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When Sam Ferraro took over the head coaching position at North Branch this year, he probably didn’t think he’d be on his fourth and fifth option at running back three and a half games into the season, but that’s the exact situation he found himself in last Friday.
The Vikings hosted Duluth Denfeld in a battle of 0-3 teams on Friday, September 22.
Starting tailback Eli Chouinard had separated his shoulder in the third game of the season and wasn’t able to suit up for NB against the Hunters. His typical back up, Aaron Irvin, had been out of practice all week with a sickness, so he wasn’t in uniform, either.
That left Jack Tholen, a senior wide receiver, to start at running back for the Vikings. Tholen took a few hand offs last year and in the early games this year, but his speed and shiftiness made him the optimal choice to take the running back spot.
The problem was, after four rushing attempts and about two minutes into the game, Tholen tweaked his ankle getting tackled from behind and was out for the rest of the game.
That left senior fullback Ben Mayerchak as the primary option. He doesn’t posses top end speed, but he is a brick house built to punish. And punish he did.
Mayerchak carried the load for North Branch most of the night, toting the rock 27 times for 226 yards and three touchdowns in just over two quarters of work.
Unfortunately even Mayerchak couldn’t avoid the injury bug. He suffered a collarbone injury early in the third quarter that looked to be serious.
That left the rushing duties to JT Hunzicker, Michael Hensch and Brandon Miller.
Despite all of the shuffling and sorting in the backfield, the Vikings demolished Duluth Denfeld. North Branch opened the scoring early when they pounded the ball down the field on the ground, punctuated by a 10-yard touchdown run by Hensch. The senior captain broke three tackles on his way to the endzone. Senior Trey O’Day’s kick was good and the Vikes went up 7-0.
North Branch’s defense stifled the Hunters on their next possesion, getting the ball back quickly for the Vikes. At that point, Mayerchak established his dominance on the night. Bulling his way down the field, ripping off big chunks of yards and making would-be tacklers pay for getting in his way. He finished the drive with a five yard touchdown run. O’Day’s extra point sailed wide but NB had a 13-0 lead.
On Denfeld’s next possesion, they went to the air to move the ball, and had success. They caught a North Branch defensive back gambling to convert a long gain during the drive, and then it was capped by a 13-yard touchdown pass. With no quality kicker on the roster, Denfeld was forced to go for two point conversions all night. They made their first and trimmed the lead to 13-8.
The Vikes answered right back with Mayerchak the battering ram. He would get a straight handoff, and most of the times, Mayerchek found a gaping hole on the right side of the line and would make it to the linebackers and defensive backs before being touched.
He scored his second touchdown on the night, this one of the 19 yard variety to put the Vikings up 19-8. He pounded in the two point conversion just after to stretch the lead to 21-8,
The Vikings continued to suffer in the passing game, however. A long strike down the right sideline and a missed tackle led to a 50-yard touchdown pass on Denfeld’s ensuing drive. They missed their two point conversion, leaving the game at 21-14.
When NB got the ball back, there was just over seven minutes left in the half. They wanted to milk to clock enough, but still find a way to score. They thought they had done both when senior Arik Steele punched in a one yard touchdown with under three minutes left to go in the half.  Little did they know, things were just heating up. O’Day’s extra point was blocked, so the Vikings led 27-14.
Denfeld methodically worked down the field when they got the ball back. Finding their tight end over the middle on a few plays, and beating press coverage with fade routes on the outside.
With just over one minute left, the Vikings secondary inexplicably let a receiver slip behind them in the endzone and the quarterback found him wide open for another Hunter score. The two point conversion was no good, but NB’s lead was down to 27-20 and there was only one minute left in the half.
North Branch tried two pass plays to start their next drive, without much success.
Facing a third down, quarterback Nick Pilz dropped back and launched a ball down the left sideline, hoping for Kennedy Ashley to maybe win a jump ball and secure a long gain. Ashley leaped in the air, but mistimed his jump just a bit and the ball went off his fingertips, looking to be incomplete. The Denfeld defender, though, was surprised when the ball changed directions off of Ashley’s fingers and swatted the ball in an attempt the catch it. The problem for him was he swatted it right back into Ashley’s hands. The receiver collected the ball and raced past the d-back for a 49-yard acrobatic touchdown catch to extend North Branch’s lead back to two scores.
In the second half, Denfeld continued to go to the air, but they didn’t have the same success. On their first two drives, they turned the ball over to the NB defense, and both times, the Viking offense made them pay, scoring touchdowns. Just nine minutes into the third quarter and the lead had ballooned to 57-20.
The touchdown runs came from Mayerchak just before he hurt his collarbone, and then two from Miller.
The Vikings stuffed the stat line on the night. Pilz was five-of-five throwing for 89 yards and a touchdown.
Mayerchak went for 226 yards and three touchdowns on 27 carries in just over two quarters of work.
Hunzicker rushed for 63 yards, Hensch had 47 yards, Josiah Hall had 42 yards and Miller had 38 yards and two touchdowns. Even Tholen, who only rushed four times, had 38 yards.
Ashley had just the one reception, but it was the big one at the end of the half. He also had an pick on defense. Hensch added three catches for 29 yards. He also had an interception on defense along with three tackles.
Tyler Hargrave led the Vikings with 6.5 tackles, including one for a loss. Maverick Pate added an interception for the defense.
The Vikings will be traveling to Duluth this week to take on Duluth East. The Greyhounds are 0-4 on the year and have had a tough go of it. They’ve lost their four games by a combined 210-6. They just scored their first touchdown last week in a 70-6 loss to Rogers.
The game will start at 6 p.m. because of a neighborhood ordinance outside the new Duluth stadium requiring games to be done before 9 p.m.

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