On paper, the nine-man football match-up between Littlefork-Big Falls and Mountain Iron-Buhl on Friday looked to be a close game between familiar rivals, and a good indicator of who will do what in the coming season.
If that’s the case, MIB can start looking for answers and L-BF can start making plans to play deep into November after a 40-7 Littlefork-Big Falls victory that was dominated by the Vikings on almost every front.
Fullback Bryce Ziemba rambled for 119 yards on 21 carries and five touchdowns to lead the Vikings.
“Bryce hasn’t run the ball in a couple of years,” L-BF head coach Derek Bilben said, “so he did a great job. He’s starting to get used to it again.”
The opening drive set the tone as the Vikings rolled 80 yards on 19 plays in a series that took up almost the entire first quarter. Kyle Burmeister ran it in from the 16 yard line to give L-BF a 6-0 lead.
MIB’s first series ended after two straight tackles for loss on their own 33 yard line. With possession on their own 48, the Vikings went back to work picking up 2-3 yards at a time en route to another 12 play drive, capped by Ziemba’s first touchdown of the night to make it 12-0 with 5:48 left in the half.
“We started out a little slow,” Bilben said. “We had some mental mistakes in the first quarter, but after that we played exactly the kind of ball we’d like too.”
MIB’s problems continued on the next series when the Rangers coughed up a fumble on the L-BF 32 yard line, recovered by the Viking’s Brody Pritchard. The Vikings stretched their offense a bit on the following series with a 13 yard sweep by Gage Klemetsen, followed two plays later by a 28 yard pass from quarterback Mason Imhof to Brett Burmeister on the MIB 19 yard line. Four plays later, Ziemba punched it in from the one to give L-BF (after the two-point conversion) a 20-0 half-time lead.
“We had a couple little hiccups,” Bilben said. “I think we had a false start, and a holding. Other than that, we didn’t turn the ball over. When things go your way, things go your way.”
The Rangers came out more poised and ready in the second half, and made their first drive their best of the night. Tight end Steven Golobich grabbed a 23 yard touchdown pass from quarterback Rick Stevens to cap an 11 play, 68 yard drive that brought the Rangers back to 20-7.
The Vikings simply pounded away on the next series, going 64 yards on 12 plays and chewing up 6:22 on the clock before Ziemba ran it in from the five to make the score 26-7.
On the next series, bad went to worse for the Rangers when a bad punt snap changed what could have been poor field position for the Vikings (the Rangers lined up to punt on the Viking 43) into a first-and-10 on the MIB 30. Justin Franz chased down the MIB punter on the play. Two plays later, Ziemba scored again, this time on a marathon run of 22 yards to make the score 32-7.
After another fruitless series by the Rangers, the Vikings took the ball on their own 18 yard line, and used up another 3:10 on a six play scoring drive (TD by Ziemba). The highlight of the brief series was a 50 yard blast by Klemetsen down to the MIB 18 yard line.
Klemetsen led the Vikings in rushing with 173 yards on 21 carries. Burmeister added 50 yards on 11 carries, and was the only Viking to score besides Ziemba.
Imhof was 2-3 passing for 29 yards. Klemetsen made a one yard reception.
The Vikings are at Bigfork on Friday.