Sanow shoulders Vikings win; Canby plays tough

"It's a credit to that young man," said Coach Chad Johnston.

He was talking about junior Cole Sanow, who rushed 28 times for 223 yards to literally "carry" Minneota to a 33-20 win over Canby.

"Cole was on a mission," said Johnston. "They were literally hanging on him," and he kept plowing for yards.

Canby used the strong arm of Parker Viessman for 241 yards on 23 completitions on 35 passes thrown to throw a scare into the undefeated Vikings (3-0). Canby left the field 0-3.

The Lancers nearly used their "Lance" as a "dagger", striking at will as Viessman spread the ball around to Kalib Greenman (10 catches, 118 yards); Tyler Sayr (five catches, 60 yards); Riley Kockelman (three catches, 40 yards); Cameron Anderson (three catches, 19 yards) and two other passes for four yards.

"We allowed Viessman to get in rythym and we just couldn't get to him," said the Viking coach.

Minneota struck twice before Canby got on the board and led 13-0. Logan Sussner caught a 17-yard touchdown pass from Thomas Hennen and Sanow ran the ball over from three yards out for the 13-0 lead.

But Viessman and the Lancers were about to declare war on the Viking defense. His first touchdown pass of 12 yards found Anderson in the end zone. Minneota retaliated with a 59-yard, seven play drive that ended when LaShad Smith ran the ball over from two yards out. It was 20-6 and the lead seemed safe.

But it wasn't. "They matched us. We tried to make adjustments — but didn't," said Coach Johnston.

Canby scored the only touchdown of the second half on a six-yard, 47-yard play that saw Viessman complete four of six passes that ended when Greenman grabbed a 17-yard touchdown pass in front of Minneota defenders. Blake Stoks kick narrowed the halftime lead to 20-13.

Just before Canby scored, Minneota's Mitchell Rost finally got to Viessman and dropped him for an eight-yard loss. But it certainly didn't shake up Viessman, who kept the barrels of his gun smokin'.

The only dent in Viessman's armour was three intercepted passes. Smith stepped in front of one after the first touchdown to set up the second touchdown.

The other two, one by Landon Roliecki near the end of the first half and the final one by Sanow late in the game were instrumental in the Vikings victory.

Yet, Coach Johnston credited the Canby line for much of Viessman's success. "They did a nice job of protecting him tonight," the coach said.

If Minneota thought they'd made the proper adjustments at halftime, they were wrong.

Canby took the opening kick and drove 62 yards in eight plays and tightened the game at 20-19 on a 21-yard Viessman pass to Greenman. When Stoks slammed the extra point through the uprights, the game was tied at 20-20.

At that point Viessman had 204 yards passing

A testament to the Viking defense was that Canby drive officially "shook them from their slumber", and the rest of the way was all Minneota.

The rest of the way Viessman completed just seven of 14 passes for 37 yards and the Shawn-Buysse-led defense shut down the Canby running game.

Buysse was in on 16 tackles. Minneota got their second sack from Logan Sussner with an assist from Buysse and their third sack from Cole VanOverbeke.

They forced a fumble as the Lancers were trying to rally with 8:20 left in the game and Thomas Hennen fell on it. Sandwich in a pair of drives stopped by the Viking defense on fourth down and Sanow's intercepted pass and Minneota's defense had officially arrived.

"Late in the game our defense made a difference. They came on strong — but it took too long," Coach Johnston said.

Minneota's final touchdown came with just 1:58 left in the game. After the line stopped Viessman, Minneota took over at the Canby 31 and used eight plays with Hennen sneaking over from the one yard line to cap the scoring at 33-20.

Coach Johnston looked back on the game and said, "Once they (Canby) got the momentum, they just kind of rolled with it."

Fortunately, Cole Sanow was around with his broad shoulders and the Vikings jumped aboard for the ride.