Vikings Succumb to Dukes

By Chris Johnson, REPORTER

 The North Boone Vikings 2016 Football season came to a close on Friday, Oct. 21, as they lost to the Dixon Dukes 44-6. The loss dropped North Boone’s season mark to 3-6 and helped Dixon get their chance to open the State Football Playoffs at home. In 2015, the Vikings finished the season with a 4-5 mark, just missing out on the post-season.

This year, the schedule has been rough for North Boone and the record indicates the struggle. The play-offs were only a hope, prior to winning two of the final three games of the season. In those two wins, the Vikings scored 94 points. Genoa-Kingston and Byron are 9-0. They are Co-Champions of the newly-formed Big Northern Conference. The Tigers and Cogs never played each other this season. North Boone had to play them both.

The Vikings also had to deal with 7-2 Rockford Lutheran and 7-2 Dixon. The Vikings won the games they were expected to this season. They lost the games where they really weren’t favored. The team got stronger later in the season it seemed. One of the biggest surprises of the season was in week eight, when the Big Northern scoring record for the season was set as North Boone beat down the Trojans 54-52.

Low points of the season included a three-game losing streak, nestled behind a 1-2 start. It would have been 2-1 had the Stillman Valley Cardinals not come back late to sink the Vikings by five points in the season opener. The loss to Rockford Christian 21-12 in week five was snuggled between showdowns with the first and third place finisher in the Conference. It wasn’t just one win that kept North Boone out of the post-season again this year, it was the fact that four teams that they faced this season are now pushing on in the State Tournament this weekend.

The Big Northern Conference sent five qualifiers to the State Tournament this year. Byron and Genoa-Kingston are 9-0. Rockford Lutheran and Dixon are 7-2 and Winnebago, who fell to Byron 63-21 in their own season opener, made it based on playoff points with a 5-4 mark.

Equipment turn in began taking place this week at North Boone. Players are beginning the transition from the fall sports season to the winter sports season and the upcoming wrestling and basketball seasons ahead. The Vikings’ boys’ basketball team will tip things off Thanksgiving week; which means over the next month they will be making the mental adjustment from outdoor sports to the squeaky floors that await.

North Boone Varsity Football Team