What was supposed to be a home playoff game for the Northwood-Kensett football team turned into a game at the UNI Dome in Cedar Falls, Iowa Monday night. And though it wasn’t a home game, the Vikings fans did their part to make it feel like home.

Hundreds of fans made the two-hour trip to Cedar Falls to watch the team defeat Central Elkader 14-13 in the first round of the Class A state playoffs.

The game was supposed to be played at Northwood, but because Elkader is three hours away from Northwood, the game was moved to a neutral site — the UNI Dome — two hours away for each team.

It was the first trip for Vikings to the state playoffs since 2004 and after being burned by 2-point conversions two and three years ago, Northwood-Kensett came up with a stop when the Warriors went for a 2-point conversion with the score 14-13 and 17 seconds remaining in the game.

Jayson Olson and Dan Horning pressured Central Elkader quarterback Tyler Sylvester into throwing an incomplete pass and the Vikings moved on to the state quarterfinals.

The UNI Dome may begin to feel like home for No. 6 Northwood-Kensett (10-1) because the Vikings will play their next game there Friday against undefeated East Buchanan at 6:15 p.m. The Buccaneers (11-0) beat Wapsie Valley 16-10 in overtime Monday night to move on to the quarterfinals. East Buchanan is ranked No. 4 in Class A. One of Central Elkader’s two losses on the season came to the Buccaneers early in the season.

The Buccaneers are a traditional power in Class A football with 14 playoff appearances to their name, but are making their first trip to the playoffs since 2004.

Northwood-Kensett is making its ninth trip to state this season and won its district for the first time since 2001 by going undefeated in district play. The Vikings only loss this season came against No. 2 ranked Emmetsburg in Class 1A.

Read the sports story about the game.