The Ticker: A quick look at area teams in action

Friday, Oct. 9

Football

Cloquet-24

North Branch-12

Reese Sheldon scored on a 42-yard touchdown run on his second touch of the football Friday night as the Lumberjacks took the road win in North Branch. Sheldon scored a pair of touchdowns, both in the first half, as the ’Jacks took a 16-12 halftime lead. The lone touchdown in the second half was a 63-yard scoring strike from Alec Turnbull to his brother Will Turnbull. Marshall Hayes added three two-point conversion runs to secure the win.

“Our defense played well as a unit. I thought Deeken Fjeld played particularly well and was our best open field tackler,” said Cloquet head coach Tom Lenarz. “Jack Sorenson is a tremendous leader and made some critical plays on fourth down. “We really controlled the LOS and as a result could pretty much do whatever we wanted.”

Lenarz said Cloquet had lots of young guys playing their first varsity game at the skill positions. “Nerves were our biggest opponent,” he said. “We played good solid defense. North Branch played its brand of smashmouth football and we responded well... especially in the second half. Lots of new faces over there as well, so a couple mistakes cost us big chunks of yardage. Beside that, we controlled the game.”

Esko-27

Virginia-22

Brock House rushed for 124 yards on just six carries and added a pair of touchdowns in leading the Eskomos to their season opening win on Friday night against the Blue Devils.

Defensively, the Eskomos got strong games from Dan DeMuth, Gage Stankiewicz, Cody Nadeau and Jake Bubb.

“I thought our first team defense played very well, said Esko coach Scott Arntson. “We still need to work to get better on special teams.”

Northland/Hill City-12

Barnum-0

A couple of botched kick returns turned the tide in favor of the Storm in the opener for both squads. Willie Richardson paced the Barnum offense with seven carries for 52 yards and Reed Kornovich chipped in with four carries for 29 yards. On defense, the Bombers were led by Max Moors with 14 tackles and half a sack on defense.

Barnum’s Sean Nyblom had 13 tackles and half a sack. Richardson finished with eight tackles, one sack, and two tackles for loss.

“We averaged over 5 yards per play and I thought we played tough,” said Barnum coach Robert Minkkenen. “Special teams is an area we need to improve on. We botched two kick returns that turned the tide. They dominated time of possession and the turnover battle. We are looking to fix some correctable mistakes and get on track this week.”

Moose Lake/Willow River-56

International Falls-6

The Rebels went on a second-quarter binge Friday, outscoring the Broncos 28-0 on their way to a 50-point home opening victory in Willow River. The Rebels outgained International Falls 552 to 171 yards and held a huge 332- to 18-yard rushing advantage over the Broncos as they served notice that this will be a team to beat in the Northeast Blue Division.

South Ridge-48

Ely-6

The Timberwolves struggled to find a way to stop Conner Bushbaum and the Panthers offense as South Ridge rolled to an easy win. Bushbaum had a big game with 12 carries for 248 yards.

Offensively, the Panthers finished with 520 total yards or an average of 12.4 play. On defense, the Panthers held Ely to a total of 138 yards with Deekon Anvid leading the attack with 6.5 tackles; 2.5 were tackles for loss.

The ticker is compiled by Pine Knot News sports writer Kerry Rodd.