GRAND ISLAND — The guy writing this wants you to not read it, but to look at the photographs. We are trying to do things a little different on our site and take you inside the game from a students perspective.

So Friday night was special for a football guy with three girls.

It was Addison’s first high school football experience as a freshman at Northwest High School and she manned the sidelines with me for the Viking Striv crew and snapped some photos of the Vikings (ranked 8th by the Omaha World-Herald) 20-3 win over 10th-ranked McCook.

So excited to have this girl creating content from the ? field tonight! @classintercom #contentgen #ginwvikings cc @tony_chapman76 pic.twitter.com/pWqvc5XipJ

— Heather Callihan (@hcallihan) September 7, 2019

The Vikings scored on their opening drive when quarterback Rans Sanders scored from the 1 and it was all they would need quite frankly. Kevin Stein — offensive wizard — rode his defense all night.

“Just really proud of our defense,” Stein said. “You even look at the three points we gave up and they had a short field. I was happy that they gave up three there. In my book, we have two shutouts.”

The Northwest and McCook lines battle in the first quarter on Friday night. (Northwest Striv / Addison Chapman)

The Vikings beat Gering 43-0 last week in a weather-shortened game in the panhandle.

Northwest led 17-0 at the break and McCook had 63 yards on 23 snaps and four first downs. In the second quarter, a big Brady Braasch run set up Parker Janky’s 25-yard field goal and then Sanders broke loose on a 56-yard scramble that turned into a touchdown.

Then, Stein sat on it.

Northwest receiver Sean Juengst (31) is tackled by a pair of McCook defenders after a first quarter reception. (Northwest Striv / Addison Chapman)

With McCook content to run the football and work clock, Stein tried to get the game over as soon as he could. Though he’d like a little better offensive showing in the final 24 minutes.

The Bison had a seven-play drive and a punt. Then a 13-play drive that ended in a Cam Berry fumble at the 7. Then the field goal with 7:54 left.

The Vikings? They three straight three-and-outs that ended in punts before Janky added a short field, field goal for the final margin. All told, Northwest had 14 yards in the second half stalemate.

Stein only cared a little.

Brady Baasch led Northwest with 76 yards on just nine attempts. This run in the first quarter set up the Vikings opening touchdown. (Northwest Striv / Addison Chapman)

“We got up 17-0 and had some opportunities,” Stein said. “Our coaches wanted to take some chances and I said, ‘Heck with it.’ Let’s win this thing 17-7 and get out of here.”

His defense did him just a little better. There are some pictures to prove it.