The Roland-Story Norsemen football team opened their 2024 season on Friday night, as they hosted the Trojans of South Tama County in non-district action at Kerry Van Winkle Field in Story City. Roland-Story won last season’s meeting between the two by a score of 40-0.
Roland-Story would take the ball first and settle for a Sam Knoll 35-yard field goal to put the Norsemen up 3-0. Following a botched punt by South Tama, Roland-Story put up their first touchdown of the night on a 22-yard keeper by Sam Knoll as the Norsemen lead was pushed to 10-0. Scoring would stall until past the midway point of the 2nd quarter, when a long Norsemen drive was capped off by 10-yard touchdown pass from Sam Knoll to Heston McIlrath to put Roland-Story up 17-0 at the halftime break.
The 2nd half would see the Norsemen come out and make a statement, as Roland Yates sacked South Tama quarterback Cody Blocker for a safety on the first drive of the 2nd half to put Roland-Story up 19-0. That allowed the flood gates to open for Roland-Story as Sam Knoll hit Cody Long for a 17-yard touchdown pass on the ensuing possession to put Roland-Story up 26-0. Following another defensive stop, the Norsemen again marched down the field as Sam Knoll found Heston McIlrath for the 2nd touchdown connection of the night between the two to put Roland-Story up 32-0. Logan Smith would pick off a Cody Blocker pass on the ensuing possession for South Tama, and Fiston Carlson took the first play following for a 32-yard touchdown run to put the Norsemen up 38-0 by the end of the 3rd quarter. Roland-Story would score on the first play of the 4th quarter, as Knoll threw his 4th touchdown pass of the night to Logan Smith to put Roland-Story up 44-0. Knoll then put the finishing touches on the game with a school-record 43-yard field goal to bring the final score to 47-0.
Knoll finished the game with 182 yards of total offense while throwing 4 touchdowns and rushing for 1, while also going 2/2 on field goals and 3/4 on PAT’s. Sophomore Fiston Carlson rushed for 101 yards and a touchdown on 16 carries, while Heston McIlrath caught 3 passes for 22 yards and 2 touchdowns.
Roland-Story football returns to action on Friday, when they host (3A) #8 Nevada at Kerry Van Winkle Field at 7:30 PM.