A hometown newspaper with a local office, local owners & lots of local news
A hometown newspaper with a local office, local owners & lots of local news
Sorted by date Results 1 - 25 of 1792
The Minnesota Wilderness headed back to the Lower 48 after completing its second weekend of its first Alaska trip of the regular season. In the three-game series at Anchorage, the Wilderness were victorious in the Friday opener, 4-2, and fell in Saturday’s game, 6-3, before dropping the Sunday finale in overtime, 5-4. The Cloquet-based team went 3-2 over the two weekends away....
A strong developmental season for the Cloquet-Esko-Carlton girls swimmers and divers came to a conclusion for all but one of the team's participants last weekend. The Section 7A championships in Grand Rapids featured scores of personal bests and many solid performances in race finals. But for Esko senior Rilee Durovec, a history-making season intensified starting Thursday with her participation at the girls state swimming and diving meet at the University of Minnesota. Durovec won the section... Full story
The Cromwell-Wright football team entered the state 9-player quarterfinals with a good feeling after a Section 5 championship win over defending state champion Nevis a week prior. Fertile-Beltrami dashed that groove Thursday night in Moorhead, handing the Cardinals a 48-7 defeat. The Falcons cruised with star running back Isaiah Wright, who rushed 10 times for an amazing 292 yards and four touchdowns, including the first play from scrimmage from 61 yards out. Wright would score on other runs of... Full story
Moose Lake/Willow River entered its 19th state football tournament with the Rebels normal poise and determination but - as Friday night's State AA quarterfinal kicked off in Brainerd - the Rebels saw an anomaly on the opening kickoff: a fumble and immediate momentum for Kimball Area, on its way to a 38-0 win. Kimball, on a state tournament drought since 1991, recovered the fumble at the 13-yard line and Mason Danelke scored the first of his two touchdowns on the night. "We needed to take care... Full story
The Cloquet-Esko-Carlton girls hockey team came out fast and determined Tuesday night at Northwoods Credit Union Arena as the Lumberjacks scored three times in the first seven minutes. Although the Moose Lake Area team threatened, they couldn't overcome the CEC lead. The win moved the 'Jacks to 2-1 on the season. CEC defeated Anoka 3-0 Saturday in Anoka, but dropped the season opener last Thursday by a score of 4-1 to Grand Rapids-Greenway. On Tuesday, the Lumberjacks' first goal came just 51... Full story
When Cromwell-Wright took the field on Halloween night it seemed like all odds were stacked against them. The Cardinals were facing an undefeated team, last year's state champions, and the top-ranked team in nine-player football this season. Nevis had beaten them by 40 points a little over a month before hte Section 5 title game on Halloween night in Brainerd. Add to the odds the fact that Cromwell-Wright's starting quarterback was dealing with an injury. All that, and none of it mattered as the... Full story
When Moose Lake/Willow River and Mesabi East stepped onto the field in Esko for the Section 7AA championship game last Thursday, they had to deal with cold and wet and a field covered in snow. In the end the Rebels overcame the elements and the Giants, earning another trip to state - the 18th time in school history - by winning 24-14. The Rebels got two big runs from Levi Mikrot in the first quarter to gain the early lead. Mikrot rumbled 41 yards for the first score of the game, giving ML/WR an... Full story
On a beautiful Saturday morning, hundreds of Minnesota's top high school cross country runners raced across the University of Minnesota Les Bolstad golf course as part of the Minnesota State High School Cross Country Meet. With the temperature in the 50s, it was the perfect day for running and spectators, said Carlton/Wrenshall coach Brenda Knudsen. But the rolling hills of the course created some challenges. "There were not a lot of PRs (personal records) with all those hills. It's not a fast f... Full story
Accolades continue to pour in for area soccer players as All-State and All-Tournament teams were announced after the Minnesota State High School Soccer Tournament ended last week. Lauren Hughes of Cloquet/Carlton was named to first team All-State in Class AA and Reese Kuklinski of Esko was named first team All-State in Class A. “Reese is a true leader of our program,” said Esko coach Sharon Lahtii. “Academically, she is a 4.0 student, she mentors our younger players and is positive under pressure. Reese has a bright future ahead of her at Mi...
