Boyceville bruises Colfax in final regular season contest

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by Marlys Kruger

Sports Correspondent

COLFAX — There wasn’t a lot of suspense in the football game held under the Friday night lights in Colfax when the Boyceville Bulldogs invaded the Vikings stadium October 18 for the conference and regular season finale. 

The Vikings were 0-8 on the season (one of the losses was a forfeit due to a shortage of varsity players) while the Bulldogs were 7-1 coming off a one-point loss to Spring Valley a week earlier. With that in mind, the Bulldogs led 42-0 at halftime on the way to a 57-22 win over the Vikings.

Colfax had the first chance to score with Drew Buchner taking the opening kickoff to the Viking 35. But any hopes of keeping the ball away from the potent Bulldog offense was eliminated quickly with three penalties called on the offense and with an incomplete pass, they were forced to punt. 

It was a short punt but an illegal block by Boyceville moved the ball to the Viking 33, and a first down pass to Landyn Leslie along with a run by Zach Hellendrung gave them a first down at the 19. A holding call on them moved the ball back but two more running players by the bruising Hellendrung put him in the end zone from three yards out. A two-point pass from Carson Roemhild to Hellendrung made it 8-0 with 7:52 left in the quarter. 

The Vikings fell on the short kick at their own 47 but their running backs lost yards on two plays, and an incomplete pass again put them in punt formation. The ball was centered over punter Buchner’s head and he began to run for his life and was tackled on the five-yard line. Roemhild looked for a receiver on second down but ended up running the ball in for six points and an extra point kick by Hellendrung made it 15-0 at the 5:44 mark of the quarter. 

Buchner returned the kickoff to the Viking 35 and with a penalty on the Bulldogs on the tackle, Colfax started on the 50. Buchner finally gained yardage on a six-yard run but, yet another Viking penalty and an incomplete pass saw them punting the ball away. This time it was a pretty solid kick and Boyceville started at their own 17. Austin Johnson broke up a pass attempt from Roemhild and after a penalty on Boyceville Roemhild stepped back to pass again. Unable to find an open receiver, he simply took off from the left side of the field and ended up zipping down the right side for an 88-yard score. Hellendrung’s kick was blocked but the score was now 21-0 with 3:05 still left in the quarter.

Colfax came back with a 15-yard pass completion from Austyn Pederson to Theo Hovde after starting at their own 23. A little trickery by the Vikings with a double pass from Pederson to Orion Nichols to Hovde moved the ball all the way to the Bulldog 15. But trying the same play twice didn’t fool the Bulldog defense as the defender had Nichols wrapped up and before he dragged him down Nichols attempted to throw the ball. The result was an interception and Boyceville took over at their own two.

Moving into the second stanza, Boyceville ran and passed their way down the field in three minutes, culminating in a nine-yard score by Hellendrung. His kick put the score at 28-0 and when the Vikings took the ball back, Hovde threw a pass that was picked off by Roemhild at midfield. Six plays later, Roemhild connected with Owen Rydel for a 10-yard TD and another kick upped the Bulldog advantage to 35-0.

With a running clock in motion, Colfax was hoping to keep the ball with their offense the last five minutes but another third down resulted in another interception, this time by Leslie with 2:13 left in the half. After moving the ball from their own 30 to the Viking nine on a long pass completion, the Boyceville head coach called back-to-back timeouts, allowing Roemhild to slide in for a nine-yard score, and another kick mercifully ended the half at 42-0.

Boyceville took the second-half kickoff to their own 35 and three plays later, Leslie scooted down the field for a 45 yard score. Another kick upped the score to 49-0. Boyceville’s coach decided to call the big dogs off which allowed the Vikings to finally find some success on offense. Taking the ensuing kickoff to their own 32, Buchner snared a 12-yard pass and Hovde followed up by racing down the left sideline for a 56-yard touchdown run. The conversion pass was knocked away but the Vikings were on the board at 49-6 with 7:42 to go in the quarter.

Boyceville ran eight plays on their next possession but the Viking defense managed to hold and they took over on downs at their own 41. Hovde gained 17 yards and a penalty on Boyceville put the ball at the 20 as the final stanza began. Hovde took it to the house for his second score, and he caught the two-point conversion pass from Pederson to make it 49-14 just 10 seconds into the fourth quarter. Boyceville put up their final points on a two-yard run by freshman Andrew Tonn  and Jacoby Kurschner added the two-point run for their 57th point.

Colfax finished things off by scoring their highest point total of the season on Hovde’s third TD of the game. After a long pass completion to Nichols, Hovde hit pay dirt from 14 yards out. Pederson, just a sophomore, connected with Buchner for the final points of the game and the Viking’s season.  

Hovde gained 119 of the Colfax 142 rushing yards on eight carries. He also snagged five passes for 87 yards and was the second leading tackler with seven,. Fellow senior Buchner, playing with a bum shoulder for most of the season, was the leading tackler with 11. He also had several positive yards as a kickoff returner. Pederson completed 7-of-15 passes for 88 yards after missing a few plays after getting hurt and he also picked up four tackles on defense. Zachary Leirmo picked up seven tackles to help the Vikings cause.

The Bulldogs totaled 374 rushing yards with Roemhild collecting 103 of them on just five carries. He also completed 10-of-14 passes for 139 yards. 

Colfax will say goodbye to five seniors, Hovde, Buchner, Brady Elmer, Hunter Roberts and Nathan Boesl.