Velva-Drake-Anamoose vs Kindred

Recap

It was a battle worthy of the top two teams in North Dakota Class A Football in Kindred Friday night as the defending state champion Vikings hosted 2022’s champion: Velva-Garrison-Drake/Anamoose. The Aggies got on the board early, but the Vikings were the only team to score the rest of the night enroute to a season opening 13-6 victory.

Aggies starting quarterback, senior Ben Schepp, led an eight play, 70-yard drive to open the game, concluding with a 27-yard touchdown pass to classmate, Reggie Bruner. With the two point-conversion missed, the lead was just six. Kindred responded, also with a lengthy drive ending in the end zone. Senior starting quarterback, Jakob Starcevic, strung together play after play, scampering in from three yards out to even the score at six. Andrew Haley knocked in the go-ahead extra point for a 7-6 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Both offenses would stall from that point on until the fourth when the Vikings would seal the game for good on a Kylan Swenson 38-yard touchdown run, gliding into the end zone virtually untouched. The Aggies couldn’t convert on their last drive, and game clinching runs from Swenson and Starcevic gave the Vikings their first win of the year. Starcevic and Swenson tallied over a combined 250 yards on the ground with their rushing touchdowns. The Aggies failed to reach 50 yards of offense in the second half.

The Vikings hit the road next Friday to Wahpeton while the Aggies head home to host Harvey-Wells County.