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
The Northern Siege (in white, green and gold) played as a CEC club team last spring. They won their first game 14-0 against the St. Paul Ducks last spring.
After months of negotiations with the local youth lacrosse association, Cloquet school board members voted Monday to add both boys and girls lacrosse as a spring sport this school year.
The boys team will be a combined Cloquet-Esko-Carlton Lumberjacks team, similar to boys hockey and soccer. The girls team will be part of the already existing Hermantown/Proctor Stealth team, because numbers aren't yet strong enough for a CEC program. Girls practices and most games will be held at Proctor or Hermantown facilities, according to the contract, although one home contest per season will be hosted at the Esko or Cloquet turf fields.
Under the terms of the agreement with the local Northern Siege Youth Lacrosse Association, the new sports shouldn't cost the school district anything. The lacrosse association and student fees will cover busing, coaching, uniforms and other costs. The agreement also stipulates a minimum of five years before the district will consider any funding for the program.
Cloquet will hire the boys coach as the host team, and invoice Northern Siege for expenses and the coaches' salaries. Most home games for the boys will be in Cloquet, but the association will also work with Esko to see if there is space available.
Activities director Paul Riess said Proctor/Hermantown and Duluth school teams have a similar setup with their local lacrosse organizations, while Grand Rapids has recently transitioned to the school district funding the sport.
Board member Ken Scarbrough was the lone dissenting vote.
"I'm going to vote no because I don't want to be entangled as a school district with Northern Siege, I don't like that arrangement," Scarbrough said. "It's not because I don't like lacrosse."
Riess said the Northern Siege plans to change its name to CEC Youth Lacrosse over the next couple years to cut down on confusion.
In other matters Monday, facilities and grounds director Dylan Carlson reported on progress with the Cloquet High School athletic complex, which is progressing on schedule. Fencing is complete and asphalt needs to cure, he said. Workers are on schedule to lay the track surface starting Sept. 11, then will move on to the acrylic surface for the tennis courts after that. On Monday, workers were stitching in logos for the new turf field, and expected to add 3 inches of sand and crumb rubber layers to the product by the end of the week.
"We would love to see a home game or two there this fall," superintendent Michael Cary said, adding that it all depends on the weather.
The scoreboard is the only "wrinkle" in otherwise smooth sailing, Carlson reported. The state required deeper footings - at 14 feet instead of 12 - so revised plans are awaiting approval.
Cary said they can bring in a mobile scoreboard if the field is ready but the scoreboard isn't. "But it wouldn't be quite as much fun as showcasing the big video board," Cary said.
