VINTON — The Roland-Story Norsemen football team returned to action on Friday night, as they made the trip to eastern Iowa to take on the Vinton-Shellburg Vikings in Class 2A, District 4 action at Vinton-Shellsburg High School. Roland-Story entered at 2-2, while Vinton-Shellsburg entered at 2-2.
It would be a fast start for the hosts in Vinton-Shellsburg, as they went down the field on the opening drive and scored on a 26-yard touchdown pass from Colt Koeppen to Jacoby Johnson to put the Vikings ahead 7-0. That would be the score for the remainder of the first half as both defenses ruled throughout the majority of the opening 24 minutes.
Roland-Story took the football to start the second half and would march the field behind a strong rushing attack led by Cody Long, and would score on a 5-yard touchdown run by Aiden Frey on an end around to tie the game at 7-7. Vinton-Shellsburg struck back nearly instantaneously on a 95-yard kickoff return for a touchdown from Isaiah Schneider as the Vikings took a 14-7 lead. Roland-Story turned around put together an impressive 69-yard touchdown drive, capped off by a 6-yard touchdown run by Cody Long to tie the game at 14-14. Following a Vikings punt, the Norsemen again rode the back of running back Cody Long down the field, scoring on a 1-yard touchdown run to put the Norsemen ahead 21-14 a little over halfway through the 4th quarter. Roland-Story would force a turnover on the ensuing Vinton-Shellsburg drive as Jake Knoll picked off Colt Koeppen’s pass and the Norsemen were able to drain the final 6:17 off the clock for a 21-14 win.
Cody Long would put together a big day on the ground, rushing for 166 yards and 2 touchdowns on 31 carries, while also tallying 4 tackles. Quarterback Colin Willis was 19-for-29 for 211 yards and an interception, while Luke Thoreson caught 8 passes for 113 yards.
Roland-Story football returns to action on Friday Night, when they host the Dike-New Hartford Wolverines in a battle of district favorites in Class 2A, District 4 at Kerry Van Winkle Field, with kickoff at 7 PM.