Cloquet Marches Past Esko

  Cloquet football coach Tom Lenarz drew up a recipe for his teams opening football game against the Esko Eskomos.  A batch of solid defense, a table spoon of opportunistic offense, a dash of ball control and throw in a mix of big line play and the end result was a perfectly constructed 30-8 win by the Lumberjacks.

  After narrowly escaping a year ago with a win in the first-ever meeting between the next-door-neighbors, the result this year was not nearly as close as the Lumberjacks offensive line continually opened big holes for quarterback Nate Weets and his offensive backfield mates.  Weets finished with 127 rushing yards and a touchdown run in leading his team to the win.

  After a scoreless first quarter the Jacks erupted for 21 unanswered points in the second quarter and never looked back.  Hunter Roberts scored the games first touchdown when he bulled in from the three-yard line, but the score was set up by a magnificent run by Weets.  Weets bolted 67-yards down the sideline to set up Hunter’s score.  Nick Niemi knocked home the extra point and the Jacks were up 7-0.  Cloquet pushed the lead to 14-0 when Zach Gerlach danced in from the 14-yard line and Niemi again added the extra point boot.  Weets completed the second quarter onslaught when he rambled in from the 14-yard line and Niemi’s extra point kick had pushed the lead to 21-0.

  Midway through the fourth quarter Cloquet’s Brady Obeidzinski stepped in front of a pass and raced 19 yards for a score and the Jacks lead was 30-0 with less than a quarter remaining in the game.

  Esko averted the shutout when David Belden slipped into the end zone from the six-yard line making it 30-8 after Belden also added the conversion run.

  It was the season opener for both teams as they played at the sparkling new Esko football complex.  Cloquet moves to 1-0 on the season, while Esko drops to 0-1.