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Roland-Story sports round-up: Norsemen fall to No. 10 Nevada in football, 49-26

joe randleman, ames tribune
·5 min read

The Roland-Story football team played No. 10 (Class 3A) Nevada tough for a half, but couldn't slow a potent Cub ground game in a 49-26 loss to the Norsemen Friday at Kerry Van Winkle Field in Story City.

The Roland-Story volleyball team dropped its Heart of Iowa Conference opener to Greene County Sept. 8 in Jefferson. The Norse pulled off a 25-22 win in the first set, but lost the next three by scores of 25-18, 25-23 and 25-13 in falling to 6-2 on the season.

The Norse cross country teams placed second and fifth respectively at the Belmond-Klemme Invitational Sept. 6. The girls took fifth with 125 points and the boys seventh with 179.

Here is what we learned from Roland-Story's high school athletic performances last week:

Roland-Story football team gives gutsy effort in loss

Roland-Story put a big scare into a Nevada team that defeated the Norsemen by a 64-7 score a year ago.

The Norsemen played their best half of defense under head coach Matt Finn during the first half to take a 13-7 lead into the locker room. But Nevada's potent rushing attack took over in the second half as the Cubs put six touchdowns on the board over the final two quarters to pull away.

"You don't want to be about moral victories too much in a rivalry game like this," Roland-Story head coach Matt Finn said. "But when I look at incremental steps that our program has taken, I think we're closing the gap a little bit. But we've got to learn how to finish games."

Carter Flattebo returned an interception 65 yards for a touchdown to give Roland-Story a 7-0 lead less than three minutes into the game. After Nevada tied the score in the second quarter Luke Patton powered the ball across the goal line from one yard out with 8:02 left in the half to give the Norsemen the lead heading into the locker room.

Nevada scored two quick touchdowns to start the second half, but Roland-Story answered with a 31-yard touchdown pass from Hesston Johnson to Kale Lande to pull within 21-19 with 5:47 left. From then on it was all Nevada and Cub quarterback Noah Mills, who ran for 219 yards and two touchdowns and threw for 192 yards and two more scores on the night.

Roland-Story quarterback Hesston Johnson (5) runs by Nevada linebacker Anthony Eaton (5) for a first down during the first quarter at Kerry Van Winkle Field Friday, Sept. 9, 2022, in Story City, Iowa.
Roland-Story quarterback Hesston Johnson (5) runs by Nevada linebacker Anthony Eaton (5) for a first down during the first quarter at Kerry Van Winkle Field Friday, Sept. 9, 2022, in Story City, Iowa.

The loss dropped Roland-Story to 1-2 on the season.

Johnson threw for 164 yards with one touchdown and interception apiece and added 25 yards rushing. Lande made three catches for 73 yards, Sam Knoll ran for 20 yards and a score, Jonovan Wilkinson caught two balls for 33 yards, Flattebo had two catches for 19, Patton one grab for 28 and Dillon Lettow one for 11.

Johnson made 10 tackles, Gavin Carpenter 9.5, Patton 7.5 and Flattebo and Christian Chelsvig 5.5 apiece for Roland-Story on defense. Lande joined Flattebo in recording an interception for the Norsemen and Johnson recovered a fumble.

Homecoming next week

Roland-Story will host Albia for homecoming this Friday at Story City. The game is the Class 2A District 7 opener for both teams.

Albia (2-1) is coming off a 46-20 victory at Central Lee.

Nevada 49, Roland-Story 26

Nevada                0        7        28      14 — 49

Roland-Story        7        6         6         7 — 26

Individual statistical leaders

Rushing: Nevada — Noah Mills 18-219. Roland-Story — Jake Berggren 3-42.

Passing: Nevada — Mills 7-12-2-192. Roland-Story — Hesston Johnson 9-24-1-164.

Receiving: Nevada — Kyle Kingsbury 2-146. Roland-Story — Kale Lande 3-73.

Tackles: Nevada — Dylan Fritz 6.5. Roland-Story — Johnson 10.

Sacks: Nevada — Fritz 1, Will Palmer 1.

Fumble recoveries: Roland-Story — Johnson 1.

Interceptions: Nevada — Drew Robinson 1. Roland-Story — Lande 1, Carter Flattebo 1.

Claire Truesdell places second at Belmond-Klemme Invite

Roland-Story's Claire Truesdell ran a strong race to place second individually for the Roland-Story girls' cross country team at the Belmond-Klemme Invitational Sept. 6.

Truesdell completed the 5-kilometer course in 21 minutes, 5.23 seconds to trail only Clear Lake's Addison Doughan (19:45.88). Makenna Carlson took 16th in 23:33.32, Brooke Thompson 40th in 25:36.65, Faith Springer 51st in 26:49.77 and Olivia Younes 57th in 27:24.30 as the other runners to score for the Norse girls.

Evan Voga ran a 5k time of 19:09.8 to place 22nd as the top runner for the Roland-Story boys at the meet. Luccas Hart was 48th in 20:18.2, Lukas Wuebker 53rd in 20:45.5, Nolan Rhoad 54th in 20:51.2 and Tate Lande 57th in 21:02.6 to complete the scoring for the Norse boys.

oland-Story's Madelyn Risdal (left) and Alynn Solberg go up for a double-block during the Norse's loss to Greene County Sept. 8 at Jefferson.
oland-Story's Madelyn Risdal (left) and Alynn Solberg go up for a double-block during the Norse's loss to Greene County Sept. 8 at Jefferson.

Norse volleyball team struggles after first set against Greene County

The Roland-Story volleyball team started strong, but then sputtered after the first set against Greene County.

The Norse only averaged 8.3 kills per set on 7.1 % efficiency compared to Greene County's 12.8 and 32.1 % respectively. Roland-Story also gave up 13 blocks and recorded eight.

The Norse did have a 13-10 edge in aces. But they only were accurate on 73 % of their serves.

Ali Charlson had 25 assists, 16 digs, three kills and two aces for Roland-Story in the loss. Kamryn Lande finished with 16 digs, eight kills and three aces, Grace Dowling 10 kills, Reagan Faber six kills and five digs, Madelyn Risdal five kills, three aces and two blocks.

This article originally appeared on Ames Tribune: Roland-Story sports round-up: Norsemen fall to Nevada in football