Hawks Remain Hot With A Win Over Cloquet

Wes Vork-NSO

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Oct 15th

Kerry Rodd-NSO

CLOQUET – The football match up between Cloquet and Hermantown on Friday night had all the makings of a good game prior to kickoff. The teams had nearly identical records and both were fighting for their lives in the Sea Range Conference. Hermantown took the opening kickoff the length of the field for a score and never let up as their offensive line pounded on the Jacks for four quarters in taking out a 35-21 road victory.

Jeremy Peterson finished off the opening drive for Hermantown by slipping in from the two-yard line and following the extra point kick the Hawks were up 7-0 with 8:35 remaining in the first quarter.

The big story of the game, showed itself in the opening drive of the game, as the Hawks offensive line opened gaping holes for the hard-running backs to scoot through and pick up large chunks of yardage every time they ran the ball.

Hermantown didn’t let up in the second quarter either as they scored with 9:53 remaining until halftime on a Corey Anderson two-yard touchdown run, making it 14-0 after the extra point kick.

Cloquet managed to cut into the lead when Taylor Blundell stepped in on an errant pass attempt by Cody Baker and return it 48-yards down the right sidelines for a score with 6:36 left to cut the lead to 14-7 after the extra point kick by Trent Moe.

Again the Hawks showed their resiliency when they slashed and just outmanned the Jacks on the line for another two-yard score this time from Anderson with 1:34 left until halftime and they walked off the field at the break leading 21-7.

The Lumberjacks put together an impressive opening drive in the second half that included a combination of passing and running plays and eventually resulted in a nine-yard touchdown scamper by fullback Stefan Pease. Moe tacked on the extra point to make it 21-14 and it looked as if the Jacks were in business.

Hermantown responded to the Jacks score by putting together another impressive drive, in fact a drive that saw them overcome a third and 21 situation that ended when Cody Baker found Cory Anderson in the end zone with an eight yard pass. After the extra point kick it was 28-14 with just 9:56 remaining in regulation.

This time it was Cloquet’s turn to show their ability to bounce back and that is exactly what they did in their next drive. Two big passing plays keyed the drive for Cloquet. The first play saw quarterback Kellin Lamirande launch a long pass down the right sideline for Joey Singpiel. It appeared as if the ball had been intercepted by a Hawk defender, but a closer look revealed that through the effort of both ballplayers, a rare simultaneous catch took place. In such cases possession goes to the receiver and the ball was placed on the three yard line in a magnificent play. Three plays later Lamirande tossed a pass to the end zone that Singpiel went over a defender and snared for another impressive catch cutting the lead to 28-21 following Moe’s extra point kick.

That would be all Cloquet could muster the rest of the way as the Hawks defense became opportunistic and picked off Lamirande three times in the final few minutes as the Jacks attempted to even the score. The final pick of the game resulted in the Hawks final score as Brandon LeBlanc picked off the pass on the near sideline and then weaved into the end zone from 18-yards away with just 44 seconds remaining. That pick sealed the win for the Hawks.

For the second week in a row Jeremy Peterson was the workhorse for Hermantown. Peterson gained157 yards and a touchdown on 30 carries to help the Hawks outrush Cloquet by a total of 294 yards to 56. Joey Singpiel led the jacks with 3 receptions for 46 yards and a touchdown.

The Hawks will close out the regular season on Wednesday by traveling to Eveleth-Gilbert to take on the 2-5 Golden Bears. The Jacks will be on the road for the finale also making a trip to the Range to take on Hibbing.

Kerry Rodd can be reached at kerry@northlandsportsonline.com