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Sam Ferraro was welcomed to his new job as North Branch football head coach by the black and blue bruising machine that is the Rogers Royals last week.
But he took every proverbial punch Rogers had and  kept toughing through.

At first glance, this game doesn’t look very much different from last year. Rogers won this year 38-0 while last year’s squad was torched 42-7.

But there is one not-so-subtle difference. Last year’s game was called at halftime because of lightning at the field. The Royals ran up 42 points in the first half last year, while this year, the Vikings were within two scores until midway through the third quarter.

The game started with a smooth drive by Rogers. They moved the ball well on the ground inside of North Branch’s redzone, but once they got there, the North Branch D answered the call. Rogers ran two run plays that went for only a handful of yards each. On third and two, the Royals quarterback Andy Borchardt sailed a pass too high for Adam Heyer, putting Rogers in a fourth and short situation.

They handed the ball to their bruising running back and he bulled his way into the North Branch interior linemen, but they stacked up against him before being joined by the NB linebacking corps and eventually the secondary.  They stuffed him for no gain, getting the ball to their offense on a turnover on downs.

North Branch, starting inside their own 10 yard line, didn’t get much going on offense. With a new offense and a new quarterback, the Vikings turned to familiar face Eli Chouinard to move the ball. But against Rogers’ punishing defense, the ball didn’t move as much as the Vikes hoped. They were forced to punt from deep in their own territory.
On Rogers’ next drive, they moved to the air and found success on their intermediate routes over the middle of the field. Borchardt continually rolled out to buy time and found wide-open receivers down the field.

The drive was capped by a 21 yard catch-and-run from Borchardt to senior standout Gunnar Bloom.

The North Branch offense didn’t fare any better with a little breathing room behind them. They sprung Chouinard to the outside a few times, but along with some big hitters, Rogers has speed on the defensive side of the ball and they were able to track the runs down.

The North Branch special teams were able to pin Rogers fairly deep in their own zone this time, but the Royals simply answered with a longer drive. They went to the air again. moving the ball quickly, and then finished the scoring drive with an eight yard touchdown run by Bloom.

North Branch put together the first meaningful drive in the second quarter after  Rogers’ score. They gained a first down initially from speedster Arik Steele running a counter. Then quarterback Nick Pilz aired one out to Jack Tholen that he caught down the right sideline. Tholen did his best highwire act down the line until he was shoved out of bounds by a Rogers defender.

However, a big sack on the next play put the Vikings in a tough spot offensively and the drive just past midfield. The North Branch defense came up big again, though keeping it a 14-0 game. The Royals scored what looked to be their third touchdown of the game when Bloom zig zagged through the NB defenders, but a holding penalty brought it back and the Vikings forced a field goal shortly after. That sent the two teams into the locker rooms at 17-0 in favor of Rogers, a far cry from the 42-7 shellacking of last year.

The second half played out much like the first, with Rogers leaning on Bloom to make plays -- he scored two more touchdowns in the second half -- and North Branch struggling to find traction against Rogers’ suffocating defense.  After adding three second half touchdowns, the final tally favored Rogers 38-0. The statline after the game told the whole story. The Royals rushed for nearly 400 yards while the Vikings gained only 38 yards on 35 carries. Pilz went four-of-12 for 60 yards through the air. Tholen was the main beneficiary, grabbing two catches for 45 yards. Steele gained 30 yards on 11 carries.

On Rogers’ side, Bloom had 183 yards on 14 carries, 48 yards on three receptions and four total touchdowns. Adam Heyer caught four balls for 63 yards and Borchardt went seven-of-13 for 114 yards and a touchdown.

North Branch’s home opener is this week. The Vikings will take on the Monticello Magic Friday, Sept. 5 at 7 p.m. The Magic are 0-1 on the season afer losing 21-17 to Princeton in their opener. The two teams played in a grinder last year, with Monticello topping North Branch 13-7 at home. The Vikings will be looking to even their record in their first home game of the year.

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