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The North Branch football Vikings held the high-scoring Spring Lake Park Panthers to seven points for more than a quarter. However, despite the slow start, SLP got rolling in the second period, took a 35-0 halftime lead and overwhelmed the Vikings in a 67-0 win. The one-sided victory kept the Panthers undefeated atop the North Suburban Conference and NB winless on the season.

Kirk Dahle took the opening kickoff to the Viking 23 on the game's first play. On NB's first possession, Chad Anderson lost two yards first down, Sam Kalkbrenner gained them back on second and quarterback Cole Wilcoxen never controlled the snap on third down before being tackled for another loss.

On fourth down, Dahle punted and SLP returned it to the Viking 28. Six plays later, the Panthers took the lead on a one-yard TD run. After kicking the extra point, Park had a 7-0 lead with 7:28 remaining.

The Vikings began their second drive from the 21 after Dahle returned his second kickoff. Anderson went up the middle for two, 1-yard gains, making it third and eight. On third down, Wilcoxen faked to Kalkbrenner going left, then headed around right end and up the sideline for 10 yards and a first down on the 33.

The North Branch crowd made a lot of noise on its first opportunity for optimism. Wilcoxen overthrew Dahle on first down before Kalkbrenner's eight-yard run gave the Vikings a second-and-short. But, the crowd was more subdued after the Panther defense stuffed Anderson's third down run for no gain.

Dahle's second punt, and a holding call on the return, set SLP up on their own 32. Eric Sampson tackled a Panther running back for no gain on first down. Second and third down incompletions gave the Viking crowd another reason to cheer...and they did.

On fourth down, Chad Anderson fielded a Panther punt and returned it to the Viking 42. The Park defense rose up and forced losses on three consecutive plays. The return of the Viking punt gave Spring Lake Park a first down just one yard short of midfield as the first quarter ended. The number one rated Panthers led 7-0.

Spring Lake Park grabbed the momentum with gains of 6, 10 and 9 yards on the next three plays. Viking head coach Dave Eyre called a time out with the ball on the 26. After play resumed, SLP came to the line with a second and one from the Viking 26. Seeing a six man defensive front, the Panther quarterback stepped back into the pocket and threw to a wide open receiver streaking down the center of the field. At the 10:51 mark, Park took a 14-0 lead.

Danny Schoess snared the next kickoff on the second bounce and wound his way to the 27. The fired-up Panther defense strung together three consecutive tackles for losses. SLP returned the Viking punt to the 26. Two plays later, the Panthers ran the same play they used to score their second touchdown, with the same results. With 7:26 remaining in the half, it was 21-0.

From that point, the SLP defense dominated the line of scrimmage. Even when the Vikings recovered a Panther fumble, the home team was unable to generate any consistent offense. Park scored twice more before the half and went into the break with a 35-0 advantage.

In the second half, with reserves from each team getting a lot of playing time, the Panthers gobbled up the yardage. SLP scored four more touchdowns and Viking mistakes led to a pair of safetys. When the clock showed nothing but zeroes, the scoreboard read Visitors 67, North Branch 0.

SCORING SUMMARY

North Branch 0 0 0 0 0

Sp. Lk. Park 7 28 23 9 67

The Vikings close out their home schedule by hosting defending 4A state champion Totino-Grace Friday, October 5 at 7 p.m.

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