The first leg of an Alaska trip was a sweep for the Minnesota Wilderness last weekend in 6-3 and 5-2 wins over Kenai River. Ferry Netusil posted his second hat trick of the season in leading the Wilderness to victory Friday. Five players scored Saturday night to lead the Wilderness to a 5-2 victory and the sweep over Kenai River in Alaska. Netusil was named the NAHL Midwest Division Star of the Week. The native of Prague becomes the first forward in the NAHL to earn multiple weekly honors this season. Minnesota stays in Alaska for two games...
For three years in a row, the Esko volleyball team has met Rush City in the Section 7AA championship game and for three straight years the Tigers have come away with the title. The latest championship tilt came on Saturday night when the Tigers nabbed a 3-1 win in Hermantown. "Last year Rush City finished as the runner-up at the state tournament," Esko coach Pete Stasiuk said. "Our girls were excited to come out and play them." Esko started by grabbing a first set win with a strong finish,... Full story
The Esko girls made their mark in the Minnesota State Class A Soccer Tournament this past week. After winning on penalty kicks Oct. 24 over St. Cloud Cathedral in the opening round, Esko fell to top seed Southwest Christian, 2-1, in a tense semifinal game Tuesday at US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. The first half of play was tightly played with the Esko defensive corps doing a stellar job of not allowing one of the state's best forwards, Maya Johnson, to get free as the teams went to halftime... Full story
Wednesday, Oct. 23 Volleyball 7AAA Princeton 3 Cloquet 1 7AA Barnum 3 Moose Lake/Willow River 1 Esko 3 Pine City 0 7A Floodwood 3 Fond du Lac Ojibwe 0 Cherry 3 Carlton/Wrenshall 0 South Ridge 3 Silver Bay 0 Thursday, Oct. 24 Girls soccer Class AA State quarterfinal Esko 1 St. Cloud Cathedral 0 Friday, Oct. 25 Volleyball 7A South Ridge 3 Cromwell-Wright 1 7AA Rush City 3 Barnum 0 Esko 3 Mora 0 Saturday, Oct. 26 Football Section 5 9-player Cromwell-Wright 25 Ogilvie 0 Section 7AA Mesabi East 22 Barnum 14 Moose Lake/WR 47 International Falls 6... Full story
It can be difficult to know just what might inspire a teenager these days, but Brenda Knudsen may have found something in October. The trails on Pincushion Mountain offer spectacular views of the harbor at Grand Marais and the expanse of Lake Superior. As Knudsen prepared her Carlton/Wrenshall girls cross country teams for the Oct. 10 Polar League Conference meet on those trails, she told them she'd jump into the lake if they won. "It was freezing," the coach said this week, looking back on a... Full story
University of Minnesota first-year player Koi Perich was honored as the “Big Ten Freshman of the Week” after Minnesota’s 48-23 football win against Maryland Oct. 26. Esko’s Perich posted his Big-Ten-leading fifth interception of the season in the game, taking it 45 yards and setting up a field goal. Perich also made three tackles in the win. Perich’s five interceptions are tied for fourth most in a season in the Gopher record book, and it was his third-straight game with an interception. Perich also returned three punts for 31 yards, including... Full story
The Minnesota Wilderness got a Nate Murray goal in the final round of a shootout Saturday to capture a 2-1 win over the Chippewa Steel, Minnesota’s lone win in a three-game series. The Wilderness lost 4-3 in overtime Thursday night and 3-1 Friday night. Thursday’s game was in Wisconsin and the weekend games were in Cloquet. Earlier in October, the Wilderness saw head coach Colten St. Clair leave for another coaching opportunity. The team hired Minnesota native Zach Stepan as the franchise’s seventh head coach since it entered the league in 20... Full story
Despite finishing in the middle of the pack in last year's Section 7AA cross country meet, Cloquet boys team coach Chandra Allen had an inkling that things could only get better for the Lumberjacks. They were losing just one senior to graduation. "We knew after last season," she said of the 2024 prospects. The hunch was indeed correct, as this year's team won the section meet in Hibbing on Oct. 24. The team will now travel to St. Paul Saturday for the Minnesota State High School Class AA Cross... Full story
