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North Branch didn’t hang 50 points on Rock Ridge last week like they have done the past two years, but they did exactly what they needed to do to bounce back from their season opening loss at Pequot Lakes.

The Vikings controlled the game against the Wolverines on Friday, September 5 from start to finish, using their patented Power T offense to sustain long drives, and a defense that outside of a few big plays, limited a Rock Ridge offense that had scored 55 points the week prior. It all added up to a comfortable 34-22 win for North Branch that moved them to 1-1 on the year.

The defense started the Vikings off on the right foot, allowing only one first down from Rock Ridge on their first drive. Logan Hammel made the play of the drive, corralling the Wolverine quarterback for a four yard loss on third and nine.

Following a great punt by Rock Ridge that was downed at the four yard line, North Branch got to work on a 14 play scoring drive that went 96 yards and was capped off by a seven yard touchdown run by Carter Drill. Drill looked like a bowling ball on the play and four Rock Ridge defenders were wobbly bowling pins. Outside of the bruising scoring run, the highlights of the drive were an 18 yard rush around the right side by quarterback Jacob Robillard, a 10 yard run by Tyler Minke up the gut and a beautiful pass from Robillard to Nathan Edwards-Goana for 28 yards on third and seven that set up the Vikes in the red zone.

Rock Ridge nearly answered back quickly on their next drive after completing a 56 yard pass on their first play. Junior Bo Pederson tracked down the receiver from the opposite side of the field, making what would end up being a very important touchdown saving tackle on the 12 yard line.

On the very next play, the Wolverines got a little greedy and went to the air again. Facing pressure from Nolan Volner, the quarterback threw back across the field to try and connect with his receiver but Minke stepped in front of the pass and picked it off for a huge turnover.

The Viking offense put together another very long workmanlike drive to capitalize on the turnover. They got out of the shadow of their own end zone with back-to-back long runs by junior Brody Mitchell that combined for 28 yards.

North Branch did find themselves in a tough spot as they crossed midfield, however. They committed a holding penalty on first down to send them into a first and 20. They got 10 back on a pass on the next play but then promptly were whistled for another holding play on second and 10, giving them a tough second and 20. But, offensive coordinator Kyle Kahl had the perfect play drawn up for it, which was a quarterback counter play that showed the defense the same thing they had seen all game, except Robillard went the opposite way, and he gained 21 yards on the play to move the sticks.

Six plays later, Minke hit paydirt from six yards out to put NB up 12-0 with five minutes left in the first half.

The defense forced a quick three and out for the Wolverines on the next drive, but the offense was unable to capitalize, as Robillard fumbled a shotgun snap on third and nine to force an NB punt.

With just over two minutes left in the half, Rock Ridge seemed content to just probe the NB defense with a feeler on the first couple plays to see if they could get a drive together, but their first play burst through the right side for 43 yards after three missed North Branch tackles. The Wolverines scored on the next play, and with the two point conversion, trimmed the NB lead to 12-8 after the Vikings had dominated most of the half.

North Branch put together a promising drive in short time at the end of the half, but once they got to the 10 yard line, they had no timeouts left and were short on time and had to resort to the passing game and Rock Ridge defended it well, leaving the score at 12-8 at the break.

North Branch, knowing they were in command the whole first half, took matters into their own hands on the opening drive of the second half. They finally started to gash the Rock Ridge defense with some big plays. They opened the drive with back-to-back nine yard gains London Olson, a 12 and seven yarder from Drill, and then the punctuation mark, a 31 yard touchdown run from Olson. The two pointer was good and NB stretched their lead to 20-8.

The Viking defense then rallied to stop the Rock Ridge offense on the next drive, forcing a punt and putting their offense back to work. The offense then made good on the opportunity, going on an 11 play touchdown drive that featured a 23 yard run from Drill, and was capped by a short touchdown run from the senior running back as well. NB’s two point conversion attempt was good, and they led 28-8 late in the third quarter.

Although Rock Ridge answered back with a touchdown and two point conversion, NB’s offense just wouldn’t be denied on the night. They went on a 16 play drive – which featured a long gain of just 10 – and marched down the field to score another touchdown. The biggest key of the drive was that it burned almost eight minutes off the clock, taking it from just under 12 minutes left to just under four minutes. The two pointer was no good, but NB had the insurmountable 34-16 lead late in the game. Rock Ridge added a long touchdown pass to their tally to make the score look a bit closer than it was, but North Branch grabbed a couple first downs and kneeled out the game to secure the victory.

Although the Vikings didn’t pile up the points with a bevy of long plays, the result of the game never seemed to be in doubt. Rock Ridge did their best to try to limit the long gains, but that meant NB was able to take what was given to them and keep the ball moving all night.

As a team, the Vikings ran for 465 yards, with Drill and Olson both eclipsing the 120 yard mark. Mitchell had 72 on 15 carries, Robillard had 70 on 10 carries and Minke had 67 on 11 carries. Robillard added 41 yards on two completions.

North Branch will face a very stiff test this Friday night when they host Hermantown. The Hawks have outscored their opponents 107-6 in two games so far this year (although one game was a 72-0 shellacking of an overmatched Proctor team that contemplated forfeiting their varsity schedule this year due to extremely low numbers.) The Hawks did have an impressive 35-6 win over Cloquet last week, but the Lumberjacks are in a bit of a down swoon over the last couple of years, so it’s an interesting match up.

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