Littlefork-Big Falls’ football team scored early Friday evening, but not often in the Vikings’ 44-14 home loss to Ely.
L-BF sophomore quarterback Rylan Henrickson connected with Bryce Burmeister for a 36-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter, but then the Vikings weren’t able to score again until less than 6 minutes remained in the game.
The loss dropped L-BF’s season record to 0-2 after having been shut out at Silver Bay a week earlier.
“We still have a lot of things we need to work on, but we’re getting better,” said Vikings head coach John Larson. “It was nice to see us come down on that first drive and score right away.”
L-BF fell behind 20-6 after the first quarter and then gave up two more touchdowns to Ely before halftime on scoring runs 70 and 13 yards by Mark Heiman.
The Vikings’ defensive stops included forcing the Timberwolves to turn the ball over on downs at L-BF’s 25 with just over 9 minutes left in the second quarter. However, after Ely extended its lead to 32-6 at halftime, the Timberwolves found the end zone two more times in the third quarter.
Though the Vikings only completed five passes in seven attempts for the game with Henrickson going 4-6 for 69 yards, both touchdowns came on passes.
An option pass from Burmeister to Agim Bekteshi with 5:54 to play went 88 yards for a touchdown. Chase Ballard then ran into the end zone for the two-point conversion.
In addition to Burmeister’s single pass accounting for most of L-BF’s passing yardage, he also led the Vikings in rushing with 40 yards on 11 carries.
L-BF’s next game is on the road Friday against North Woods.
“It’s early in the season yet — we’ve still got six more weeks of regular season and the playoffs — so the way I’m looking at is that all these games right now are just getting ready for the playoffs,” Larson said.
Ely 20 12 12 0 — 44
L-BF 6 0 0 8 — 14
Scoring: L-BF: Bryce Burmeister, 36-yard pass from Rylan Henrickson; Agim Bekteshi, 88-yard pass from Burmeister (Chase Ballard run).
Rushing: L-BF: Burmeister, 11-40; Garrett Nuthak, 7-29; Henrickson, 9-4; Ballard, 8-26.
Passing: L-BF: Henrickson, 4-6, 69 yards, 1 TD; Burmeister, 1-1, 88 yards, 1 TD.
Receiving: L-BF: Burmeister, 1-36, 1 TD; Nuthak, 1-3; Jacob Franz, 1-34; Ballard, 1-(-4); Bekteshi, 1-88, 1 TD.