After two rounds of playoffs, just two local football teams remain in the hunt for that elusive state tournament berth. Both of those teams, Moose Lake/Willow River and Cromwell-Wright, are rich in postseason success and were scheduled to play for section championships Thursday night, after the Pine Knot News went to press. The stunner in the second round was top-seeded Barnum falling, 22-14, in Section 7AA, to No. 4 Mesabi East. The Giants jumped on the Bombers in the first half and held a... Full story
Section volleyball entered the semifinal round Wednesday night with Esko and South Ridge the only two remaining local teams in action. Section 7AA Esko was set to play Crosby-Ironton in the 7AA semifinals Wednesday night after picking up a pair of wins in the past week. On Oct. 23, No. 2 Esko opened with a 3-0 win over Pine City. "It was nice to get that first match win out of the way," said Esko coach Pete Stasiuk. "We played well, we didn't make a whole lot of errors and we generally played a... Full story
It was déjà vu all over again for the Cloquet/Carlton girls' soccer team at the Class AA state quarterfinal Wednesday night. After winning the Section 7AA tournament last week in a shoot-out, the Lumberjacks ended up in the exact same situation against Orono in the first game of the state tournament. The game ended tied at 1 through regulation and through overtime before Orono scored four goals to the Lumberjacks' three in the shootout to win. "I thought that after we got behind early and we mad... Full story
Wednesday, Oct. 16 Football Moose Lake/Willow River 40 Greenway/N-K 0 North Branch 68 Cloquet 6 Esko 13 Pine City 9 Barnum 55 South Ridge 7 Cromwell-Wright 54 Carlton/Wrenshall 0 Thursday, Oct. 17 Volleyball Bemidji 3 Esko 1 Tuesday, Oct. 22 Football 7AAAA Denfeld 28 Cloquet 20 7AAA Esko 22 Hibbing 6 7AA Barnum 45 Hinckley-Finlayson 14 Moose Lake/Willow River 48 Greenway/N-K 28 7A Chisholm 14 South Ridge 12 Section 5 nine-player Cromwell-Wright 48 McGregor 8 Nevis 52 Carlton/Wrenshall 8 Wednesday, Oct. 23 volleyball 7AAA Princeton 3 Cloquet 1... Full story
A slow first-half start led to a second-half surge for the Lumberjacks that was too little, too late on Wednesday. Ultimately, the Cloquet-Esko-Carlton boys soccer team fell 4-2 to Blake School during a Class AA quarterfinal game in White Bear Lake. "It took us a while to obviously settle in and once we started beating them to the ball and got into the rhythm, we were able to flip that field but it just took too long," Sundquist said. "Man, if we had started that way, I think it would have been... Full story
It’s section playoff time for local volleyball teams and things are about to get awfully interesting. What follows is a breakdown of local teams and who and when they will be playing. Look for more information on volleyball playoffs in next week’s Pine Knot News. Section 7A Four local teams will all be vying for a place in the Section 7A championship game, but all of those teams will have a tough road ahead. No. 8 seeded Fond du Lac Ojibwe gets the tough job of opening up against No. 1 see... Full story
Playoff football began Tuesday as a number of area teams tried to punch their ticket into the second round of sections. Class AAAA Cloquet made a valiant comeback against Duluth Denfeld in Duluth, falling short 28-20 on Tuesday. Denfeld came in as the No. 3 seed with a record of 5-3, while the Lumberjacks were the No. 6 seed with a record of 2-6. The two teams met in early October with the Hunters coming away with a 16-point win. Against Denfeld, the 'Jacks had the tall task of trying to slow... Full story
A once-in-a-lifetime astrological event, a streaking comet called Tsuchinshan-Atlas, was witnessed in Tuesday night's sky, just after sunset. At that same time a more frequent event was occurring; the Cloquet-Esko-Carlton boys soccer team won a fourth-consecutive Section 7AA title in a shootout against Hermantown. The Lumberjacks 7AA win was decided in penalty kicks after 100 minutes of intense soccer, highlighted by long throws, equalizing goals and stout defense. CEC's Collin Young scored the... Full story
