6 after the PAT was good.
The Vikings move on to play Northwoods in a rematch of their first game on Saturday, October 17 at 2 p.m. in Northwoods. Although the Vikings lost that game, they are much improved, with several players back on the roster that were out for that contest.
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