After two delays because of lightning in the area, the Littlefork-Big Falls football team completed its season-opening game at home Thursday afternoon against Silver Bay.
The Vikings found themselves down by three touchdowns after the opening quarter, but battled back to pull within a touchdown at the start of the second half, before losing to the Mariners, 49-34.
"We started out slow, but we picked up the intensity after that (first-quarter) lightning delay," said L-BF head coach John Larson. "I think we played well, but we definitely can improve."
The start of the game, which was originally scheduled to begin at noon, was delayed after severe weather came through the area in the morning.
After two touchdowns on 1-yard runs by quarterback Luke Small gave Silver Bay a 13-0 lead with 5:40 to play in the first quarter, the game was delayed again for about a half hour when lightning was sighted in the area.
The Vikings received the kickoff after play resumed, but ended up punting the ball back to the Mariners. Silver Bay running back Michael Fischer then ran the ball in the end zone from near midfield with 1:27 to play in the first quarter and added the two-point conversion to extend the lead over the Vikings, 21-0.
After L-BF moved the ball inside Silver Bay's 5-yard line, the Vikings got onto the scoreboard with 3:57 to play before halftime when Darian Erickson scored a rushing touchdown. Rylan Henrickson ran in the two-point conversion to cut the Mariners' lead to 21-8, which also was the score at halftime.
L-BF didn't waste any time to score in the second half when Erickson ran back the kickoff for a touchdown to cut the lead to 21-14.
However, Silver Bay then responded with its own kickoff return for a touchdown by Small. The two-point conversion by Fischer gave the Mariners a 29-14 lead with 11:29 left in the third quarter.
Silver Bay then extended its lead to 35-14 with 3:32 left in the third quarter on a touchdown pass inside the red zone from Small to Chad Smuk.
Erickson scored his third touchdown of the game with 2:38 left in the third quarter after receiving a pass from L-BF quarterback Quin Vork that went 74 yards to cut the Mariners' lead to 35-20.
"(Erickson) played well," Larson said. "I know that we have speed and that we can use it to our advantage."
Silver Bay added another touchdown before the third quarter was over when Small found Smuk for a 54-yard scoring strike.
The Vikings responded with their own touchdown less than a minute into the fourth quarter on a 24-yard pass from Vork to Henrickson to cut the Mariners' lead to 42-26.
Silver Bay scored its final touchdown with 5:59 to play on a 15-yard run by Jonah Koehler, who also kicked the extra point.
L-BF began the final scoring drive from its own 31 and used primarily running plays in the final minutes to advance inside the red zone before another touchdown pass from Vork to Henrickson with 14.5 seconds to play. Evan Wimmer ran in the two-point conversion.
The Vikings, who are now 0-1 for the season, return to action next Friday at Ely.
"I think these guys can see that they can play with people," Larson said. "Last year we weren't close in a lot of games."
L-BF had opened the season last year with a 40-0 loss at Silver Bay.
Silver Bay 49, L-BF 34
L-BF 0 8 12 14 -34
SB 21 0 21 7 - 49
