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By Cynthia Scott
North Branch rolled up 327 yards of offense while holding the St. Louis Park Orioles to 181 yards as the Vikings tallied their first win of the season 28-14 in front of a home crowd on Sept. 16.
Matt Warren threw three touchdown passes, two to Justin Novak and one to Mike Carlson.
The first TD pass to Novak was a 13-yard completion that capped off an impressive opening drive. That gave the Vikings a 7-0 lead, but the Orioles tied the score with a 65-yard bomb near the end of the first quarter from Stephen Runyon to Josh Swartout. Runyon and Swartout hooked up again in the second quarter to put St. Louis Park ahead 14-7. The Vikings tied the score at 14 when Warren found Mike Carlson for a 15 yard touchdown.
The Orioles fumbled less than a minute into the third quarter, and Jake Chambers scooped up the ball and ran with it for a 40 yard touchdown, putting the Vikings ahead for good at 21-14.
North Branchís final score came early in the fourth quarter when Warren hit Novak again on a 41 yard pass.
The Vikes also turned around the turnover habit that had plagued them in their two previous games. In those games, the Vikings fumbled 10 times, losing 7. Against the Orioles, the Vikings had no fumbles. However, there was one costly interception that set up one of the Oriolesí touchdowns.
Coach Joel Swanson was pleased with the improvement of his squad in every aspect of the game. He praised the offense for mixing the run with the pass. Defensively, he credited the team with being able to stop the Oriolesí ìbig playî offense.
ìComing in, we felt most of their scores came on big plays of 30 yards or more. Really, I think we only gave up one big gainer, on the 65 yard touchdown pass,î he said.
This Friday the Vikings travel to St. Louis Park to take on the Benilde-St. Margaretís Red Knights in their homecoming game. Last week the Red Knights lost 35-34 in overtime to Chisago Lakes.
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