Offensively and defensively, it was hard to find holes in Alma's game on Friday evening as they beat Bertrand on the road at 46-6.
The Vikings came out and played strong defense for the first six minutes of the quarter and held the explosive Alma offense at bay. At the 5:43 mark though, Alek Molzahn caught a six-yard pass from quarterback Jakin Neal to get on the board first. The conversion was no good and the Cardinals led 6-0.
From there, Alma found a rhythm. At the 3:15 mark in the opening quarter, Neal found Tucker Biskup on a 20-yard touchdown pass. The two-point conversion was good and Alma led 14-0. Bertrand then had possession and then an interception was thrown and Molzahn was the recipient and took it to the Bertrand three-yard line.
The Cardinals were able to punch it in one more time before the end of the period as River Eddy ran it in from three yards out and Alma took a 20-0 lead into the second quarter.
At the end of the first quarter, the Cardinals forced another turnover as Molzahn picked off another pass.
In the second quarter, Biskup scored again this time from a yard out with 11:55 to go before halftime and the score read 26-0. For Bertrand, their offense struggled to find success and keep Alma off the field.
At the 8:49 mark in the second period, Alma scored again as it was a 21-yard pass from Neal to Biskup. The two-point conversion was good and Alma led 34-0.
Just before the half, Alma scored with 52 seconds to go on a 14-yard pass from Neal to Zavier Mitchell. That pushed the lead to 40-0, and that's what it read at the intermission.
In the third quarter, Alma started the half with a bang, as Alek Molzahn scored from 56 yards out on the ground and the Cardinals led 46-0. The remainder of the third quarter was quiet and entering the fourth quarter it was 46-0.
In the fourth quarter, with 6:18 to go, Kayden Hatfield scored on a one-yard touchdown run to make it 46-6. This touchdown was set up by a 35-yard pass from Hatfield to JC Kehr to get the Vikings to the one-yard line.
Unofficially for Alma, they had 319 yards of offense. They were led by Alek Molzahn and his 72 yards rushing and a touchdown. Jakin Neal was 9-11 passing with 145 yards and four touchdowns. Tucker Biskup had three catches for 59 yards and two touchdowns.
Head Coach of the Cardinals, Brendan Johnsen talked about some adjustments they made going into the week. "I was really really proud of our defense tonight. I challenged them last week... if you want to be a great team, you have to bring it defensively. We put in a new scheme and the boys executed it to perfection."
Bertrand leaned on Gabe Bojorquez as he had 47 yards rushing. Kayden Hatfield had a rushing touchdown. Eric Wood returned six kicks for 74 yards. Dawson Newcomb and Tipton Bieker each had an interception for the Vikings.
Alma is 4-0 and will have a battle against Arapahoe next Friday. Bertrand is 0-3 and will host top-10-rated Dundy County Stratton.