The ticker

Hermantown 31

Cloquet 30

It took just 43 seconds into the game for the Hermantown Hawks to send a message to the Cloquet Lumberjacks Friday night. A 79-yard touchdown pass put the Hawks ahead 7-0 and set the tone for the remainder of the game.

"Hermantown is a good football team and I wasn't surprised that they came out and played well," said Cloquet head coach Tom Lenarz. "I was somewhat surprised at the yardage they were able to generate on the ground. After watching the film it is clear that it was a combination of them doing some things well and some of our guys not doing their job. It gives us some things to work on this week as we prepare for Grand Rapids."

After another score that put the Hawks ahead 13-0, the 'Jacks cut the gap to 13-8 on an Alec Turnbull to Will Turnbull touchdown pass. That was followed by a Damian Diver 5-yard touchdown run which gave Cloquet a 14-13 lead.

Gavin Blomdahl - who gave Cloquet's defense problems all night - raced in on a 35-yard touchdown run, pushing the Hawks ahead 21-14. Before halftime the Lumberjacks answered on another Turnbull-to-Turnbull connection of 7 yards, followed by a Alec Turnbull 2-point conversion run that made it 22-21 with Cloquet leading at halftime.

Cloquet went ahead 28-21 on yet another Alec-to-Will Turnbull connection which covered 22 yards and after a 2-point conversion the Lumberjacks were up 30-21. Unfortunately, the Hawks got another 24-yard touchdown run by Blomdahl, then late in the fourth quarter they got a 25-yard field goal to take a 31-30 lead and the win.

South Ridge 32

Cherry 20

Connor Bushbaum put on a highlight reel performance by scoring four touchdowns and 347 yards to lead the Panthers to the road win in a battle of two unbeaten nine-man teams.

With the Panthers trailing 12-6, Bushbaum took over by scoring on runs of 52, 85, 68 and 66 yards to keep South Ridge in the ranks of the unbeaten teams.

"Cherry has a good team," said Panther head coach Brent Johnson. "They run basically five or six plays and run them well. On defense they were very quick, but I think as the game went on with our size on the line, we were able wear them down."

Aitkin 36

Moose Lake-Willow River 20

In a game that was deadlocked at 20-20 late in the third quarter, the Gobblers managed the final two scores to take the win against the Rebels.

Logan Orvedahl gave ML-WR a 6-0 lead in the first quarter when he zipped 50 yards to score, but just moments later Owen Miller took the ensuing kickoff and raced 85 yards for a touchdown, tying the game at 6-6.

Jackson Thompson gave the Rebels another lead at 14-6 when he crashed into the end zone from 8 yards away, but again the Gobblers answered as Miller scored on a 6-yard run and then a 16-yard pass to take a 20-14 halftime lead.

Adam Olson tied the game at 20-20 on a 55-yard run for the Rebels, but that would be all the closer ML-WR would get as the Gobblers added the final two scores of the game.

A big key to the game was the fact that Aitkin was able to pick up three interceptions.

"Turnovers are never a good thing and always prove costly and it is very difficult to overcome when playing a good team like Aitkin," said Rebels coach Dave Louzek.

UPDATE: After the Pine Knot News went to press this week, we got word that the Rebels football team was going to have to quarantine for two weeks, so they are ending their season early and the Aitkin game will be their last for 2020.

Ogilvie 38

Cromwell Area 14

The Ogilvie Lions rolled into Cromwell Area and handed the Cardinals their second loss of the season.

"Ogilvie is a very good team, and their three-year starting quarterback was back this week as well, so that made it tougher for us," said Cards coach Jeff Gronner. "We were missing a very important piece of our team due to quarantine, and that limited us on what we could run on offense."

Cromwell opened the game by stopping the Lions deep in their own end of the field and also created a turnover, but were unable to gain the lead.

"To start the game, we made them punt from their end zone and then on the next possession we picked off a pass, but could not capitalize on that field position with scores," said Gronner.

Ogilvie got onto the board with the lone first-quarter score on a 45-yard touchdown pass to go ahead 8-0 after the opening stanza. The Lions then went up 16-0 after a 5-yard run early in the second quarter. Cromwell-Wright did their best to answer when Ethan Shelton blasted in from a yard out to cut the lead to 16-8 after also scoring on a 2-point conversion pass.

Unfortunately for the Cards, they fell behind 24-8 before the first half ended when they gave up another 5-yard score just before the break.

The Cards managed to sandwich another score by Shelton on a 15-yard pass from Jaeger Goranson between two more Lions touchdowns in the second half for the final of 38-14.

- Kerry Rodd / Pine Knot News