Northwood-Kensett went to the University of Northern Iowa Friday in hopes that it would lead to more games under the big lights.

The Vikings, with their three back offense were able to do Friday to the East Buchanan Buccaneers what they have to nearly everyone else in a 28-10 victory that sent Northwood-Kensett to the Class A state semifinal game Saturday against North Tama at the UNI Dome.

The Vikings did what they do best — running the ball, but when that seemed to stall out for them a bit, they turned to their short passing game and that yielded the same result as their run attack — yards and points.

The first touchdown of the night for Northwood-Kensett came on a Jordan Reindl to Jacob Gordon pass that covered 12 yards.

The Bucs closed the gap to 7-3 after driving the pigskin to the goal line but they would be denied the big six. A fired up Viking defense was able to create a strong pass rush on the Bucs senior quarterback Mitch McGraw. Northwood-Kensett dropped the Bucs back to their 20-yard line where they then settled for their first points of the game.

Early in the second quarter the Vikings used their new turf cleats to grind out yards and methodically pick up one first down after the other. Just when it looked like another first down was going to be added, the line opened up a huge hole for No. 42, Phillip Fierova, and he outran all defenders 56 yards for the Vikings second touchdown of the evening making it a 14-3 game.

East Buchanan wasn’t going to lay down — at least not yet.

It was the passing game that got them back into game with seconds left on the clock.

A 16 yard pass from McGraw to Gerbracht with 14 seconds left in the half lifted the Bucs a bit and gave them some momentum going into halftime.

Going into the locker room it was anyone’s game with the Vikings leading by four at 14-10.

Coach Capitani quickly called his starters to the end of the UNI corridor that was designated theirs and it was there that he took every second of halftime given them to make sure that everyone knew their assignments on defense.

It was obvious as the third quarter got underway that the Northwood-Kensett boys were not going to let up and give the game away. The Vikings again drove the ball down to within feet of East Buchanan’s goal line where fullback Ryan Mueller took it in for the third touchdown of the night. The Vikings sat with a 20-10 lead and the defense was going to deny the Bucs a trip to the next round by not allowing them to cross the goal line again.

The Vikings added another score late in the fourth after picking off a pass deep in Bucs territory and again on the legs of Mueller’s 2-yard run the Vikings extended their lead to 28-10.

With just 64 ticks of the clock left the Bucs took a timeout and the Viking fans began to get louder because they knew that they could begin to at least conservatively begin their celebration.

As play resumed, the Bucs came out with a quarterback keeper around the right end with a running back ready to take the pitch. When the pitch was executed it was high and behind the back. The ball bounced around on the turf the Vikings, dressed in their home town colors picked up the ball and advanced it to the Bucs 45-yard line.

Two plays later with the ball setting all alone on the Bucs 39, the crowd from Northwood-Kensett rose to its feet with shouts and whistles, knowing that their team would go on to play another day as the Vikings put the game away 28-10.

When asked if he thought the team had played a perfect game Capitani replied: “There is no such thing as the perfect game but I am very proud of our boys tonight.”

Capitani went on to say: “The other team did a great job of running the 2 minute drill, especially in the second half but they just couldn’t convert. I think what happened was that we took away their run and made them throw much more than they wanted.”

 

N-K 28, East Buchanan Winthrop 10

N-K – 7 7 6 8 – 28

EBW – 3 7 0 0 – 10

First Quarter

N-K – Reindl to Gordon 12 pass (Nik Werner kick)

EBW – Mitch McGraw 30 FG

Second Quarter

N-K – Fierova 56 run (Werner kick)

EBW – Matt McGraw 16 pass to Jordan Gerbracht (Mitch McGraw kick)

Third quarter

N-K – Ryan Mueller 5 run (Werner kick)

Fourth quarter

N-K – Ryan Mueller 2 run (Reindl run)

Total offense

EBW – 171

N-K – 243

Rushing

Fierova 15-123 1 TD, Mueller 23-57 2 TS, Sam Arnold 7-31, Reindl 6-26

Passing

Reindl 2-3-25 yards 1 TD