Staff Photo By Jake Olson. North Union quarterback Greyson Colegrove drops back to pass during the first quarter of Friday night's contest against Northwood-Kensett in Armstrong.

ARMSTRONG – The North Union High School football team seems to be clicking at the right time. Coming off a 48-12 victory over West Bend-Mallard last Friday night, the Warriors continued their winning ways during week eight of the 2025 fall season, topping Northwood-Kensett 58-0 while playing what head coach Matt Ernster called the team’s most complete game of the season.

“I was really happy because I thought we played well in every phase of the game,” Ernster said. “Offensively, we executed really well. We had one drive that was really sloppy, but still found ways to overcome it. I think that’s the difference from the beginning of the year to now, we are able to overcome that a little bit.”

Ernster’s offensive unit was driven by quarterback Greyson Colegrove and running back Draven Keeler, who guided the Warriors to an impressive 42-point performance in the first two quarters of the ball game.

The defense complemented things on their side of the ball right from kickoff, establishing a dominant line of scrimmage the entire night while limiting quarterback Alex Tiedemann and the entire Vikings triple option running attack.

“Our D-Line, that was the best they’ve played in the past two weeks,” Ernster said. “The triple option is always scary, whether it’s 11-man or 8-man; we knew that they do a good job with it. We challenged our kids with some different stuff, trying to stop different things, and they just did a great job getting after it.”

Colegrove gave the Warriors the initial spark after Ernster elected his team to receive the opening kickoff. Following a two-yard pickup on a quarterback scramble, the junior continued to hound the Vikings’ defense with his legs the very next play, taking a designed run 53 yards before crossing the goal line.

A blocked punt on North Union’s first defensive series of the night placed the ball back into Colegrove’s hands with favorable field position. The signal caller wasted no time extending his team’s lead to 14-0 with a quick touchdown pass to Cooper Hoye in the back of the endzone.

“In these past two weeks, he’s done a lot of really good things for us,” Ernster said. “He’s kind of the catalyst; when he’s going, it makes it really hard. We have a lot of run/pass stuff going on. He’s making good reads right now and making good decisions.”

The Warriors were able to keep things rolling on their next offensive possession despite shooting themselves in the foot a handful of times on self-inflicted penalties. An unsportsmanlike conduct, a block in the back, and two false starts took away from what was an overall impressive drive by Keeler and the offensive line.

Breaking off runs of 10, 9, and 5 yards, Keeler’s aggressive rushing attack set up the Warriors’ offense on the five-yard line. Colegrove did the rest on a quarterback scramble, seeing none of his receivers open before casually gliding past the pile on for six more points.

The Colegrove and Hoye connection rang true once more to start the second quarter, as the right-hander found his big target in the back of the endzone to push the lead to 27-0 following a missed extra point.

Keeler finished the half off after stringing together two scores of his own in the waning moments of the second quarter, with the second touchdown burst going for 18 yards before passing the goal line.

“I feel like our offensive line is doing a great job of gelling,” Ernster said. “You know, it’s just changing and adjusting to different stuff. … It kind of feels like now we have seen maybe all of it, I’m sure somebody will come up with something crazy, but we’ve just done a really good job of adjusting, and the line’s just done phenomenal.”

The Warriors didn’t miss a beat coming out of the halftime intermission, flexing their muscles again with a punishing defensive possession to force the Vikings to punt yet again. A high snap from the Northwood-Kensett special teams gave the ball immediately back to North Union with two more points on the board following a safety.

Keller passed the backfield baton to running back Jackson Hutchinson after receiving the drop kick. Hutchinson strung together five consecutive carries for the Warriors, using a mix of hard running and impressive offensive line play to eventually wiggle his way into the endzone.

North Union tacked on one more score in the early stages of the fourth quarter to put on the final touches of the evening. Drake Nelsen used a designed quarterback run to scramble to the left sideline before maneuvering his way past the goal to go, ultimately extending the lead to 58-0.

“When our guys are confident and feeling good, I feel like we can play with just about anybody, really, when we are at our best,” Ernster said. “I feel like it’s a good time to be peaking and playing this well.”