With five minutes left to play both the coaches for Cook County and Nicollet Raiders met at the middle of the Esko football field and agreed to cancel the rest of the game due to lightning.
In reality, the Friday, Sept. 14 game was already over. The Vikings were up 36-6 against the Raiders, a nine-man team located between New Ulm and Mankato.
The great distance between the two teams necessitated that the game be played at Esko, and was called a home game for the Vikings. Still, the contest between the teams was much closer than the final score would indicate.
Neither team scored in the first quarter, but the Vikings put points on the board early in the second quarter after Ethan Sporn ran back a punt 50 yards to the Nicollet five-yard line. Two plays later the Vikings scored when Josh Prom carried the ball in on a quarterback keeper. Prom also ran in the twopoint conversion to put the Vikings up 8-0.
Nicollet received the kickoff and promptly marched down the field to the Vikings’ 13-yard line before being stopped on downs and the Vikings took over. The Vikings worked their way downfield mostly behind runs by Prom and Sporn. Prom completed a nice pass to Jack Haussner for about 20 yards during this series.
Sporn scored on a seven yard dash into the end zone. The two-point conversion failed. The Vikings went into the locker room up 14-0.
Sporn immediately picked up where he left off early in the third quarter, sprinting by Raider defenders to score after running 42 yards. He also ran in the two-point conversion.
The Viking defense rose to the occasion on the next series as the Raiders passed and ran the ball to the Vikings’ one-yard line.
Four plays later the Vikings took over at their four-yard line. An errant throw by Prom led to the Vikings’ lone turnover as the defender took the ball to the Vikings’ three-yard line. Jon Mans ran it in for the Raiders, and the Vikings led 22-6 when the Raiders two-point conversion was stopped.
Sporn rushed for another TD late in the third period on a 14-yard scamper around the end. The Vikings’ two-point conversion failed, and the team was up 28-6.
Prom scampered in from 17 yards out in the fourth quarter, and Dillon Sjogren ran in the twopoint conversion.
The Vikings were now up 36-6 as the sky filled with clouds and lightning. The game was called soon after.
For the game the Vikings gained 341 yards of total offense to Nicollet’s 240 yards. The Vikings ran 51 plays on offense while Nicollet ran 58. Neither team had a fumble, but Andrew Miller and Jack Haussner each had interceptions to kill Raider drives.
Prom was 6-10 through the air for 110 yards and one interception. Nicollet gained 162 yards through the air.
Time of possession went to the Raiders with 31 minutes to the Vikings’ 17 minutes. The Vikings gained 17 first downs to Nicollet’s 11.
On defense, Dillon Sjogren led the team with 11.5 tackles. Prom finished with 8, Sporn 7.5, Haussner 6, Connor Somnis 5, Andrew Miller 3.5, Joe Deschampe 3, Keenan Hingos 2.5 with 5 assists, Jordan Porter 2, Vaughn Swindlehurst 1.5, Caide Northrup 1.5, and Levi Shiels and Adam Dorr each had .5 tackles.
The 3-0 Vikings are currently ranked eighth at state in the nine-man division.
They play Northwoods tonight, Friday, Sept. 21 at 5 p.m. The next and last home game for the Vikings will be played on October 12 against Mountain Iron- Buhl with the game starting at 7 p.m. Come out and cheer for your Vikings!
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