For the second week in a row the Vikings took to the field against a cross town rival that was yet to lose a game.  The West Warriors invaded Highlander Stadium 3-0-1 with their only blemish coming in a tie against Troy Smith in their season opener.  The Vikings were fresh off a 26-6 shellacking of previous unbeaten Hart. To date, the Viking defense has been virtually impenetrable allowing just one touchdown in its 4 games.

The game started with an unusual play, Kyle Niswonger’s kickoff fell well in front of the West deep return man, the Warrior players did not react and Niswonger raced down the field and fell on it to give the Viking’s the opening kickoff on the West 34. Unfortunately the Vikings lost 9 yards on a 4th and 3 run and West avoided an early disaster.

France made a huge play on a second down blitz resulting in a 14 yard loss and the first quarter ended 0-0.  The Vikings could not move the ball and were forced to punt the ball back to West.

The Warriors partially blocked the punt and took over again with good field position starting at their own 45. On third down and 1 the defense stiffened. Littleson forced a fumble which was recovered by West but resulted in a 3 yard loss and another West punt.

This time the Vikings took over deep in their own end. After Niswonger ran 5 yards on a keeper, Quad France sprinted 60 yards on a run that took VH deep into Warrior territory. France had little time to catch his breath and took the next carry 18 yards into the end zone to break the scoreless deadlock. A Niswonger run for the XP made it 8-0.

West had one more chance before the half but could not muster a first down.  The big play by the Viking defense came when Tanner Kalvalage broke up a 3^rd down pass. The first half ended with the Vikings up 8-0.

West simply could not move the ball on the Viking defense. The Warriors were 3 and out on their first drive of the second half, Steven Ploog and Alex Lang teamed on a big play for no gain and West got the ball right back when the Vikings could not handle the Warrior punt. But again the defense stood tall. Niswonger made a tackle for no gain and he recovered a West fumble on 3^rd down.  

There was no scoring in the 3^rd quarter, the Vikings big play was a 15 yard Niswonger to Christian Wolanin pass play and the continued impressive play of the defense.

West got only its second first down of the entire game on an 11 yard run and then self destructed, Littleson and France teamed for a 5 yard loss and then Warriors were hit with a 5 yard penalty for a forward lateral and a 15 yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.

The Vikings took over after a West punt and Niswonger sealed the deal with a 44 yard scamper on the first play from scrimmage. The XP failed and it was 14-0 Vikings.

Mike Pelino made a nice one handed tackle on the kick return preventing a big return and again West could not move the ball. Austin Rogers and Justin Flynn carried on the final drive to run out the clock and the Vikings wrapped up another shutout 14-0.

Vikings wake up in 2^nd half of 22-0 romp

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After two convincing home wins the Vikings traveled to Troy to take on the Smith Knights.  Smith entered the game 1-0-1 and was coming off a shutout win over Reuther last week while the Vikings took to the field with an unblemished 2008 record following two convincing wins over Smith’s cross town rivals.

Smoke billowed across the field during the first half. It turned out that the smoke was coming from a backyard near the field and not from the Viking offense which sputtered throughout the first half. The Viking faithful had to be wondering if the boys were looking ahead to next week’s big game against undefeated Hart.

The Vikings started with the ball on their own 35, after scratching out one first down a Niswonger pass was intercepted giving the Knights the ball deep in Van Hoosen territory. The Viking defense rose to the occasion with Niswonger, Alex Lang and Ben Limb all making tackles to snuff out the Smith drive.

Just before the half, Niswonger ran 15 yards and Christian Wolanian added 12 on an end around and the Vikings were knocking on the door, however, they were unable to get one across and the teams went into the half deadlocked at 0-0.

Smith got the ball to start the second half. Tackles by Lang, Niswonger and Chris Sung forced Smith to drop back into punt formation. Then lightening struck…………Quad France grabbed the Smith punt on one hop and did his best Devin Hester imitation racing over 60 yards for the touchdown. Niswonger converted the extra point and the Vikings led 8-0.

Finally the Vikings seemed to show some life. Smith took over and the Viking defense forced a quick 3 and out which featured a Zach Littleson tackle for an 8 yard Smith loss. Surprisingly the Knights punted the ball back to France who ripped off another 25 yard return. Littleson busted one up the gut for 20 yards to start the drive and after several other runs for positive yardage Michael Pelino carried the ball 9 yards into the end zone. The extra point failed and the Vikings led 14-0.

The defense forced another Smith 3 and out on the next drive. Steven Ploog made two tackles and Justin Flynn forced an incomplete pass.

The Vikings took over on the own 26, after an incomplete pass, Littleson ripped off a 14 yard run. With the Knights thinking run Niswonger hit France with a pass that France turned into a 44 yard completion with some impressive yardage after the catch. Niswonger tacked on another score with a 14 yard keeper. Justin Flynn followed a Norris block for the 2 point conversion and it was 22-0 Vikings.

The Vikings returned to the gridiron on Wednesday looking for a second straight win over a visiting team from Troy. The home crowd was looking for some early excitement to get the blood warming on a cold fall day which was perfect for football. The Vikings did not disappoint.  This was a day for the defense which stepped up with big plays resulting in Rebel losses and turnovers throughout the game.

The Vikings kicked off and the defense got right to work quickly stuffing two Larson running plays. On third and long Quad France intercepted a Rebel pass which gave the Vikings outstanding field possession on the Larson 17. Four plays later Kyle Niswonger trotted into the end zone to get the Vikings on the board and he followed with a run for the 2 point conversion staking the Vikings to the 8-0 lead.

The defense stood tall again, after Alex Lang made a great tackle for a 4 yard loss, Ben Limb broke through the line to

The Boulan Broncos galloped into town to take on the new look Vikings in Wednesday’s heavy weight season opener for both teams. 

Boulan started with the ball and the Viking defense forced a quick 3 and out for the Broncos. The Viking offense took to the field for the first time in 2008 and efficiently marched on a 6 play 53 yard drive which resulted in the first touchdown of the year.  Following a nifty 20 yard run by Quad France on an option play, Mike Pelino carried the ball 14 yards into the end zone to get the Vikings on the board. Kyle Niswonger completed the 2 point conversion to stake the Vikings to the 8-0 lead.

nice 16 yard run with a 40 yard scamper for the Vikings second TD. The Vikings completed the 2 point conversion and led 16-0.

Niswonger forced a fumble on the ensuing kick return and the Viking offense rumbled back onto the field. The offense struck quickly again. Niswonger hit France for 26 yards on the team’s first pass completion of the year and that set up a Littleson 6 yard run to make it 22-0 Vikings.  The two point conversion failed.

Following another sluggish offensive series by the Broncos the Vikings took over on their own 26 and marched the length of the field in 8 plays. Five separate Vikings carried the ball on the drive which featured a 14 yard run by France and a 22 yard touchdown run up the middle by Littleson. The 2 point conversion was good and the Vikings cruised into halftime with a commanding 30-0 lead.

Special recognition to the starting offensive line of ( Alex Lang, Jamie Carlstedt, Tanner Kalvalage, Ben Limb and Fulton ZInser ) who led the way to a dominate first half and over 200 yards of total offense for the Vikings.

The second half saw less scoring. The Vikings tacked on another score on a 3 play drive which included a nice 24 yard run by Pelino, a 14 yard run by Littleson and a 36 yard touchdown run by Niswonger. Justin Flynn ran across the 2 point conversion to make it 38-0 Vikings.