Vikings fall 51-8 to Cardinals in home opener
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COLFAX’S Orion Nichols (#10) ran for a good gain after taking this pass from quarterback Drew Buchner during the first half of last Friday night’s non-conference home opener versus Eleva-Strum. Nichols finished with all three of the Vikings’ receptions for 60 yards.
—photo by Joel DeWitt
by Joel DeWitt
Sports Correspondent
COLFAX — Looking to rebound after being shut out in the first game of the year, the Colfax football team hosted Eleva-Strum for their home opener last Friday, August 30. While the Vikings were able to notch their first touchdown of the year when Drew Buchner struck pay dirt, their run defense once again struggled to contain the opposing offense.
Much like their opening night against Whitehall where they surrendered 336 yards on the ground, Eleva-Strum racked up 342 yards on 32 attempts and six touchdowns on the ground.
To go along with their superb rushing attack, Cardinal quarterback Brennan Hanner was near perfect with 4-of-5 passing with 70 yards, a single touchdown pass, and quarterback rating of 158.3. All those factors contributed to the Vikings dropping their second game of the year 51-8 to remain winless at 0-2.
The tone of the game was set on the opening play for the Cardinals. After receiving the opening kickoff and starting on their own 40-yard line, Ty Fjelstad took the handoff on the first play from scrimmage and went 60 yards for the score and the 8-0 lead with less than 20 seconds off the game clock.
Colfax started their first possession in great position on their own 41, however three plays later a fumble turned the ball over to the Eleva-Strum on the Colfax 46. Four plays later the Cardinals extended their lead to 16-0 on a 6-yard touchdown run.
The Viking’s second possession started on their own 15-yard line. This time the Vikings were able to find some success moving the ball. Grant Paulus converted two second down rushes into first downs to push his team out of the shadow of their end zone.
Unfortunately, a third-down pass by Buchner was picked off and gave the Cardinals the ball back on their 34-yard line. Eleva-Strum converted the second straight Viking turnover into another touchdown at the 2:30 mark of the first quarter to extend their lead to 24-0.
With Eleva-Strum bottling up the Viking rushing attack, Colfax had some big plays through the air on the ensuing drive. Orion Nichols caught a third-down pass from Buchner and took it 39 yards into Cardinal territory.
Facing fourth and long the Buchner-Nichols connection hooked up once again, this one for 14 yards and another first down, to take them inside the Eleva-Strum 10-yard line. Two plays later Buchner called his own number on the quarterback sneak and took it across the goal line from 1 yard out for the Viking touchdown. The score cut the Cardinal led to 24-8 with 9:18 left in the first half.
That touchdown was the high point for the Vikings in the game. The next, and last possession of the half, saw Colfax have a three-and-out and punting the ball back to Eleva-Strum.
Conversely, the Cardinals scored on their final two possessions of the half to take a commanding 36-8 led into intermission.
The second half of the game played out much like the first half ended. The first three possessions of the second half for Colfax were all three-and-outs. On the other hand, Eleva-Strum scored on two of their first three possessions to make the score 51-8 with 7:48 left in the game.
With a running clock, neither team managed much after the final score as the Cardinals notched their first win of the year in convincing fashion.
The Vikings had 131 rushing yards on the night. Paulus led the way with 50 yards on 16 carries. Buchner and Austyn Pederson were close behind with 37 and 33 yards, respectively.
Buchner completed 3-of-9 passings on the night. Nichols was the sole Viking with a reception as he converted those three catches for 60 yards.
Colfax will begin the meat of the conference schedule this week when they travel to Spring Valley for September 6 tgame against the Cardinals. Spring Valley is 2-0 on the season and are coming off a 48-7 win against Chetek-Weyerhaeuser.