STORY CITY — The Roland-Story Norsemen football team returned to action on Friday night, as they hosted the Denver Cyclones in their Class 2A, District 4 opener on homecoming night at Kerry Van Winkle Field in Story City. Roland-Story entered with a record of 1-2, while Denver entered at 2-1.
Roland-Story got out of the gates hot on Friday, taking the opening drive 73 yards and scoring on an 11-yard touchdown pass from Colin Willis to Luke Thoreson to put the Norsemen ahead 6-0 after a missed PAT. Denver responded on their opening drive, as quarterback Jackson Jaeger scored on a 41-yard touchdown run off an option keep to put the Cyclones ahead 7-6. That lead would hold for Denver until the later stages of the 2nd quarter, as the Norsemen answered off a tough 6-yard touchdown run by Jake Knoll to take a 14-7 lead after a 2-point conversion. Denver tried executing a fake punt in Norsemen territory with under 2 minutes to go, but a failed attempt allowed Roland-Story to march down and score with 6 seconds left in the half on a 6-yard touchdown pass from Colin Willis to Luke Thoreson as Roland-Story led 21-7 at halftime.
Defenses ruled much of the 2nd half, as Denver got within a touchdown on a Carter Lanus 1-yard touchdown run to make the score 21-14, but both teams would trade stops and turnovers until the game’s final minute. Denver would drop a shotgun snap with just over a minute to go, which was recovered by Norsemen defensive tackle Gavin Jeter to seal the game an a district-opening win for the Norsemen by a score of 21-14.
The KQWC Player of the Game was Roland-Story junior Luke Thoreson, who tallied 9 catches for 126 yards, 2 touchdowns and a defensive interception. Colin Willis was 20-for-34 for 267 yards and 2 touchdowns with 3 interceptions. Chance Georgius had 2.5 tackles for loss and 2.5 sacks, while Blake Nelsen had 3 tackles for loss and 2 sacks, as Cody Long led the Norsemen with 10 tackles.
Roland-Story football returns to action on Friday, when they travel to Eastern Iowa to take on Vinton-Shellsburg in Class 2A, District 4 action at Vinton-Shellsburg High School with kickoff at 7 PM.