Quick work by Ryan Christiansen (33) and another Viking tackler stop the Cromwell quarterback in his tracks on this play. Should the quarterback have escaped he would have been met head on by Vaughn Swindelhurst (34) who split the blockers and was making a beeline for him. Staff photo/Brian Larsen
With snow outlining Lyle Anderson field last Friday night, and temps in the twenties, hearty fans watched as heartier football players played an entertaining game of football.
With the score knotted at zeros just before the end of the first quarter, a Cromwell-Wright running back barreled through the Viking line and ran for a touchdown. The extra two-point conversion was good and Cromwell led 8-0 with 21 seconds to play in the quarter.
Following the kick-off, the Vikings took over on their 20-yard line and just before the clock closed out the first quarter, Aram Falter took a hand-off, broke two tackles and raced 80 yards for a score. After failing on the two-point try the Vikings were down 8-6, but it was plain to see this was going to be an exciting game.
Behind the strong running of their quarterback, Jaeger Goranson and a bevy of big backs, Cromwell controlled the ball for much of the second quarter. Cromwell scored a touchdown with about four minutes to play in the half, taking a 14-6 lead after failing on their two-point try. However, the Viking wasted little time in striking back.
After taking the kickoff to the 30, the Vikings offense took over. Using a mixture of short passes and nice runs by Dorr, Falter, and Kole Anderson, the Vikings steadily moved the ball down the field and scored, with Anderson punching it across the goal line. Once again Cromwell stopped the two-point try, keeping Dorr from scoring on a run. The two teams went into half-time 14-12.
Behind its methodical running game, Cromwell scored a touchdown in the third quarter to go up 20-12. The Cardinal defense kept the Vikings from the endzone for the rest of the quarter.
In the fourth quarter, with 9:57 remaining, sophomore linebacker Kole Anderson met the Cromwell ball carrier near the line of scrimmage on fourth down and inches and the Vikings took over on downs. Anderson’s big hit was just one of many delivered during the evening. Patrick Pierre made several monster tackles and Isaiah Deschampe and Vaughn Swindelhurst also made some pad-popping hits during the game.
After a short run, two incomplete passes and a pitch to Falter that came up short, Cromwell took over on downs with 8:19 to play. Starting at the Vikings 30, Goranson ran on every play. Slowly and methodically, the Cardinal ate up the clock as Goranson, running behind his big fullback, gained one first down after another. With 2:41 left and the Cardinal on the Vikings 20, it seemed hopeless, but then Goranson coughed up the ball and the Vikings recovered.
With 80 yards of field in front of them and the clock decidedly not on their side, Dorr went to the air. His first pass was incom- plete and Paul fumbled the ball on second down but recovered. Now it was third down and the Vikings needed a big play. And they got one. Dorr threw a perfect pass to Ryan Christiansen who ran by the Cromwell defenders to score a touchdown. Once again the Vikings were stopped on their two-point try, but the score was 21-18 and there was more than one minute left to play. Sadly, after what looked like a great on-side kick by Kole Anderson—the ball bouncing high into the air after he punched it into the ground– it was caught by Vaughn Swindelhurst nine yards down the field, one yard short of a legal on-side kick. Cromwell took over. With time running down to zero, Goranson busted through the Vikings line to score a meaningless touchdown, ending a very exciting game in Cromwell’s favor 27-18.
Viking stats:
Cromwell gained 330 yards on the ground to 116 for the Vikings. Aram Falter carried 18 times for 99 yards. Paul Dorr rushed five time for nine yards and Kole Anderson ran three times for eight yards.
Paul Dorr completed eight of 17 passes for 152 yards, throwing one touchdown pass and one interception. Cromwell QB Goranson was four of eight for 24 yards.
Shaun Brozek caught five passes for 42 yards. Ryan Christiansen had two catches for 84 yards and Kole Anderson caught one ball for 15 yards.
The Vikings were penalized five times for 37 yards while Cromwell had two penalties for a loss of 15 yards.
Kole Anderson led the defense with 20 tackles. He also recovered one fumble.
Patrick Pierre and Vaughn Swindelhurst each had 12 tackles, with Patrick forcing one fumble. Ryan Christiansen, Jonathan Huskey, and Aram Falter each had nine tackles, with Huskey recovering a fumble. Danny Deschampe and Shaun Brozek each had four tackles, with Danny forcing a fumble on a big hit. Jacob Dorr had three tackles, Ario Christiansen two and Isaac Sandstrom one tackle.
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