L-BF downs pass-happy Falcons

“Big plays saved us,” Vikings coach Derek Bilben said. “That’s going to be the case all year. We’re going to have to break some and control the ball.”

Aaron McGuire capped an impressive first game for L-BF with 173 yards on 18 carries with two long touchdown runs of 45 and 72 yards. Tyler Lehman also reached the century mark and rushed 15 times for 129 yards and a score.

Sophomore quarterback Garrett Larson finished 4-for-7 with 116 yards and two touchdowns — one rushing — in his first start. Every completion went to Jesse Steele, who had four grabs for 116 yards and a score.

AlBrook came in throwing and nearly mounted an aerial comeback. Cody Anderson finished 23-for-37 with 268 yards and four touchdowns. Kolten Karppinen was his main target, catching 13 balls for 151 yards and two scores. Devon Lee added a 55-yard touchdown reception in the fourth quarter.

“That’s what we do,” Falcons coach Larry Anderson said. “We pass the ball to be able to run it and we weren’t able to run it against their defense.”

The scoring started with a safety for the Vikings on a blocked punt and ended with a naked bootleg on fourth down which capped a 10-play, game-deciding drive with 50 seconds to play. In between, the Vikings (1-0) and Falcons (0-1) gave fans plenty to talk about in the season opener.

“We’re not going to blow people out. We can’t get away with the mistakes we’ve got away with the last two years,” Bilben said.

After crushing teams during the regular season the last two years, the Vikings returned only four starters this year. Growing pains were on display as the Vikings fumbled seven times — losing three — but they came up big when it counted.

“We’re small, so we’re going to have to use our speed,” said senior Kyle Burmeister, who’s been on varsity the last two dominating seasons. “And we have a lot of new, young guys in places. So we have to break them in.”

Fellow senior Bryce Ziemba busted through the middle of the line and blocked Anderson’s punt for a safety to open the scoring in the first quarter. The Vikings scored again and led 10-0 in the first following a 2-yard scamper by Lehman, taking advantage of an interception by Steele.

That’s when AlBrook’s passing attack went to work.

After Lehman muffed a punt on the Falcons’ next possession, Anderson hit Karppinen for a score to cut the lead to 10-6. Lehman lost another fumble on the ensuing kickoff and Anderson took advantage and hit Tony Williams from 20 yards out to cap a 10-play drive.

McGuire answered with a 45-yard touchdown run to make it 18-12, and the Falcons stayed with the hot passing game, but they ran into halftime and came away empty handed. The Falcons had four plays in the final minute from inside the L-BF 8-yard line, but Anderson’s pass on first and goal from the seven fell incomplete with three seconds left.

The Vikings expanded the lead in the third to 32-12 thanks to a touchdown reception by Steele and McGuire’s career-high 72 yard run, but it was far from over.

Anderson hit Lee for a touchdown on the next play and it was 32-20 only 13 seconds after McGuire’s touchdown.

The Falcons recovered the ensuing onside kick and Anderson capped a quick 5-play drive with his fourth touchdown pass to make it 32-28 with 5:27 to play.

Reeling, the Vikings went back to the ground and got one first down before calling a gutsy pass on third and 6 from the AlBrook 37. Larson hit Steele in stride for 22 yards and the clock continued to run. It was Steele’s fourth reception of the night over 20 yards.

“He broke our hearts with those passes,” coach Anderson said.

Three run plays and two Falcon timeouts later, Larson went untouched on a naked bootleg on fourth and 1 from six yards out to put a stamp on the victory.

“Fourth quarter,” Burmeister said when asked about the turning point. “When we started to slide a little bit, then we came back and rammed it down their throat.”

Larson intercepted Anderson’s next pass and L-BF’s backups ran the final two plays.

“No excuses. Littlefork just beat us,” coach Anderson said. “It was a fun game to be at.”

Game notes

• Ziemba added two sacks, while the Vikings defense forced three fumbles, recovering one.

• The Falcons rushed for 73 yards in the first half and two yards in the second half.

• L-BF’s Colton Clark, Joel Marty and David Lutgen were all academically ineligible.

AlBrook 0 12 0 16—28

L-BF 10 8 8 12—38

First Quarter

L-BF — Safety, Ziemba blocks punt in end zone, 6:00

L-BF — Lehman 2 run (Larson run), 9:57

Second Quarter

Al — Karppinen 5 pass from Anderson (pass failed), 1:30

Al — Williams 20 pass from Anderson (pass failed), 5:45

L-BF — McGuire 45 run (Lehman run), 9:26

Third Quarter

L-BF — Steele 26 pass from Larson (Ziemba run), 11:08

Fourth Quarter

L-BF — McGuire 72 run (run failed), 5:18

Al — Lee 55 pass from Anderson (Anderson to Karppinen), 5:36

Al — Karppinen 9 pass from Anderson (Anderson run), 6:33

L-BF — Larson 6 run (run failed), 11:10