Suhonen’s 5 Touchdowns Lead Cromwell Into Semi-Finals

Wes Vork-NSO

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Nov 13

Wes Vork-NSO

DULUTH – In what could be described as meeting your demons head on and defeating them, Cromwell quarterback Jordan Suhonen ran for 224 yards and 5 touchdowns at Public Schools Stadium in Duluth on Saturday. The tremendous performance helped the Cardinals to a 36-6 win over Mountain Iron-Buhl in state quarterfinal football action.

On the same field and on this exact date last year, Friday the 13th of November, Suhonen broke both the tibia and fibula bones in his leg on a running play in the second quarter of the 2009 state quarterfinal game against Ada-Borup. Cromwell went on to lose the game 38-14. This year, Saturday the 13th proved much better for Suhonen, who scored 30 of the Cardinals 36 points on running plays of 16, 2, and 7 yards in the first half, then picked up where he left off with touchdown runs of 11 and 35 yards in the second half.

Last year Suhonen didn’t get to see the second half of the game because he was being transported to the hospital by ambulance. The second half of this year’s game was a much sweeter view, when after running for touchdowns in the third and fourth quarters to secure the victory, he watched from the sidelines as his second string teammates finish up the playoff game.

“Everyone is pretty excited and jacked up,” said Suhonen after the game. “Getting to the dome is real exciting,” he added. Suhonen, who missed all of the 2009-2010 basketball and track seasons recovering from the broken leg didn’t seem to be bothered in the least by last year’s misfortunes. When asked after the game, he jokingly replied. “I knew I needed to run hard, if I didn’t get tackled I couldn’t get hurt.” But then on a more serious note he quickly added. “It (the victory) is a credit to everyone on this team who worked real hard to turn things around at mid-season. It feels real good to play well.”

Beside Suhonen running at will on offense, a big key to the victory was the Cardinals defense stepping up on a cold rainy day. Cromwell held MIB to 75 total yards of offense on the day, with the only score coming near the end of run time in the fourth quarter
off a turnover and against the second team defense. Cromwell Head Coach Jeff Gronner couldn’t be prouder of his defensive unit, crediting them with turning around a season where the Cards record was 2-4 after six games. “We have 11 seniors who took it upon themselves to turn things around. Linebackers Derek Suhonen and Mike Hedin have been improving with each game and are playing great football. Pat Dahl is playing defensive end at an all-state level and the entire defense has stepped up.”

Another important part of the victory has been the resurgence of Cromwell’s offensive and defensive lines. “Besides holding on to the ball, the key today was the offensive and defensive lines controlling the line of scrimmage, that was key as well over the last five games,” Gronner added.

Offensively Cromwell netted 310 yards of offense, all on the ground. Suhonen led the attack with 224 yards and 5 touchdowns on 21 carries. He also had touchdown runs of 27 and 75 yards called back because of penalties. Mike Hedin also turned in a strong performance with 46 yards on 10 carries. MIB was led by Ryan Buria with 46 yards on 24 carries while Tyler Goodrie gained 34 yards on 17 carries.

With the win Cromwell advances to the semi-final round of the state 9-man playoffs. They will face Underwood High School at 8:00am on Saturday November 20th at the Metrodome. Making this
game interesting is that Cromwell Head Coach Gronner is originally from Underwood and has a brother and sister who teach in the Underwood school district. Although Gronner has not seen the Underwood Rockets play this year, he is quite familiar with their style of football. “It should be a good match-up because they are a lot like us. They like to pound the ball, run some options and play hard-nosed football,” Gronner mentioned.

Wes Vork can be reached at wes@northlandsportsonline.com