The Wausa-Osmond Vikings began their season with games against Wakefield, Stanton and Homer.
Vikings vs. Trojans
The Wausa-Osmond Vikings took to the football field on opening night Aug. 30 against the Wakefield Trojans. The first game of the year for the newly-combined Viking team resulted in the boys ringing the victory bell.
The Trojans were able to get on the board first, but the Vikings kept
battling. Growing pains for the newly- formed Viking team in the first quarter found the score to be 12-6 in favor of the Trojans. After some really good defensive play by the Vikings, the score after two quarters was 18-14.
Coming out of the half, the Vikings took control and never looked back, battling their way to a final score of 50-32.
The leading tacklers were Mac Carlson, Colton Baue, Coy Kraft, and Kaleb Gardener. Gardner was also able to force and recover a fumble as well as secure an interception. Caleb Vinson was able to snag an intercep- tion and Kayton Anderson was able to scoop up another Trojan fumble.
Offensively, the team was led by a strong rushing attack from Gardner
Tigers run at Norfolk Catholic invitational
NORFOLK — The Osmond cross country team traveled to Skyview Lake in Norfolk for the Norfolk Catholic invitational on Friday morning, Sept.
13. Nineteen schools were represented. Wayne won the boys' division over second-place Battle Creek. On the girls’ side, Crofton once again won the meet with Boone Central as the runner-up.
Battle Creek sophomore Miles Clausen won the race in a time of 17:34.30.
Osmond’s top runner was Mason True. Mason passed two runners down the final stretch and placed 29th in a time of 19:58.51. Jack Berg also passed a Humphrey runner but was edged at the line by Axton Lantz of Wisner-Pilger. Jack's time was 21:32.67. Donovan Heiman placed 74th in a time of 23:40.85 and passed runners coming off the last turn.
“We ran well on this tough course,” noted Coach Joe Ortmeier. “Our guys just run, they are not intimidated by the size of the schools we run against." In the junior high race, Trenton Wiseley placed 47th in the field of 105 runners. His time over the 2,000-meter course was 8:05.75.
and Carlson combined for 392 yards on the ground. Carlson added another 100 yards through the air.
Wausa-Osmond at Stanton
Friday, Sept. 5, found the Vikings on the road to face the defending state Champ Mustangs.
It was perfect weather for Friday night high school football. The Vikings had a couple of penalties early to stall out their drives, while Stanton was able to score on both of their opening possessions.
After the first quarter the score was Mustangs 14 Vikings 0. An early injury to starting right guard and defensive end, Braydon Hoesing, found the Vikings experiencing some in-game growing pains. The team kept battling hard but after two quarters the Mustangs had taken a 36-0 lead.
Right out of halftime, the Vikings were driving down the field but had an unlucky turnover which resulted in another Mustang score. Despite this, the boys kept battling and many of the Vikings got game experience against a very solid Mustang squad.
Defensively, the team was led in tackles by Mac Carlson, Kayton Anderson and Jaxon Vinson. Offen sively, the team was led on the ground by Kaleb Gardner and Caleb Vinson, Vinson running in the only score.
Vikings vs. Knights
The Vikings traveled to Homer to face the Knights on Friday, Sept. 13, for the last round of non-district play.
The Vikings received the opening kickoff and were able to drive most of the field. However, the Knights held them out of the end zone and forced a turnover on downs. The Knights quickly responded with a throw over the middle to a tight end on a seam route for a touchdown. The extra point attempt was good, making the early score 7-0 Homer.
The Vikings responded well and went on a 30-0 scoring run, started by a Mac Carlson rushing touchdown, with Kaleb Gardner getting the 2-point conversion. This was followed by a Jaxon Vinson rushing touchdown and Gardner 2-point conversion, Carlson to Brady Bloomquist 64 yard touchdown pass, and Gardner to Carlson 12-yard touchdown pass, with Bloomquist getting the 2-point conversion.
In the second half the Vikings were able to work on some new plays and rotated younger kids into the game for some different looks. A late Homer score brought the final score 30-13 for a Wausa-Osmond win, advancing the Vikings to 2-1 on the season.
Defensively, the Vikings were led in tackles by J. Vinson, Carlson, and Bloomquist. Colton Baue hauled in two interceptions and Vinson added another. Offensively the carries were split between Gardner, Carlson and J. Vinson amassing 199 yards. Carlson added 104 yards through the air, Bloomquist accounting for 94 of these yards on three catches.
The Vikings are next in action on Friday Sept. 20, in Wausa for the start of district play against the Boyd County Spartans. The game is slated to start at 6:30 p.m. with Wausa homecoming festivities to follow.
Quarter Scores Wausa/Osmond 0 30 0 0 = 30 Homer 7 0 6 0 = 13
Individual Rushing
K. Gardner — 14 carries for 61 yards C. Baue — 2 carries for 1 yard M. Carlson — 14 carries for 79 yards B. Bloomquist — 2 carries for 2 yards J. Vinson - 13 carries for 59 yards C. Vinson — 1 carry for 3 yards K. Kraft - 1 carry for 5 yards
Passing
K. Gardner — 1 of 1 for 12 yards M. Carlson - 6 of 15 for 104 yards
Receiving
K. Gardner — 1 for 8 yards C. Baue — 1 for 2 yards M. Carlson — 1 for 12 yards B. Bloomquist — 3 for 93 yards G. Nipp — 1 for 1 yard
Tackles
Solo Asst
K. Gardner 1 3 C. Baue 1 1 M. Carlson 4 7 B. Bloomquist 4 6 J. Vinson 6 7 G. Nipp 0 1 K. Anderson 2 1 L. Thorell 0 1 C. Vinson 0 2 J. Wingert 0 1 B. Kristensen 1 0 K. Kraft 0 1 D. Seagren 1 0 R. Hoesing 2 1 C. Gansebom 0 2 T. Stolpe 1 0 Team Total 23 34
