STATE CENTER — The Roland-Story Norsemen football team returned to action on Friday night, as they made the trip east to Marshall County to take on the West Marshall Trojans in their non-district finale at West Marshall High School. Roland-Story entered at 1-1, while West Marshall also entered at 1-1.
Friday’s game would start very well for the Norsemen, forcing a goal-line stand against the Trojans offense, before scoring on a 32-yard touchdown pass from Colin Willis to Luke Thoreson to put the Norsemen ahead 7-0. West Marshall would answer a couple of possessions later as Blayk Hart hit Kinnick Geers for a 66-yard touchdown pass to tie the game at 7-7. West Marshall would strike again in the 2nd quarter as Hart found Geers again, this time for a 25-yard touchdown pass to put the Trojans ahead 14-7. After a strip sack on the ensuing possession, West Marshall converted on a 32-yard field goal from Wilson Buckley to take a 17-7 lead. Roland-Story struck right back on an 81-yard touchdown pass from Willis to Aiden Frey to bring the halftime score to 17-13.
Roland-Story took the football to start the 2nd half and would march down and score on a 7-yard touchdown pass from Colin Willis to Luke Thoreson as Roland-Story took a 20-17 lead. It wasn’t until the 4th quarter that West Marshall responded, as they converted a 33-yard field goal attempt from Wilson Buckley to tie the game at 20-20. West Marshall would get a stop defensively, before taking the ball down and scoring from 5 yards out on a Blayk Hart keeper to put West Marshall ahead 27-20. Roland-Story was unable to move the football on their final drive in the 27-20 loss.
Colin Willis was 11/22 for 193 yards and 3 touchdowns, as Luke Thoreson caught 6 passes for 86 yards and 2 touchdowns, while Aiden Frey had an 81-yard touchdown reception. Cody Long would rush for 132 yards on 25 carries as well.
Roland-Story football returns to action on Friday, when they open Class 2A, District 4 play by hosting the Denver Cyclones for homecoming at 7 PM at Kerry Van Winkle Field.