Vikings move to 0-6 with loss to Grantsburg
COLFAX — There is a silver lining in every cloud, Colfax head coach Mark Maloney said after his team lost 56-20 at home against the Grantsburg Pirates Sept. 25.
“We had our highest point total of the season against an undefeated team,” Maloney said. “We also scored more points than any other team has against them this year. And with our final three games all conference games, if we run the tables we would still have a shot at making the playoffs.”
In order for Colfax to do that they will have to shore up their defense an awful lot after allowing the Pirates to rack up 279 yards on the ground. Most of the yardage came by a pair of brothers, sophomore John Chenal and freshman Leo Chenal who transferred from the Frederic district this year. The Vikings on the other hand, had their running game shut down as their leading rusher, Aliymu Davis was held to only 44 yards on 11 carries. Colfax scored all three of their touchdowns through the air, with the first one coming in a very unorthodox way.
After taking the opening kickoff to their own 38, the Vikings proceeded to march through the Pirates defense, picking up first downs on a 9-yard pass from Jarrod Rudi to Brad Kemp and a 10-yard completion to Mitchell Kiekhafer. After a false start on the Vikings, Davis ripped off a 9-yard gain and ran for another yard, but on fourth and one a measurement showed he was inches short of gaining a first down. The Pirates took over and on third down, Leo Chenal took off on a 61 yard jaunt, breaking several arm tackles and scored with 6:23 on the clock. The extra point kick made it 7-0.
Davis ran three times on the Viking’s next possession and netted one yard, resulting in a punt. On first down, John Chenal took off for a 65 yard score and the kick made it 14-0 for Grantsburg.
After Kiekhafer returned the kickoff to the Colfax 35, fullback Brett Schindler ran for a yard, then one of the most bizarre pass plays in school history occurred when Rudi attempted to pass and the ball was batted in the air. Rudi snagged it and took off down the left sideline and ended up in the endzone after being pushed out of bounds at the goaline, thus completing a pass to himself (ala Brett Favre) for a 64-yard touchdown. Only one of the referees, who happened to be on the far sideline gave the TD signal however, and when the ball was placed on the one yard line, the coaches thought it was first and goal. They lined up for a running play that was stopped and lost a chance to kick an extra point.
Grantsburg started another drive that went into the second quarter and ended with a one yard touchdown by Dakota Schultz and another kick made it 21-6. Colfax ended up punting on their next possession and the Pirates marched downfield yet again with Leo Chenal scoring from two yards out. The kick made it 28-6 with 8:22 left in the half.
Rudi connected with Kedar Davis for a 20-yard gain on the Viking’s next possession, but on fourth and 12, A. Davis fought hard to gain yards on the ground but was stopped short of a first down.
After the Pirates took over, defensive lineman Ross Taylor broke through the line and forced the Grantsburg running back to fumble, then recovered the ball on the Pirate’s 18 yard line. On first down, Rudi sent a perfect pass to K. Davis in the corner of the endzone and it was 28-12 after the two point pass attempt was dropped.
Grantsburg didn’t take kindly to being scored on again and they continued to pound the ball on the ground. After Nate Polden stopped the Pirate runner on a second down run, it appeared the Vikings had stopped a third down play when a host of players had John Chenal in their grasp. But he just kept his legs churning and scored from 15 yards away. Another kick upped the score to 35-12.
The Pirates weren’t done in the first half yet as they sacked Rudi for a loss and forced another Colfax punt. With just over a minute left in the half, the Pirate’s coach used his timeouts and on third down, John Chenal took it to the house for a 51 yard TD and with the kick, the half ended at 42-12.
Grantsburg took the second half kickoff and eventually scored on a 5-yard pass and extra point kick to up their lead to 49-12, Colfax proceeded to fumble on the kickoff return and the ball ended up with the Pirates again.
After three penalties were called on them, the Pirates went to the air and K. Davis electrified the crowd when he picked off a pass and dashed down the right sideline for what looked like a 70 yard touchdown. However, the referees saw it differently and they called it back on a pass interference. Five plays later, another Grantsburg touchdown pass made it 56-12.
But, give credit to this group of Viking players as they went about their business, starting the fourth quarter on their own 35 and moving to the Grantsburg 35. The big play of the drive was an 18-yard pass to Kemp. On a fourth and long, Rudi showed when he has time to throw, he can find an open receiver as he connected with K. Davis in the same corner of the endzone as their previous touchdown. Schindler, running out of the Power I the Vikings had switched to for this game, banged his way up the middle for the two point run and his first varsity points. Reserves saw playing time the last few minutes, allowing Joe Hayton and Treyton Teige to gain some rushing yards before the game finally ended.
“Our offense continues to improve as the season goes on, but we are not going to stop anyone with arm tackling around the shoulders,” Maloney said. “It’s hard to practice tackling because we don’t want to hurt our own players so these guys are going to have to figure out they need to get stronger and be more aggressive on defense. We play Mondovi next and they are a strong running team. Our defense needs to step up,” he concluded.
Rudi completed 11 of 15 passes for 192 yards with four going to K. Davis for 64 yards. Defensively, the Davis brothers combined for eight solo tackles and 11 assisted tackles while Zach Meyer ended with four solos.
This Friday is homecoming for Colfax and they host Mondovi who just lost in the final seconds of the game to Elk Mound.