Vikings collect awards after 4-6 campaign

The North Branch football squad had one of their most successful years in recent memory and they owe a lot of that to a few of their senior leaders. The Vikes’ award banquet had plenty of praise to go around for some of those leaders. Chief among them was senior quarterback Zack Sundly. Sundly was voted as the team’s most valuable player as well as All-North Suburban Conference after his, at times, superhuman senior campaign. He rushed for 1,886 yards, including a school record 315 in one game.

He also was 23-of-60 passing for 364 yards. He accounted for 2,290 total yards and 20 touchdowns as the North Branch offense chewed up ground yardage. His total moved him to second place all time for rushing yards in school history. His career total of 2,731 fell short of only 1999 grad Zack Kartak, who had 3,228. Sundly was also a stud in the class, earning Academic All-Conference and was a recipient of the MSHSL Spotlight on Scholarship Award. Sundly didn’t just do it by himself either. Senior fullback Rance Ashley, who was the primary read in the Vikings option attack, finished the year with 889 yards and 11 touchdowns. His bruising and punishing style complemented Sundly’s shiftiness perfectly and the two teams up for some big runs. His 228 yards in one game this year registered as the sixth highest single game total in NB history. Ashley was also awarded All-Conference for his efforts, as well as being named the team’s offensive player of the year. Other All-North Suburban Conference performers for the Vikings were Jake Schmitz and Mason Niederkorn. Those two were big reasons that the Vikings ran for over 3,100 yards on the season.

And the two couldn’t have been more different in how they went about clearing blockers. Schmitz, a tackle listed in the program as 6’3”, 222 pounds, was a road grader. Punishing defensive ends and linebackers who got in his way and moving defenders out with sheer force. Schmitz also won North Branch’s Viking Award. Niederkorn is generously listed at 5’7”, 155 pounds, but that didn’t stop him from getting under opponents and moving them with technique. At center, he was matched up against some huge nose tackles in the NSC, and each one was surprised the first time Niederkorn hit them and cleared them out. The Vikings had three All-NSC Honorable mentions, linebacker Brandon Thauwald, offensive lineman Chaz Anderson and defensive tackle Gunnar Kane. Anderson was also a part of that punishing offensive line,  Thauwald -- who was also voted the teams defensive player of the year -- led the team with 88 tackles, an interception and a sack, and Kane anchored the defensive line with 28 tackles while eating up blockers.

A few other notable performers for the Vikings were Tony Denn, who had 711 total yards on offense and six touchdowns. Dylan Dahle, who had 81 tackles and a fumble recovery from his linebacker post, and Michael Hensch, who had 41 tackles and a team high three sacks. Joining Sundly on the Academic All-Conference team were Schmitz, Brady Grummons, Cody Knobbe, Jordan Franklin, Jake Pilz and Matt Solberg. North Branch also named their captains for next year. Thauwald will have the duty again after serving as a junior captain this year, and he will be joined by Reid Johnson, who is expected to take over at quarterback, Denn, who will take on a bigger role in the offense, and Hensch. Hensch will be another junior captain for the Vikings.