Viking quarterback Kale Boomer ran hard against the Esko Eskomos last Friday, September 2. Here he follows the lead block of Peter Warren as he scampers for about 5 yards. Although the Vikings played hard, they lost 42-14 to their Division 3A rivals. Esko suited up almost three times more players than the Vikings for this game.
The Cook County High School Vikings opened their season at home Sept. 2 on Lyle Anderson Field against the Esko Eskomos and lost to their rival 42-14.
Although disappointed, Head Coach Mitch Dorr said, “I thought Kale Boomer ran hard and with purpose and I thought Bradley VanDoren really fought hard on the offensive and defensive line.
“Mike Sjogren also had a great game. They are our three captains and they played like it. We need some other guys now to step up and answer the bell when the going gets tough.”
But Esko should be the Vikings’ toughest test of the year. As the Esko School has increased in size—it is now a 3A school—the Vikings have lost enrollment and are only one student away from being eligible to play 9-man football.
For the game, Esko suited up 74 players while the Vikings suited up 26.
Senior quarterback Max Reinersten led the Esko attack. Last year Reinersten rushed for nearly 1,200 yards and passed for 977 yards. His allaround play, coupled with talented position players at the fullback, halfback and wide receiver slots, were too much for the Vikings to handle. Esko led 20-0 at half-time and 34-0 through three quarters.
Although he’s fast, Viking fullback Peter Warren doesn’t mind lowering his shoulder and running through a would-be tackler, as he did here when he ran over this Esko defender to score the Vikings’ first touchdown. Warren also scored the Vikings’ other touchdown on a short yardage run.
First half jitters, some miscues and good defensive play by Esko kept the Vikings off the board through the first three quarters. But as the Vikings started to gain some confidence and adjust to the speed of play, their offense started to click. And true, Esko was substituting some second tier players on defense, but as the Vikings got closer to scoring, Esko Head Coach Bill Hudspith inserted his starting unit back into the game but they couldn’t stop the Vikings from scoring.
The Vikings, behind the fleet feet of Kale Boomer, Peter Warren, Colin Everson and Mike Sjogren, ran off a good dozen plays as they marched in for a touchdown at the start of the fourth quarter. Sjogren ran for much of the yardage behind the blocking of Everson and Warren. Boomer also mixed the plays up well and ran when necessary, keeping the defense at bay by changing his snap counts and misdirection on his hand-offs.
Esko nearly scored on the next play on a long kick-off return that almost went the distance. Two plays later they ran in a touchdown to end their scoring. The Vikings had one last drive, which resulted in a score. The Vikings converted a two-point run and ended up with 14 points.
Dorr said the biggest blow of the night was losing Clay Johnson to a knee injury. “He is the anchor of our offensive line and a fine defensive end. We will have to work hard this week to fill those holes. We are not certain about the extent of the injury.”
The Vikings’ next three games will be on the road. They face Mesabi East next week.
Summing up the game, Dorr said, “It was a disappointing game in the fact that we made a lot of mental mistakes. They were numerous and it really hurt us. Esko has a fine team, but we really were not mentally prepared to compete. We have to be more disciplined as a team and we must get much tougher mentally.”
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