The blue wall of the Viking defense came out and frustrated a strong Concrete offense into a shutout on Saturday, trouncing the Lions 20-0. With four consecutive league wins under their belts, the Vikings are maintaining their number one position so far.
“We have a philosophy: play smart and play hard,” Scott Harris said, who has been assistant coaching the defense for nine seasons.
And the Vikings play very hard. In the first quarter, Michael Langworthy had a 25-yard scoring run and quarterback Robbie Padbury ran it around the corner, scoring a two-point conversion in the first several minutes of game play. Then Jacob Hansen had a 17-yard run off of a hand-off from Padbury in the second quarter but the PAT pass failed.
But Concrete didn’t exactly roll over and show their bellies to the Vikings either. The Viking defense had several confused moments on the field while defensive coaches and staff called out instructions to the players.
“Concrete ran the ball effectively at times. They had taken their quarterback out and made him a runner, but then when they went into their spread formation, they switched him back into the quarterback position,” coach Dennis Dahl said. “This caused some confusion at first, but we kept our focus.”
The Vikings fumbled once and lost the ball to Concrete in the second quarter, but again the defense came onto the field, and played with solid intensity.
“Defensively,” Dahl said, “we were able to sustain some drives, and put ourselves in position to score. I think we took advantage of opportunities more than they had weaknesses.”
Nigretto, Padbury, Taylor Diepenbrock, Peter Anderson, and Alan Coe all played very well defensively, as well as Daniel Janssen, who also helped clog things up after the first Concrete drive.
“We watch a lot of game film, and we look for first the overall scheme and strengths and contain those strengths,” Harris said. “Then we try to capitalize on any weaknesses we may see but it’s the athletes that must buy into the situation and learn it. They haven’t been out-schemed this year and that’s really remarkable.”
At halftime the score was 14-0 and the Viking lead made the homecoming festivities all the more sweet.
The game was scoreless in the third quarter with both teams battling back and forth for possession and the Lions frustrated by their inability to put anything on the board. The Concrete linesmen were strong and fast but failed to force the Vikings into fumbles in the second half.
In the fourth quarter, Tyler Nigretto had a five-yard run after a productive march down the field, which made the score 20-0; the two pointer failed. Taylor Diepenbrock had some stunning runs, along with Nigretto and Michael Langworthy, who was lead rusher with 12 carries for 79 yards. With a defense that prefers to run the clock and keep the ball on the ground, the Vikings have built an effective offensive machine that churns out yards faster than the seconds of the clock tick. The Vikings had a total of 251 yards on the ground and 45 in the air.
Nigretto rushed 11 times for 50 yards while Padbury had 42 yards rushing and Hansen had 47 yards rushing. Aubrey Schermerhorn, a sophomore, also got some decent yardage.
“We had a very good time,” Alan Coe said, a Viking senior who frequently plays tight end. “When you’re focused and everyone is thinking alike that makes for a really great day.”
The Vikings play at Darrington on Friday at 4 p.m.
“We must win one of our last two games to stay on top of the league. Both are very big games for us,” Dahl said.
