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There were plenty of fireworks – before, during and after the game – with a some sleet and wind mixed in during last Friday’s homecoming matchup between the North Branch Vikings and the Chisago Lakes Wildcats at Chisago Lakes High School.  Before the game, there were fireworks during the national anthem.  After the game, the fans were treated to a fireworks show courtesy of local businesses.  But during the game, the fireworks were provided by the two teams.  The Vikings are a much-improved team this season and showed it by battling the undefeated Wildcats to a 21-21 tie at halftime.  But the Wildcat defense kept the Vikings off the scoreboard in the second half and the Wildcats kept scoring, eventually beating the Vikings 41-21 before an overflow crowd.

Running back Joe Virga led the way offensively for the Wildcats, accounting for over 200 yards of total offense and four touchdowns.  For the Vikings, quarterback Nick Pilz completed 13 of 20 passes for 181 yards and two touchdowns.

The Wildcats won the flip and elected to defer their choice to the second half, so they kicked off to the Vikings.  Arik Steele caught the ball at the one, made it through the first wave of tacklers and was finally brought down at midfield.  The Vikings wasted no time taking advantage of their excellent field position.  On first down, Pilz rolled left and threw to wide receiver Aaron Irvin for a 17 yard gain to the 33.  On second and six from the 29, Pilz hit running back Michael Hensch with a screen pass to the right and Hensch ran upfield for a 13 yard gain.  On second and nine from the 13, Pilz kept the ball and ran to the left, picking up ten yards and a first down.  On first and goal from the three, Irvin tried the left side but was stuffed for a one yard loss by Dylan Wood and Will Gillach.  But the Vikings were not to be denied.  On second down, Pilz dropped back, rolled a couple of steps to his right and drilled a pass to running back Brandon Miller right under the goalposts for a touchdown.  After Evan Amunrud kicked the extra point, the Viking led 7-0 with nine minutes still remaining in the first quarter.

The Wildcats returned the ensuing kickoff to their own 32 yard line.  On second and four from the 47, Wildcat quarterback Joe Kimlinger pitched the ball left to Joe Virga.  Virga made a couple of nice moves and was tackled at the left sideline at the Viking 25 yard line.  A holding penalty on the next play moved the ball all the way back to the Viking 43 yard line.  Kimlinger rolled left and passed to wide receiver Michael Dunne, who was wide open at the 15 yard line.  Dunne ran onto the end zone untouched and, after Bryce Thompson’s extra point, the game was tied 7-7.

Attempting to limit the Viking return game, the Wildcat pooch kicked the ball to the 15 yard line.  Irvin picked up the ball, broke a couple of tackles and was hauled down at the Viking 43 yard line.  The Vikings once again took advantage of their field position.  The Vikings moved the ball down the field, helped out by a 15 yard personal foul on the Wildcats.  On third and 17 from the Wildcat 33, Pilz tossed a screen pass left to Hensch.  Hensch got a couple of nice blocks and ran all the way down the left sideline into the end zone for a touchdown.  So, with 3:26 still remaining in the first quarter, the Vikings led 14-7.
The scoring frenzy continued.  The Wildcats started their ensuing drive from their own 37 yard line.  Running back Trevin Nelson took a handoff on a misdirection play to the left of the center and gained 12 yards on first down.  On the next play, Virga took a handoff, ran to the right.  He turned the corner and took off.  He broke a tackle at the 15 and tiptoed down the sideline before he was pushed out of bounds at the two yard line.  On the next play, Virga took a handoff and waltzed through a huge hole into the end zone to tie the game at 14-14 with 2:32 left in the first quarter.

On the ensuing kickoff, the Wildcats tried another pooch kick.  The ball rolled out of bounds, so the Vikings started the drive at their own 35 yard line.  They managed one first down, but the drive stalled at the Wildcat 43 and forced the first punt of the game for wither team.  The ball rolled dead at the Wildcat 18 yard line.  The Wildcats once again started to move the ball.  On second and 11 from the 17, Virga spun to catch a pitch and gained nine yards, with 15 more yards tacked on for a facemasking penalty by the Vikings.    But the Viking defense stiffened after that and forced the Wildcats to punt from their own 46.  The Wildcat punt went out of bounds at the Viking 35.  On first and ten from the Viking 46, Pilz rolled left and was caught from behind by Koskie and sacked for an eight yard loss.  On third and 23, Pilz lofted along pass to Jacob Souther deep in Wildcat territory.  But Will Gillach knocked the ball away for an incompletion and the Vikings were forced to punt.  The Wildcats took over at their own 27 yard line with 6:44 left in the first half.

The Wildcats went on a 12 play drive, their longest of the first half.  On first and ten from their own 42, Kimlinger pitched right to Gillach, who made two nice moves along the right hash and picked up ten yards and a first down.    On first down from the 37, fullback Drake Gadbois plowed up the middle, curved to the right, broke a couple of tackles and picked up 12 yards.  The Wildcats moved the ball into the red zone and had first and goal from the eight.   Kimlinger took the snap and before he had a chance to do anything he was swarmed under by a horde of Vikings.  On third and goal from the 12, Kimlinger pitched left to Virga.  He fumbled the pitch and dove on it, but now it was fourth and goal from the 19.  The Wildcats eschewed the field goal attempt, which would have been iffy in the light sleet and a crosswind.  Kimlinger dropped back to pass and hit a wide open Virga at the five yard line.  He ran into the end zone and the Wildcats had their first lead of the game, 21-14, with 1:13 left in the half.

