NORTHWOOD, Iowa &045; The West Bend-Mallard Wolverines came to Northwood Friday night undefeated, rated No. 2 among Iowa’s Class A football teams, and sitting atop District 2.

The Northwood-Kensett Vikings are the defending district champions, and they played like it.

The ever-improving Vikings stunned the Wolverines, 38-14.

&uot;We knew going in we had a chance to win if we played well,&uot; said N-K coach Dave Capitani. &uot;You never expect things to go as well as they do in a game like that. The kids showed up to play. We’ve been improving every week, and we were ready to go.&uot;

The Vikings took an early 8-0 lead as Joe Fierova went 58 yards for a touchdown and ran for the two-point conversion.

It was a scene of things to come. Fierova went on to add scoring runs of 61 and 45 yards while totaling 244 yards on 15 carries. In all, the Vikings ran the ball 44 times for 401 yards.

It remained 8-0 until early in the second quarter, when the Wolverines’ Anthony Laubenthal scored on a 3-yard run. The PAT failed.

The Vikings answered less than two minutes later, on a 1-yard touchdown plunge by Dustin Wagner. Fierova ran the PAT.

A 2-yard scoring run by Wagner and a PAT pass from Lee Nelson to Derrick Love made it 24-6 at halftime.

The Wolverines were not finished though, pulling within 24-14 just past the midway point of the third quarter on a 5-yard touchdown run by Laubenthal and Cody Hamilton’s run for the PAT.

It took the Vikings all of 17 seconds to respond with Fierova’s 61-yard dash to the end zone. His 45-yarder came early in the fourth quarter.

The Vikings outgained the Wolverines 424-292 in total yards. They punted only one time and Nelson threw only three passes, completing one for 23 yards to Fierova.

Nick Hovey led the N-K defense with 22 tackles.

Capitani couldn’t pick a specific area where the Vikings, 4-2 in district play and 5-2 overall, have improved.

&uot;We’ve improved everywhere,&uot; he said. &uot;We had to replace a lot of kids from last year, and we started slow.&uot;

But, in Iowa’s playoff system in which only an elite few advance, it may have happened too late.

&uot;We’re still mathematically alive (for the playoffs),&uot; said Capitani. &uot;But realistically our chances are not very good. We’d need some major upsets along the way.&uot;

WB

&045;

0

6

8

0

&045;

14

NK

&045;

8

16

6

8

&045;

38

First Quarter

NK &045; Fierova 58 run (Fierova run)

Second Quarter

WB &045; Laubenthal 3 run (PAT failed)

NK &045; Wagner 1 run (Fierova run)

Third Quarter

NK &045; Wagner 2 run (Love pass from Nelson)

NK &045; Fierova 61 run (PAT failed)

Fourth Quarter

NK &045; Fierova 45 run (Ouverson run)

WB, NK

First downs: 12, 14

Rushing yards: 260, 401

Passing yards: 32, 23

Total yards: 292, 424

Pen.-Yds.: 2-10, 2-10

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING&045;NK, Fierova 15-244. WB, Laubenthal 24-146.

PASSING&045;NK, Nelson 1-3-0, 23. WB, Goodchild 4-12-0, 32.

RECEIVING&045;NK, Fierova 1-23. WB, Olberding 2-25.