L-BF wins 10th straight regular season contest

BIGFORK — Littlefork-Big Falls doesn’t hide it’s philosophy.
They just execute and dare teams to stop its punishing ground attack.
“That’s what we do. We control the clock, pound it on the ground and minimized mistakes,” Vikings coach Derek Bilben said.
L-BF ground out 285 yards on the ground Friday and took it to an inferior Bigfork squad 32-0 to stay undefeated at 2-0 on the season. It’s the 10th straight regular season victory for the Vikings, dating back to the season finale in 2006 when L-BF lost to Cook at home 20-14. The Vikings finished a perfect 8-0 last year during the regular season.
“We go where our line goes and we did a great job driving and getting angles,” Bilben said.
Bigfork, which crushed Mesabi Academy 60-0 in its first game, tried to gain some early momentum with an onside kick on the opening kickoff, but it bounced out of bounds.
The Vikings returned the next kickoff to the Huskies 49-yard line and put together a quick scoring drive. Bryce Zeimba, coming off a five-touchdown performance in the opener, capped a six-play drive with a 10-yard run to put the visitors up 6-0.
“We’re playing pretty good. We’re all working together,” Zeimba said.
L-BF’s defense forced a three-and-out, but the offense sputtered on its second drive and was forced to punt.
It was the only time Justin Franz’s right leg was needed.
Bigfork opened the second quarter with a punt on its second drive and L-BF countered with a numbing 17-play, 83-yard scoring drive. The Huskies called two timeouts on defense over the methodical 17-play span and the Vikings ate up 8:20 off the clock. Franz capped the drive, which included 17 run plays, with a 3-yard scamper. Quarterback Mason Imhof hit Gage Klemetsen for the two-point conversion to make it 14-0.
The Huskies, who had only one first down with 3:30 to go in the first half, tried the passing attack on third and 10 from their own 16, but it fell incomplete. The next snap then slipped through punter Morgan Lottes’s hands and rolled inside the 5-yard line. Lottes picked it up, but fumbled on a hit from Franz and Paul Imhof recovered at the 1-yard line with 1:46 to go in the half. Zeimba punched it in on the next play and L-BF went in at halftime up 20-0.
The second half was just as dominating for the Vikings.
Mason Imhof scored twice and the L-BF defense forced the Huskies to turn it over on downs in their first four drives. The game ended on Bigfork’s fifth drive.
“Their big men are better then our big men tonight,” said a disappointed Thor Johnson, who lost for the fourth time against L-BF in four years at Bigfork.
Klemetsen led the Vikings’ ground game, finishing with 132 yards on 18 carries. Ziemba rushed 14 times for 62 yards and Kyle Burmeister and Imhof each finished with 31 yards. Imhof was also 2-for-3 through the air for 32 yards with completions to Klemetsen and Jesse Steele.
“They know what they want and if they want to do it, they can,” Bilben said.
L-BF returns to action Friday on the road against Tower-Soudan in a 3:30 p.m. contest.
“We just need to come in with our hopes up and keep moving forward,” Zeimba said. “Main thing is to not get down.”