Boyceville blasts Colfax for fourth win of the season
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TOUCHDOWN RUN — Boyceville sophomore Braden Roemhild (#24) adeptly ran past the tackle attempt of a Colfax defender and proceeded to weave his way to a 45-yard touchdown in the second quarter of the Bulldogs’ 51-0 home shellacking of the Vikings September 17. Roemhild finished with 93 rushing yards to lead the Bulldogs ground attack which piled up 354 yards. —photo by Shawn DeWitt
by Marlys Kruger
Sports Correspondent
BOYCEVILLE — The Boyceville Bulldogs used several big plays by both the offense and defense and scored in just about every way possible in a 51-0 bombardment over the Colfax Vikings September 17 in the game played in Boyceville.
The Bulldogs were coming off their first loss of the season against Spring Valley and were looking to get back on the winning track in Dunn-St. Croix Conference play.
Meanwhile, the Vikings had forfeited their two previous games due to COVID-19 issues and were glad to be back on the field. After a closely played first quarter, in which Boyceville led 8-0, the Bulldogs broke things open with 24 points in the second quarter and never looked back on their way to the win.
The Vikings came out throwing after taking the opening kickoff to their own 25, completing a pair of passes but a fumble was recovered by the Bulldogs at the 40 yard line.
After a long touchdown run by Braden Roemhild was called back for a penalty, Tyler Dormanen had his own long run to go all the way to the five-yard line. Bash Nielson took it to the end zone from there and with a Dormanen run it was 8-0 for Boyceville with 10:43 on the clock.
The Vikings turned to the running game after the ensuing kickoff with Aiden McKeee pounding the middle three times, picking up a first down. But two penalties on the Vikings put them in a hole and an incomplete pass on third down forced them to punt. The punt was shanked and the Bulldogs took over at the Vikings 40.
Roemhild scampered around the end for 17 yards and Nielson and Dormanen both gained positive yards on short runs. But three Bulldog penalties along with four pass attempts by sophomore quarterback Nick Olson fell incomplete and Colfax took over at the Boyceville 33-yard line.
The Viking’s offense was starting to click as they picked up two first downs, one on the ground and another through the air. But after quarterback Bryce Sikora threw a pair of incompletions, his third pass went right into the hands of Roemhild who returned it to the Bulldog 35-yard line.
Moving into the second stanza, penalties continued to hinder the Bulldogs as they were called for three of them including one that negated a touchdown pass from Olson to Roemhild. On fourth and 25, an incomplete pass gave the ball back to the Vikings.
Colfax went three and out however, and Sikora booted a long punt, which gave Roemhild plenty of time to field it and he made the most of it. He dashed and darted all the way to the Vikings’ 25 yard line, and three plays later, it was six more points for Dormanen after he scored from eight yards out. He added a two-point conversion run for a 16-0 advantage with 3:52 left in the half.
AFTER GETTING to the outside, Boyceville running back Tyler Dormanen (#33) headed toward the end zone in a September 17 home football game against the Colfax Vikings. Dormanen carried the ball just five times but finished with 46 yards (a 9.2 yds. per carry average) and a touchdown in the Bulldogs 51-0 whitewashing of the Vikings. —photo by Shawn DeWitt
Colfax felt like they were still in the game and were looking for some points before the break after Asher Pecha returned the kickoff to their own 30. But the game of football can quickly become a blessing or a disaster for any team, depending on which side of the ball you are on. In this case, it was a disaster for the Vikings but a blessing for Boyceville as the ball was stripped and ended up in the hands of lineman Preston Coombs who barreled his way to pay dirt for six more points. After Dormanen added another two-point conversion it was 24-0 with 3:38 left in the half.
The Vikings moved the ball to mid-field but a quarterback sack by the Bulldogs, a penalty on Colfax and a bad snap resulting in a fumble gave Boyceville the ball back. It only took one play for the Bulldogs to add points with the speedy Roemhild zipping off a 48-yard run to pay dirt. Nielson tacked on a two-point run to make it 32-0 with still two minutes before intermission.
Colfax had a great scoring chance on their next possession as Brian Tuschl broke loose around the right side for a 51-yard run, and with a Bulldog penalty, the ball was on the Bulldog 16 yard line. On fourth down, a pass to McKee was complete but a host of Bulldogs dragged him down short of the goal as time ran out.
“Tonight’s game is what I expected last week,” Boyceville coach Michael Roemhild said. “We had ten different guys run the ball tonight and they all did great. It really helped having Caden Wold, Dawson McRoberts and Parker Coombs back. We really missed those three last week. I was wondering how these guys would respond after being humbled last week and they did not disappoint,” he added.
It took less than two minutes for Boyceville to add on points starting the second half. After Nielson took a short kickoff to the Viking 46, Wold ripped off a 26-yard run, Jacob Granley ran for 11 more yards and Nielson finished the drive off on a nine yard dash. With an extra point kick by Bryan Vasquez-Hernendez it was 39-0 at the 10:17 mark of the quarter.
The Vikings started at their own 20 after the kickoff, but were forced to punt after Paul Kurschner caught McKee behind the line of scrimmage for a loss of yardage. The punter Sikora pulled off a fake punt for a first down however, and on second down, Wold was in the right place at the right time for a pick six from a pass thrown by quarterback Brian Tuschl. A missed kick put the game into running time at 45-0 with 6:39 left in the third quarter.
Another Viking punt forced by a stifling Bulldog defense, allowed Boyceville to tack on more points when Mason Bowell scored from 46 yards out with three seconds before the quarter ended.
Coach Roemhild allowed plenty of his players to see some varsity action in the final stanza, and after the Vikings moved the ball all the way to the Boyceville four-yard line, a fumble was recovered by the Bulldogs to preserve the shutout.
“Olson did a nice job filling in for an injured Ira Bialzik and Braden Roemhild had a great TD run and almost a punt return,” coach Roemhild said. “Nielson and Dormanen really ran the ball hard and our line did an amazing job opening lanes and walking guys down.”
“Defensively, Dormanen had a huge game with four sacks and a forced fumble. Granley was flying around and leading the aggression on our defense. Wold has amazing awareness and great closing speed and had a great interception and Preston Coombs had a fumble recovery for a TD and that always gets the defense fired up. John Klefstad had a motor all night and you don’t see that in the stat book but he is going to the whistle and he really gets the spark going for us,” he concluded.
Braden Roemhild led the rushing brigade with 93 yards on four carries and a touchdown as the Bulldogs piled up 354 of their 366 yards on the ground. Mason Bowell had three carries for 59 yards, with 46 coming via the long TD run, Tyler Domanen had a five carries for 46 yards and a score, jack Phillips had two hauls for 35 yards and Caden Wold had one for 29 yards.
Nick Olson completed just one of his six tosses for 12 yards.
The Vikings finished with 236 yards, 204 which came on the ground.