Both teams took some time to get comfortable in game action, but Gibraltar won in a runaway 42-6 over Sevastopol Friday night.
The Vikings and the Pioneers both strutted out new quarterbacks for the game. Brady Kita and Rylan Caldecott ran the offense for the Vikings, while Frank de Young and Logan Schuh did the same for the Pioneers.
A familiar face started the scoring out in the first quarter, with Giuseppe Mercier scored from three yards out to make it 7-0. Capitalizing on a Mercier fumble recovery, Caldecott scored on a pair of rushing plays to extend the lead to 20-0. The passing game was ignited by a 48-yard bomb from Kita to Caldecott to send the Vikings into halftime with a 28-0 lead.
In the third quarter, Kita scampered for 35 yards on a carry before finding Braden Sitte in the endzone from 15 yards out to make it 35-0. Kita would have one more score in his arm, finding Will Friedenfels on a back corner fade to make it 42-0.
The Pioneers would get on the board in the final seconds of the game on what Gibraltar head coach Mike Peck would call a teachable moment. Logan Retzlaff, who had been booming kicks all night long, had his 40-yard field goal attempt blocked by Sitte. With no one paying attention, Alex Andreae picked up the ball and ran it in for the score.
The player of the game was Caldecott, who in his return to football scored three total touchdowns and set up another score with a 35 yard pass to Sitte.
The Vikings return to action on Thursday when they host Suring while the Pioneers will travel to Gillett.