But the Vikings weren’t done yet.  They once again started with good field position, this time from their own 43 yard line.  On second and thirteen from the 37, Pilz connected with Brandon Miler on a long pass over the middle for a 44 yard gain and a first down with 27 seconds remaining.  After a nine yard run by Hensch, Pilz hit Miller with a pass over the middle, but he was stopped at the one with 6.3 seconds remaining in the half.  The Vikings called a timeout.  With time for one play, they decided to go for it.  Pilz handed the ball off to Irvin.  He plowed into the middle of the line.  The Wildcats stood him up and pushed him back, but not before the ball crossed the plane of the goal line for a touchdown as time expired.  After Amunrud’s extra point, the game was tied 21-21.

The second half proved to be a different story, as the Wildcats continued to move the ball but were able to shut down the Viking offense.
Gillach had a nice return on the opening kickoff of the second half, and the Wildcats set up at their own 42 yard line.  On the first play of the drive, Kimlinger rolled left and hit wide receiver Noah Taylor, who was tackled at the Viking 39 after a gain of 19.  Six plays later, the Wildcats faced third and one at the Viking four.  Kimlinger pitched left to Virga.  He was hit at the three, spun around and backed into the end zone for a touchdown to put the Wildcats up 28-21.

The Vikings had 11 plays on the ensuing drive, but the drive stalled at the Viking 48.  On fourth and 16, the Vikings punted and the ball rolled dead at the Wildcat 13.  But the Wildcats were called for too many men on the field and the Vikings accepted the penalty and set up for a re-kick.  They lined up to punt.  But the fake was on.  Pilz flipped a pass over the middle to Hensch just beyond the line of scrimmage.  Hensch headed upfield, but was tackled two yards short of a first down and the Wildcats took over at their own 43.  Virga and Gadbois carried the bulk of the load on the drive.  The key play came on second and 18 from the Viking 32.  Kimlinger pitched left to Virga, and the birthday boy ran down the left sideline before being pushed out of bounds at the ten after a 22 yard gain.  On the next play, Virga ran through a huge hole up the middle and into the end zone.  After Thompson’s fifth extra point of the game, the Wildcats led 35-21 with 15 seconds left in the third quarter.

The Vikings managed one first down on the ensuing drive, but were eventually forced to punt facing fourth and 17 from their own 46.  Trey O’Day’s line drive punt went over the heads of the Wildcat return men and rolled dead at the 5 yard line with 10:08 remaining in the game.

The Wildcats salted away the win on the ensuing drive, which turned into the Drake Gadbois Show.  Gadbois ran the ball six times for 51 yards on the drive.  On first and ten from the Viking 16, Kimlinger dropped back to pass an hit a wide open Gillach at the five yard line a couple of yards inside the left hash mark, and Gillach ran into the end zone for a touchdown.  Thompson missed the extra point, but the Wildcats led 41-21 with 4:32 left in the game, too much for the Vikings to overcome.

The only significant injury for the Wildcats was to wide receiver Noah Taylor.  Taylor fractured his ankle and will likely be out for the rest of the season.  For the Wildcats, Gadbois rand the ball 15 times for 89 yards and Kimlinger was an efficientt six for eight passing for 117 yards and three touchdowns.  For the Vikings, Miller had six catches for 78 yards and Hensch had four catches for 74 yards.

Wildcat head coach Bill Weiss was impressed with the Viking offense in the first half.  “Quite frankly,” he said, “they attacked, moved the ball and played more physical than our defense.  Give their coaches and players a lot of credit for coming out and playing that way from the start.  Offensively, our ground game was able to move the ball and do some good things.  We had two guys running hard in Joe Virga and Drake Gadbois, Joe Kimlinger was making good decisions executing the option and our offensive line was very solid.  We converted pretty regularly and only had to punt once in the game.  Neither team had any turnovers despite the wet, slippery weather conditions.  It’s a credit to both teams for playing a good football game and not letting the weather dictate the outcome.”

Weiss talked about the difference in the Wildcat defense between the first half and the second half.  “At halftime, we had to reintroduce our defense to some simple rules they didn’t seem to be following in the first half.  It was mostly an execution issue.  We need to step up our level of play and match the physical play of our opponent.  We were able to get into a rhythm and play our game.  Luke Koskie was really a difference maker for us, especially in the second half.  They had a lot of success earlier in the game with their spread out passing.  We were able to get some pressure on them and Luke put himself in a nice position for some sacks.”

The undefeated Wildcats (6-0) will travel to Monticello (3-3) tomorrow night to take on the Magic at 7 p.m.  Weiss said, “Monticello is big and physical on both their offensive and defensive lines.  It’s going to be quite a challenge for us because they are a pretty good football team.  They are not overly fancy on offense.  They are going to bring it right to us and we will have to try and stop them.”

North Branch hosts Princeton for their own Homecoming game this week. The Tigers started the year 3-0 but they’ve since lost three straight games to fall to .500.

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