Llanes, Burlington Central come back to beat N. Boone
POPLAR GROVE - North Boone led Burlington Central 12-0 before the Rockets gained a yard. But that was pretty much it for the Vikings' offense. The Burlington defense pitched a shutout the rest of the way as the Rockets spoiled North Boone's homecoming with a 20-12 Big Northern East victory.
Tre Llanes' 123 yards led the ground game and the Rockets largely shut down North Boone's passing attack led by Alex Albrecht in the Big Northern East opener for both teams.
Albrecht marched the Vikings down the field on their first possession. After the Rockets fumbled on their first play from scrimmage, North Boone (3-2) only had to go 10 yards to make it 12-0. But then Central's defense stiffened and the offense came to life.
The Rockets (2-3) answered by going 70 yards in 8 plays, with Llanes going the final 13 yards for the score.
Central took the lead before halftime when Tim Maroder found Joey Lange for a 32-yard touchdown. After the Vikings jumped offside on the extra-point attempt, the Rockets opted to go for 2 and Michael Kellenberger bulled in.
Maroder provided an insurance touchdown, going in from a yard out just before the end of the third quarter.
Just a little tweaking was enough to turn the tide defensively.
"We changed our coverage just a little bit," said Central coach Aaron Wichman. "They ran some things that coverage-wise were giving us a hard time. And then we changed what we were doing up front just a little bit, and both of those things paid off."
Maroder completed 5 of 8 for 64 yards and ran for 90 yards. Brandon Westergard added 81 rushing yards. Most of those came in the second half after Llanes began suffering cramps.
The Vikings had a final chance to tie. Albrecht, who finished 16 of 34 for 165 yards, led them from their own 10 into Rockets' territory. The drive was aided by a pass-interference penalty that negated a Maroder interception. But the drive stalled at the Rockets' 32 and Maroder had only to take a knee twice to run out the clock.