Left: With Colton Furlong getting ready to make a block, Sam O’Phelan gets ready to cut by the North Woods defender and gain about 8 yards on this play. Below left: Rory Bakke, on his back with the North Woods runner’s knees in his stomach, made first contact on this play. He was assisted on the tackle by Will Lamb (No. 7), Bradley Wilson (No. 26) Leo Johnson (No. 15) and Frankie Miller. Below right: Andrew Lashinski went up high to make this catch, then ran the ball in for the Vikings lone touchdown.
The much-anticipated home opener for the Vikings football team ended in some disappointment as the team lost 28-7 to the North Woods Grizzlies, a team that qualified for the state tournament last year.
It was the first time the Vikings lined up to play nine-man football, and the team showed that with a little bit better ability to finish, they can play with the better nine-man programs in the sections.
With the afternoon weather bordering on hot, North Woods took a 7-0 lead in the first quarter behind two long runs, the second a 40-yard scamper through the Vikings’ defense on a counter by Dan Holman which resulted in a touchdown. Their extra point kick was good.
It didn’t take the Vikings long to respond, as they ran off several short yardage plays before senior tight end Andrew Lashinski caught a short pass and ran to a touchdown. Following his run Lashinski kicked the extra point to knot the score 7-7.
North Woods scored a touchdown near the end of the first quarter but failed on the twopoint conversion, taking a 13-7 lead into the second quarter.
Although getting the ball deep into the Grizzlies’ territory on two occasions, the Vikings failed to score in the second quarter. Meanwhile North Woods ran the ball effectively and put another touchdown on the board to go into half time up 20-7.
Neither team did much in the third quarter as both defenses stiffened, which resulted in a lot of punting. North Woods added a final TD in the fourth quarter.
For the game Frankie Miller had 22 tackles, 10 of them unassisted and 5 of those for losses. Owen Anderson had one interception while the Vikings lost the ball three times to interceptions.
On offense the Vikings amassed 250 yards on the ground (Leo Johnson with 87 yards on 18 carries, and Sam with 74 yards on 13 carries). North Woods ended with 322 yards on the ground.
“We were held to 80 yards in the air,” said Coach Dorr. “Will Lamb had two catches for 47 yards and Andrew Lashinski caught a 12 yard TD pass.”
Following the game Coach Dorr said, “We learned a lot about the game. We need to make some adjustments with some blocking and some specific plays. I believe we learned a lot about the style of football we will be playing and we hope to improve this week versus Carlton.”
The Vikings next home game is September 11 against Ely.
Leave a Reply