Comeback Jacks Topple Greenway-NK 28-14

Chris Shevich-NSO

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Oct 1

Kerry Rodd-NSO

CLOQUET – Whatever Cloquet football coach Tom Lenarz said to his team at halftime should be bottled and sold over the counter for motivational purposes. Entering the locker room at halftime the Jacks trailed 14-0 and struggled finding answers to stop the Greenway/Nashwauk/Keewatin offense. By the end of the game the Jacks defense stiffened, the offense came to life, and Cloquet came away with a 28-14 victory.

The lone scores of the first half both belonged to the Titans as Jordan Peratelo hooked up with Carver Nelson on a 19-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter and Peratelo found Josh Engel for the score in the second quarter on a six-yard touchdown pass. That wasn’t the only story of the half either, as the Titans offense was running smoothly and efficiently by using a combination of a strong run game and a potent passing attack.

At the start of the second half the momentum started to swing towards the Jacks when they kicked their running game into high gear by mixing up the quick running style of Cole Johnson, the inside the tackle power of Stefan Pease and the mixture of both from Joey Singpiel.

Cloquet opened the second half scoring by taking the opening drive and marching in for a 21-yard touchdown run by Johnson that bordered on magnificent. Johnson sped off right tackle and then followed his blocking to the five-yard line where he powered his way in for a score cutting the Titans lead to 14-6. Trent Moe tacked on the extra point kick making it 14-7.

Things got a whole lot more interesting just a couple of minutes later when the Jacks converted an interception for a score on a two-yard touchdown run by Stefan Pease with 7:20 remaining in the third quarter. However, the extra point kick by Moe clanked off the upright and fell to the ground leaving the Jacks trailing 14-13.

Eventually the Jacks, with an inspired offense, came to life again in the final quarter. Singpiel rammed in for a six-yard touchdown run with 9:59 left on the clock to make it 19-14. On the two-point conversion the Jacks rolled quarterback Kellin Lamirande to the right and then had him throw back across the grain to a wide open Zach Peterson to push the lead to 21-14.

On the following possession the Titans entered Jacks territory, but the Jacks held on fourth down and took over and scored what would be the final touchdown of the game just a few minutes later when Pease bulled up the middle and suddenly sprung free from the pile of would-be tacklers as he sprinted 56-yards for a score. Moe made the extra point kick making it 28-14 in favor of the Jacks.

The Jacks had a strong running performance as Johnson rushed for 83-yards, Pease ran for 81 and Singpiel added 80 yards on the ground. In all Cloquet rushed for 286 yards and passed for 41 yards, while the Titans finished with just 84 yards on the ground and 151 yards through the air.

Kerry Rodd can be reached at kerry@northlandsportsonline.com