North Boone used big plays on both sides of the ball Friday night to come away with a hard fought 20-14 victory over St. Bede at the Academy.

The Vikings improved to 3-0, while the Bruins fell to 1-2.

North Boone took the opening kick and started to drive down the field with its run game behind Connor Chamberlain, who went for 13 yards to start things off.

The Vikings followed with a 13-yard pass from Grady Condon to Collin McKibben, but the Bruins defense buckled down and forced a turnover on downs.

The Bruins began to move the ball with the run game as well, but a holding penalty halted the drive, forcing a short punt.

On the Vikings’ next possession on third-and-6, Condon broke free for a 40-yard touchdown run that put North Boone ahead 7-0 after the kick.

On the Bruins’ next offensive possession, ran for gains of 9 and 8 yards on quarterback keepers, but the Bruins were stopped on fourth-and-5.

The Vikings drove to the St. Bede 11-yard line, but the Bruins pushed them back and eventually forced a turnover on downs after a sack from Niko Pappas.

That momentum carried over into the offense as Brennen Hirst had runs of 7 and 8 yards before a 7-yard run from Ferrari and a 5-yard run from Landon Marquez.

The grind in out run game continued on fourth-and-1 as Marquez bulled ahead for 2 yards to keep the drive alive.

Both Hirst and and Marquez had runs of 9 yards before a 3-yard touchdown run from Stuart McGunnigal on first-and-goal made it 7-6 after the extra point was blocked.

The Bruins then forced a punt, giving St. Bede a chance to take the lead before the half was over.

Ferrari found Jose De Le Torre for 18 yards to start the drive, and a few plays later, Ferrari hit McGunnigal for another 17 yards with 39 seconds left.

But from the 11-yard line, a halfback pass from McGunnigal was intercepted by Leo Ovalle in the corner of the end zone.

To start the second half, the Bruins went three-and-out and punted the ball to the Vikings, who wasted little time scoring.

Chamberalain had a run of 8 yards before breaking a big run up the middle untouched for a 61-yard touchdown run that pushed the lead to 14-6.

“We have some big-play ability and we showed that tonight,” North Boone coach Brett Frederick said. “But at the same time, we had some big turnovers on defense tonight that sealed the win.”

The Bruin offense continued to wear the Vikings down with the run game as Marquez had a pair of 5-yard runs. On fourth-and-8, Ferrari ran for 11 yards after the pass option was taken away, but the Vikings defense was up to the challenge and forced another turnover on downs.

On the next Vikings’ possession, they went to the air as Condon found Jaziah Howard on a screen pass that went for a 38-yard touchdown to extend the lead to 20-6.

With time running out on the Bruins, St. Bede went to the air as Ferarri found Trajan Raffety for 32 yards that eventually set up fourth-and-goal where Marquez pounded the ball in from a yard out and then added the two-point run to make it 20-14.

The St. Bede defense stepped up and forced a Viking punt.

It was a steady diet of runs from the Bruins with 17 yards from Marquez and 8 from Hirst.

On third-and-1, Marquez continued the drive with a 9-yard run.

A holding penalty pushed the Bruins into an obvious passing situation where Ferrari was intercepted in the back of the end zone by Howard that ended the game with the Viking taking the contest 20-14.

“We had a couple missed opportunities with turnovers in the end zone,” Bruins coach Jack Brady said. “Then we had a penalty that hurt us, but the kids fought hard. I think our run game wore them down a bit, but big plays, turnovers and penalties hurt us.”

St. Bede was led by Marquez with 142 yards and a touchdown on 32 carries, while the Vikings were led by Chamberlain with 143 yards and a touchdown on 14 carries.