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North Branch 23

Mora 0

Now that’s more like it.

After surrendering 54 points over their last two games, the North Branch defense was issued a challenge at the beginning of last week by Joel Swanson- be more aggressive or else!!!

The consequences were many. Lose the game, a homecoming game no less. Lose their spot at the top of the conference standings....No question, Swanson wasn’t mixing words when addressing his defense. They needed to step up, which is exactly what they did. Playing in front of a full house, the Vikings stormed past the Mora Mustangs, thanks to a defensive effort second to none. When the game was over, the Vikings defense had held the Mustangs to 106 yards of total offense (only 56 yards rushing), forced Mora to punt eight times, forced two turnovers, finished with two sacks, and no points allowed. The last statistic is easily the most important and impressive.

“Defensively, they played their best game all year,” said Swanson. North Branch football head coach. “We talked about the fact that we needed to be more aggressive up front and we were. We were very passive against Foley up front. Let’s face it, we’re going to be smaller than any team we face so we have to physical and aggressive to make up for that.”

Small, maybe, but the Vikings played large. Take the first quarter for example. Mora spent most of the quarter with the ball, compiling most of their 53 first half yards during that stretch. North Branch bent but they didn’t break, allowing the Mustangs to drive but never score. At the end of the first, the game was still scoreless.

It was a major turning point in the game, because from that point on, the Vikings offense joined the party, leaving the Mustangs in their dust.

North Branch got on the board for the first time less than a minute into the second quarter. Avoiding the rush, junior quarterback Matt Warren hooked up with Tony Watters for a 17-yard touchdown reception. The bomb put the Vikings in the drivers seat with a 7-0 lead.

They weren’t done either. Late in the quarter, Adam Gades added to the lead, first by scoring on a one yard touchdown run, then by nailing a 22-yard field goal with no time on the clock, pushing the Viking lead to 17-0 at the break.

“You live by the blitz and you die by the blitz,” remarked Swanson. “They were blitzing us almost every play. Our first score was on a blitz. Matt did a nice job avoiding the rush and those poor guys were left with single coverage and Tony was able to make the catch. Our offense came together in the second quarter. Our defense kept us in the game until that point. We just started to settle down and do the little things on both sides of the ball.”

Defense would once again reign supreme in the second half for the Vikings, holding Mora to a jaw-dropping 53 yards of total offense, including zero yards through the air. As for the Vikings on offense, Matt Warren struck blood for the second time in the game with 8:27 left in the third, scoring on a one-yard touchdown run, moving the score to 23-0 after three complete.

Mora never knew what hit them. Trying desperately to come back, the Mustangs attempted nine passes in the second half and all nine were incomplete. In short, the Vikings didn’t just close the door, they nailed it shut en route to a 23-0 win. The victory moved the Vikings record to 3-1 on the season.

“I thought we came out with a lot of fire and energy. We’ve had a lot of guys step up this season, we’ve dealt with a lot of injuries, had to switch some kids around,” replied Swanson, commenting on the Vikings season record. “We just need to continue to grow. Princeton is our focus now. They are a very good ball club and we’ll need to play our best game of the year.”

Or repeat Friday’s performance. That will also do.

North Branch 23

Mora 0

1 2 3 4 F

Mora 0 0 0 0 0

North Branch 0 17 6 0 23

Scoring:

First Quarter-

No scoring

Second Quarter-

NB- Watters 17 yrd. TD rec.

(Kick good) 7-0

NB- Gades 1 yrd. TD run

(Kick good) 14-0

NB- Gades 22 yrd. ` 17-0

Third Quarter-

NB- Warren 1 yrd. TD run

(Kick failed) 23-0

Fourth Quarter-

No scoring

North Branch statistics:

Passing-

Warren- 8-15, 101 yrds., TD

Rushing-

Gades- 21 rush, 84 yrds., TD

Warren- 9 rush, 47 yrds., TD

Frich- 4 rush, 6 yrds.

Hutchings- 4 rush, 33 yrds.

Grandt- 3 rush, 17 yrds.

Cofell- 1 rush, 2 yrds.

Receiving-

Moore- 2 rec., 40 yrds.

Watters- 2 rec., 25 yrds., TD

Hutchings- 2 rec., 17 yrds.

Beaver- 1 rec., 16 yrds.

Gades- 1 rec., 3 yrds.

Sacks-

M. Carlson- 1.5

Haley- .5

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