The Roland-Story Norsemen football team opened their 2023 season on Friday night, as they made the eastern trek down Highway 30 to take on the South Tama County Trojans at South Tama High School in Tama. Friday’s meeting marked the first between the two schools since 2015.
A majority of the first quarter would be quiet, before Roland-Story running back Hesston Johnson broke the silence with a 4-yard touchdown run to give Roland-Story an initial 6-0 lead after a missed PAT. The Norsemen would strike again before the end of the first, as Johnson then broke off a 38-yard touchdown run to give the Norsemen a 13-0 lead. Roland-Story continued to force stops and made noise off those stops, as the Norsemen marched down the field on their first drive of the 2nd quarter and punched in a 1-yard touchdown run by Jake Berggren to put Roland-Story up 19-0 after the missed PAT. Roland-Story would strike one more time before halftime, as Hesston Johnson picked up his 3rd touchdown of the half on a 51-yard touchdown run to give Roland-Story a 26-0 halftime lead.
The 3rd quarter would be an uneventful, with neither team finding pay dirt in the frame, but Sam Knoll would put the nail in the coffin with a 63-yard bomb to Jonovan Wilkinson for a touchdown with 6:07 to go in the game to give Roland-Story a 33-0 lead. Jake Berggren would add a 20-yard touchdown run in garbage time to cap off the Norsemen’s 40-0 win over South Tama County.
Hesston Johnson would have a breakout performance in his first game since moving from quarterback to running back, with 15 carries, 159 yards and 3 touchdowns. Sam Knoll would go 10/15 with 181 yards and a touchdown on the pass to Jonovan Wilkinson.
Roland-Story returns to action on Friday night, when they take on fellow Story County foe (3A) #8 Nevada at Nevada High School. South Tama County returns to action on Friday, when they travel to northern Iowa to take on Charles City.