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A flurry of touchdowns near the middle of the game gave North Branch a chance to beat Monticello for the first time in the Mississippi 8 Conference.
But, the scores were negated by a rolling, rumbling Monticello offense that similarly piled on the points in the middle of the game.
After a feeling out process for most of the first quarter, the visiting Magic opened the scoring late in the first quarter on a one-yard touchdown plunge by Lowell Laudert.
Soon after, the avalanche of points started. With just under nine minutes left in the second quarter, the Vikings trimmed the lead to 7-6 when Eli Chouinard punched in a score from one yard out following a successful drive.
Trey O’Day’s extra point sailed on him and the Vikes ended up down one.
Just over one minute later, Monticello’s Ryder Beckman capped a quick drive off with a 21-yard touchdown run, leaving North Branch down eight after the extra point.
Then, the Magic put a proverbial dagger into North Branch, scoring with just under one minute left before halftime on a 21 yard touchdown run by McRae Voll.
After the extra point, the Vikings were staring at a 21-6 deficit going into halftime and were going to need to pass in the second half to get back into the game even though the run was working well.
But, the next minute of game time drastically changed that approach.
The Vikings got a nice kick return on the ensuing kickoff and it left them with a chance to go down a short field and cut into the lead with at least a field goal.
Chouinard wouldn’t settle for a field goal. The senior running back took a handoff 22 yards to paydirt with just nine seconds left in the half, and it breathed new life into the Vikings.
The Vikes handed off to Arik Steele for the two point conversion, but he was stood up at the goalline, leaving the score 21-12 going into half.
Monticello had received the opening kickoff, so it was North Branch’s job to return the kick.
They run a tricky kickoff return that involves reverses and fakes, and the plan has generally been successful for the past few years.
This time, it proved to be absolutely successful.
Aaron Irvin fielded the ball at his own eight yard line on the kick off and away he went. He dashed through the Monticello kick coverage and sliced his way up the field until there was nothing but green grass in front of him. Irvin won the race to the end zone for the 92 yard kickoff return touchdown that put the Vikings within three at 21-18.
Again, O’Day’s extra point was unsuccessful and North Branch stayed within three, but the two touchdows in 25 seconds of game time was a huge confidence boost for North Branch.
Unfortunately, it also sparked the Monticello defense to bear down and start flying to the ball a bit more.
Their offense kept churning away, with Beckman scoring another touchdown, this one of the 20 yard variety, with 7:44 to go in the third quarter.
The score capped a flurry of six touchdowns in about a quarter of play by the two teams.
However, North Branch didn’t come up with the drives it needed to answer Monti’s touchdown.
The Magic eventually added an insurance touchdown with just under four minutes left in the game to go up 34-18. That would be the final score of the Vikings home opener.
The difference in the game came down to ball control. The Magic and Vikings’ yards per play were pretty similar, but Monticello ran almost 30 more plays. They got the first downs when they needed them and had a multi-pronged running attack that was tough to slow down.
The Vikings got 76 yards on six rushing attempts by Chouinard. Kyle Ketchmark added 41 on four carries.
Nick Pilz was four-of-eight on the night for 53 yards. He had no touchdowns or interceptions.
North Branch (0-2) will travel to Cambridge-Isanti this week to take on the Bluejackets in a Mississippi 8 Red tilt.
The matchup won’t be easy, as Cambridge-Isanti has rolled in their first two games, winning by a combined scored of 77-0 over Duluth Denfeld and Duluth East. They’ve piled up over 500 yards of total offense per game, and they have plenty of talent and experience at the quarterback position in John Solberg.
The game will be at Larson Field in Cambridge Friday, September 12 at 7 p.m.

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