Roland-Story sports round-up for Sept. 23-29: Norsemen top Chariton in football, 24-14
The Roland-Story football team went on the road to Chariton and picked up its second victory in a row Friday with a 24-14 triumph over the Chargers.
The Norsemen went to 2-0 in Class 2A District 7 and improved to 3-2 overall. They built a 17-0 lead after three quarters and coasted to victory.
The Roland-Story volleyball team took care of business in a Heart of Iowa Conference match with Perry Sept. 20 at Story City. The Norse swept the Bluejays by 25-11, 25-10 and 25-5 scores to even their record at 1-1 in the conference and improve to 9-8 overall.
The Roland-Story cross country teams hosted the Norsemen Invitational at the River Bend Golf Course in Story City Sept. 20. The Norse girls came in sixth out of nine teams and the boys took ninth out of 11.
The girls scored 132 points to trail North Polk (25 points), Nevada (67), Bondurant-Farrar (99), Madrid (103) and Ogden (114). The Norse beat South Hamilton (183), Saydel (206) and Southeast Valley (255).
The boys finished with a score of 231, beating Woodward Academy (248) and Saydel (298). North Polk scored 24 points to easily win the boys race and Nevada was second with a score of 72.
Here is what we learned from Roland-Story's high school athletic performances from last week:
Running game sparks R-S football team
The Roland-Story football team ran all over Chariton Friday night.
The Norsemen piled up 349 rushing yards on 50 carries as a team. Jonovan Wilkinson was the star, rushing 25 times 220 yards and two touchdowns and adding three receptions for 25 yards.
"Offensively, I just have to give a ton of credit to our offensive line," Roland-Story head coach Matt Finn said. "We've been able to put a few different guys back there and still move the ball effectively. Now, Jono had a monster night for us and did a lot extra, but I am sure he would credit some of the holes his guys up front created as the key to those big runs happening."
Wilkinson had a 5-yard touchdown run in the first half to help Roland-Story build its big early lead. After Chariton pulled within 17-14 in the fourth quarter Wilkinson stepped up with a huge 46-yard scoring scamper, finding the end zone with 4:14 left to help ice the game.
Hesston Johnson scored Roland-Story's first touchdown on a 1-yard run in the first quarter. Sam Knoll booted a 20-yard field goal in the second quarter for the Norse.
Johnson finished with 44 yards rushing and he also completed 8 of 15 passes for 74 yards with no interceptions. Dillon Lettow ran for 67 yards on eight carries, Luke Patton made two receptions for 31 yards, Kale Lande had two catches for 11 and Carter Flattebo one for seven.
Defense is stout for the second week in a row
A week after shutting out Albia the Roland-Story defense held Chariton to 210 total yards on 50 plays.
Roland-Story limited the Chargers to 110 yards rushing and forced four turnovers.
"For the second week in a row, our defense led the way," Finn said. "Chariton is a tough group of players who get off the ball well, and to hold them to 19 yards on the ground in the first half really spoke to our guys' toughness and discipline. I'm really proud of how the guys bought into Coach (Jeff) Janes' gameplan and executed it so well."
Boaz Clark came up with two interceptions and Johnson had one for the Norsemen.
"It's really fun to play team football, and when you get into 'next man up' situations, you see guys step up," Clark said. "I think about Boaz Clark with his two massive interceptions in the fourth quarter to get us the ball back and then to seal the victory. I think about Jake Berggren converting on third down for us when we had to have it. I think about Dillon Lettow's work from the running back spot in the second half, and all the other role-playing details that guys on our team took care of in relief of someone else to help us secure the win, and it just makes me proud of the team we've built."
Lettow recovered a fumble, Aaron Peyton came up with a sack and Charlie Watts finished with 8.5 tackles.
Back on the road
Roland-Story is back on the road this week.
The Norsemen will travel to Iowa Falls to take on Iowa Falls-Alden (0-5, 0-2) this Friday.
"Next week is a huge opportunity for us in Iowa Falls," Finn said. "In district play, most games are all-hands-on-deck, but a lot of our hands are battle tested and ready to go. We're going to enjoy this one for the weekend and then get back to work for a chance to go 3-0 to start district play."
The game is set to kick off at 7:30 p.m.
Roland-Story 24, Chariton 14
Roland-Story 7 7 3 7 — 24
Chariton 0 0 0 14 — 14
Individual statistical leaders — Roland-Story
Rushing: Jonovan Wilkinson 25-220.
Passing: Hesston Johnson 8-15-0-74.
Receiving: Luke Patton 2-31.
Tackles: Charlie Watts 8.5.
Sacks: Aaron Peyton 1.
Fumble recoveries: Dillon Lettow 1.
Interceptions: Boaz Clark 2.
Norse volleyball team rolls
The Roland-Story volleyball team picked up its first conference win with an impressive performance against Perry.
The Norse averaged 11 kills per set on 43.3 % efficiency. They also averaged 3.3 aces on 90.3 % serving.
Alynn Solberg had 10 kills on 62.5 % efficiency. Kamryn Lande totaled seven on 27.8 % efficiency, Madelyn Risdal six on 50 % efficiency, Reagan Faber four on 21.8 % efficiency, Kenzie Fick three on 75 % efficency and Ali Charlson three on 60 % efficiency.
Solberg also had one block, Lande three digs, Risdal five digs, Faber four digs and one block and Fick six digs. Charlson handed out 24 assists and came up with 11 digs and Laurel Osborn finished with seven digs.
Fick and Faber led Roland-Story in serving with five and three aces respectively.
Two Norse girls place in the top 10 at Norse Invite
The Roland-Story girls had two runners finish in the top 10 at the Norsemen Invitational.
Claire Truesdell led the way with a sixth-place showing. Truesdell completed the 5-kilometer course in 21 minutes, 11 seconds to just edge out Odgen's Kayden Spencer, who also ran a 21:11 for sixth.
Mekenna Carlson took 10th for Roland-Story. Carlson crossed the finish line in 21:40.
Olivia Younes placed 40th in 24:03, Faith Spring 52nd in 24:56 and Frankie Hadsall 69th in 26:26 to complete the scoring for the Norse.
Madrid's Kate Brandhorst won the girls race in 19:49.
The Roland-Story boys were led by Evan Voga. Voga turned in a 5k time of 18:32 to place 24th.
Luccas Hart finished 67th in 19:58. Nolan Rhoad and Lucas Wuebker both ran a 20:28 to end up 75th and 76th and Colten Lucchesi was 78th in 20:34.
North Polk's Zach and Max Sporaa were the first two runners to finish the boys race. They ran respective times of 15:56 and 16:29.
This article originally appeared on Ames Tribune: Roland-Story sports round-up: Norsemen top Chariton in football
