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A hometown newspaper with a local office, local owners & lots of local news
am Johnson (44) of Two Harbors in the backfield for a loss during first quarter action at Public Schools Stadium.
t might have been a touchdown pass to Dylan Vinje (14) during the second quarter at Public Schools Stadium.
The Two Harbors Agates used an opportunistic offense and a solid defensive performance to advance to the Section 7AAA finals by picking up a 14-0 shutout win over Esko at Public Schools Stadium in Duluth Saturday.
"We've played them twice this year and they have done a very good job against us defensively," said Esko coach Scott Arntson. "We had a couple of nice drives, but we couldn't finish the drives off."
A huge key in the Agates win was their ability to hold onto the football and grind up huge chunks of time on the clock. That in turn kept the normally high-powered Esko offense off the field.
"We just didn't get many chances because they were able to hold onto the ball for so long," Arnston recalled. "We had the ball only three times in the second half and about the same amount of time in the first half."
As good as the Agates defense was, the Eskomos matched them blow-for-blow for most of the game. Two Harbors finally scored with eight minutes left on a 1-yard touchdown run by Ricky Brenna to go up 7-0 after the extra point kick by Ryan Nowacki. Two Harbors added another touchdown with 31 seconds remaining on a Joey Marker 26-yard touchdown run followed by another extra point kick by Nowacki to make the final 14-0.
"My hat's off to their defense. They are a high-pressure defense that kept pressuring us all game long," Arntson said. "We were just off a bit on offense all game long. All of our passes were just a bit off, even when we completed them the guys were having to slow down or reach for the ball and we just couldn't get into a rhythm. Two Harbors had a lot to do with that."
Another key, according to Arntson, was the ability of Two Harbors to take away the Esko running game, making the Eskomos offense more one-dimensional.
The Eskomos wrapped up with only three wins this season but, according to Arntson, they had strong leadership from their senior class.
"We didn't have a lot of seniors, and we played quite a few sophomores, and that can be tough," Arntson said. "Our kids never quit; despite losing a bunch of close games they never complained and they always worked hard, and that says a lot about the type of kids they are."
