Decorah’s Louis Bucksa passes for 4 touchdowns, runs for 1 in 57-14 win over Marion

MARION – Decorah turned a cold start into its own snowball effect.

And once it started rolling, the Vikings’ avalanche overwhelmed Marion.

Quarterback Louis Bucksa passed for four touchdowns and Trevor Kuennen returned an interception for a score in the second quarter, powering No. 5 Decorah to a 57-14 victory over the Wolves in a Class 4A District 2 prep football game Friday at Marion.

“We wanted to run the ball and our game plan was to get some,” Decorah first-year head coach Mike Tangen said. “Once they started triggering down, we knew the passing game was going to have to loosen up a little bit. That’s what we had to do.

“Louis did a good job all night, staying calm. He threw to the open guy. Once we got rolling it was fun.”

Bucksa would have been skeptical if someone would have predicted such a big outburst before halftime and proceeded to praise his teammates.

“I don’t know if I would have believed them,” Bucksa said. “Our wide receivers and offensive line were amazing.”

Marion’s defense played aggressive and with a chip on its shoulder early, preventing a first down and forcing three punts through the first 14 minutes. Both teams punted on seven straight series to open the game.

Then, the dam broke. Decorah struck first with Bucksa hitting Will Larson in stride for a 64-yard touchdown, making it 7-0 with 10:04 left in the second quarter. Bucksa saw Marion was spread out and playing man coverage.

“I know he is fast and he can go get the ball,” Bucksa said. “I threw it up to him and he came down with a touchdown.”

Marion answered with an electric pass from Andrew Ahmann to Matthew Danninger, who outran Viking defenders for a 78-yard scoring strike to tie the game, 7-7, less than two minutes later.

It was all Decorah after that play. Trevor Kuennen snagged the first of his two interceptions and four total by the Vikings defense. On the next play, Bucksa hit Noah Milburn for a 25-yard score.

Bucksa later hit Tommy Sexton for a 16-yard play-action slant pass. Sexton carried a couple defenders for a couple yards to reach the end zone and make it 22-7 after the 2-point conversion. Bucksa added an 11-yard TD pass to Gavin Groux with 59 seconds left before halftime and Decorah led 36-7 at the break.

Bucksa finished with 241 passing yards, including 97 to Larson. He also rushed for a TD in the third.

“He’s really developed himself into a high-level quarterback,” Tangen said. “He does a good job with decision making but he can make all the throws we need him to make.

“He needs to be able to spread the ball around for us to run the offense that we want. He’s done a great job doing that.”

Decorah’s defense helped set up the offense with good field position. It also put points on the board. Kuennen returned his second pick 32 yards for a touchdown. He had just one before Friday.

“I caught it at the flat,” Kuennen said. “I saw I had some guys, like they always do, turned around looking for guys to block. I just made one cut by the corner and it was all daylight.”

Sexton added a 22-yard interception return in the second half. The Vikings didn’t allow another score until the final minute. Kuennen, Sexton and Gatlin Dahlberg were a big part of the success.

“Those are three good players and were starters last year,” said Tangen, noting that Kuennen and Sexton are three-year starters. “When you have linebackers coming back, they read things so much faster. That’s huge.”

Ahmann passed for 148 yards and a score, while Creighton Wheeler had 95 rushing yards to lead the Wolves (2-5, 1-2). Aden Nicholls ran for 62 yards and a TD for Marion.

Decorah improved to 7-0 for the first time since 2013 and that was the last time the Vikings produced 57 points in a game.

“It’s cool and everything but we have a mission,” Tangen said. “We don’t look ahead. We take one day at a time and try to get better. Football is a game of repetition and repeat. We just go back to work and repeat the next week.”

DECORAH 57

MARION 14

AT MARION

DEC MAR

First Downs 12 11

Rushes-yards 24-106 34-163

Passing yards 242 153

Comp-att-int 10-14-0 15-31-4

Total yards 348 36

Fumbles-lost 1-0 1-0

Punts-avg. 4-42.8 6-36.3

Penalties-yards 3-35 1-10

Decorah 0 36 14 7 -- 57

Marion 0 7 0 7 -- 14

DEC – Will Larson 64 pass from Louis Bucksa (Brayden Wemark kick)

MAR – Matthew Danninger 78 pass from Ahmann (Landon Tilkes kick)

DEC – Noah Milburn 25 pass from Bucksa (Wemark kick)

DEC – Tommy Sexton 16 pass from Bucksa (Bucksa pass to Carter Dlhy)

DEC – Trevor Kuennen 32 interception return (Wemark kick)

DEC – Gavin Groux 11 pass from Bucksa (Wemark kick)

DEC – Bucksa 1 run (Wemark kick)

DEC – Sexton 22 interception return (Wemark kick)

DEC – Tanner Caddell 38 run (Wemark kick)

MAR – Aden Nicholls 7 run (Tilkes kick)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING – Decorah: Caddell 4-61, Groux 4-25, Larson 4-15, Mason Avila 4-12, Bucksa 2-0, Archer Sims 3-(minus 2), Kuennen 3-(minus 5). Marion: Creighton Wheeler 18-95, Nicholls 6-62, Ahmann 5-18, Cael Schultz 1-1, Team 2-(minus 3), Danninger 2-(minus 10).

PASSING – Decorah: Bucksa 10-14-0-242. Marion: Ahmann 15-30-4-153, Team 0-1-0-0.

RECEIVING – Decorah: Larson 4-97, Groux 2-62, Dlhy 1-35, Milburn 1-25, Sexton 1-16, Kuennen 1-7. Marion: Danninger 9-118, Daegon Michaels 4-28, Aiden Baley 1-5, Wheeler 1-2.

Comments: kj.pilcher@thegazette.com