The Vikings of Northwood-Kensett scored first and last and scored all the points in between in a lopsided 42-0 victory over their district opponents Northern University of Cedar Falls in last night’s second to last regular season game.

It was 48 degrees at game time when both teams took the field and the Vikings, having won the toss elected to receive the opening kick-off which they returned for 10 yards.

The Viking offense reeled off nine straight plays finding perfection on each down, running on eight of the first nine plays with yardage gained between 3 and 18 yards and a pass of 11 yards giving them yet another first down as they entered Panther territory.

But it was on the 10th play of the drive when quarterback Jordan Reindl’s handoff to half-back Sam Arnold found the turf and was recovered by a Panther defensive lineman.

The Northern University High School offense took over and immediately revved up its throwing arm on its first three downs only to gain 5 yards and then gave the ball back by punting it away from deep in their territory.

The majority of the first quarter was a show of good defense by both teams until Reindl scrambled out the pocket, being chased by a defender, found daylight to the wide side of the field and scampered 38 yards for the first of his two touchdown runs on the night. With no time remaining on the clock, the extra point was kicked and the score was 7-0 going into the second quarter.

Again for nearly a whole quarter the defenses on both sides went to work keeping the other team from even getting close to the end zone until the home town team again found themselves closing in on pay dirt. Reindl ran in for the second Viking touchdown of the night. Freshman kicker, Nik Werner was good for another extra point making it a 14-0 Viking’s lead.

It didn’t take the visiting team long though before they quickly found their wide receivers and drove the ball down the field. With under a minute left in the first half, it looked like they were going to get on the board but on third down, Panthers quarterback Kyle Denning had a pass intercepted by Northwood-Kensett sophomore cornerback Spencer Capitani.

Capitani caught the ball one yard deep in the end zone and instead of taking a knee, decided to return it out of the end zone to the tune of a 101-yard touchdown.

With the return, Capitani broke a 24-year-old school record. The previous mark was 96 yards by Rick Perry back in 1984.

“I really thought that they were going to catch me, Capitani said. “But you should of seen the really great block I got on about the 35-yard line that made it possible for me to run the rest of the way.”

The first half ended with a 20-0 score, in favor of the N-K Vikings.

The second half of the game started a lot like the first half with some very good defense shown by both teams until the Vikings began to wear down the Panther’s defensive line with the run.

Touchdown runs of 7 yards by senior running back Ryan Mueller and 6 yards by Tyson Werner both coming in the later part of the third quarter with two points scored on a run by Phillip Fierova and an extra point kick by the Nik Werner gave the Vikings a commanding lead of 35-0 going into the fourth quarter.

Later, Fierova took it to the house on a 78-yard run around the right end for the final touchdown of the night to make the game 42-0 lead with just over 4 minutes to play in the game.

The Vikings racked up 332 yards rushing on 46 attempts compared to their opponents 27 yards on 17 attempts.

Through the air the visiting team did get the edge, passing the ball 35 times, completing 22 and throwing for 2 interceptions for 176 yards. The Vikings threw only three times completing two for 21 yards and no interceptions.

Coach Dave Capitani said at the end of the game that he was, “Happy with the way the boys played tonight” and that they “deserved to win this one because of their great defensive effort and good job of keeping their opponent out of the end zone.”

With the win on Friday night the Vikings clinched a playoff spot and are looking forward to their last regular season game this coming Friday at home against RRMR. It is the first playoff appearance for the Vikings in four years.

N-K 42, NU 0

N-K – 7 13 15 7 – 42

NU – 0 0 0 0 – 0

First Quarter

N-K – Reindl 38 run (Werner kick) :00-

Second Quarter

N-K – Reindl 8 run (Werner kick) 2:16

N-K – Capitani 101 interception return (pass failed) :43

Third Quarter

N-K – Mueller 7 run (Fierova run) 4:33

N-K – Ty Werner 6 run (Nik Werner kick) 1:37

Fourth Quarter

N-K – Fierova 78 run (Werner kicks) 4:09

N-K rushing: Fierova 13-129, Reindl 8 – 98, Mueller 16-72, Arnold 6-16, Olson 2-11, Werner 1-6

NU rushing- Quinones 10-61, Denning 9-49

N-K passing- Reindl 2-3-21

NU passing – Denning 21-34-166 and 2 interceptions

N-K tackles- Olson and Davidson 8 each, Capitani and Ty Werner 7 each

N-K interceptions- Gordon and Capitani