College football has returned, and Trinity Bible College put an early scare into heavily-favored Valley City’s home-opener before succumbing to first-game jitters and mistakes, 44-0.

This was no ordinary rout, not by any stretch of the imagination, not even the Vikings’ own imagination. Expecting to run up the score early and often on the much smaller college to the south, VCSU had all it could handle as the Lions’ defense came up strong at key points in the first half and were aided by several Vikings miscues.

The 14-0 halftime score could have been only a seven-point deficit if not for an unfortunate holding call and an offensive pass interference call that moved the ball from the Vikings 7-yard line to the 31-yard line. The result was a missed 48-yard field goal by Lions’ kicker Nathaniel Molan.

Valley City State used a burst of third quarter scoring to run by the Lions at Lokken Field. A 21- point onslaught in a span of the last 2:28 of the third quarter spelled the end for Lions.

This may have been a case where Goliath might have over-looked David in this encounter. VCSU has an enrollment of 1190 students and the team listened to all that would talk to them this week.

"It was tough to prepare our team this week," said Viking Head Coach Dennis McCulloch after the matchup. "We had alumni telling players that Trinity wasn't any good, that their JV beat them by 60 and stuff. Trinity has some playmakers."

Lions quarterback, Sophomore Clint Linthicum led an option running attack and did enough with his arm to keep the ball from the Vikings, preventing an early run away. Touchdowns by Jordan Backstrom and A. J. Pfeifer gave the Vikings a 14-0 lead at the half.

Though the Lions were kept off the scoreboard, the team had several players who turned in nice performances.

RB Seth Peterson accumulated 131 yards total from the field, while Linthicum rushed 13 times for 65 yards, and threw for 83 more yards on 10 of 30 passes and three interceptions. Brandon Welch caught four passes for 57 yards in the effort.

Lions Head Coach Dustin Morgan was pleased with the first-half effort. He indicated the team was fired up to play the game and may have tried to do too much, thus mistakes were made. “The game just got away from us. We played with them the whole first half.”

The Lions’ home-opener is scheduled for Sept. 3 when Waldorf College comes to open its season. Game time is 1 pm at Bob Tatum Field.