Jacks Chop Down Rapids

George Bailey – NSO

Photos by: Rod Behm

The Cloquet Lumberjacks rolled into the section 7AAAA finals Saturday afternoon following a tight first half, the Lumberjacks rolled to the 44-24 win at Public School Stadium with a 21 point third quarter.

Cloquet led 17-14 in a close contest at halftime, when it was Zach Gerlach who took the second half kick-off back 81 yards to give the Jacks a 24-14 ten point lead. Hunter Roberts scored the second of his three touchdowns four minutes later to give Cloquet a 17 point cushion and it was Roberts adding his third touchdown of the game, this time it was a 2 yard touchdown run to give Cloquet a 38-14 lead after three quarters of play.

The Thunderhawks sacked Nate Weets in the end zone for a safety to cut the margin to 38-16 to start the fourth quarter. Kyle Klatt added another touchdown to the Jacks in the fourth quarter as he scored from 9 yards out. Klatt also finished with 127 yards rushing and had one reception for 11 yards.

Klatt started the scoring Saturday afternoon as he broke free for a 39 yard touchdown run which got Cloquet on the scoreboard first. Nick Niemi connected on a 38 yard field goal with 10 seconds remaining in the 1st quarter which gave Cloquet a 10-7 lead after one quarter of play.

Roberts first touchdown came with 4:38 rema9ining in the second quarter as he scored from 1 yard away. Roberts had 11 carries for 80 yards, and Gerlach also added 82 yards on the ground for the Lumberjacks who amassed 324 rushing yards on the day.

Nate Weets was 3-7 passing for 30 yards for Cloquet, Nick Niemi had two receptions for 19 yards, and he was 5-6 on extra points along with the field goal he connected on. Evan Pokernowski led the defense with 5.5 tackles including 5 solo tackles, Gerlach and Christian Pritchett each came up with interceptions for the Lumberjacks.

Cloquet will move on the the section finals where i will be a rematch of the 2013 section finals between Hermantown and Cloquet. The section title game will be played at Public School Stadium at 7 pm next Friday night.

Grand Rapids    7-7-0-10—24

Cloquet    10-7-21-6—44

C — Kyle Klatt 39 run (Nick Niemi kick)

GR — Gavin Kuschel 1 run (Joe Palik kick)

C — Niemi 34 field goal

C — Hunter Roberts 1 run (Niemi kick)

GR — Eric Soderberg 3 run (Palik kick)

C — Zach Gerlach 81 kick return (Niemi kick)

C — Roberts 1 run (Niemi kick)

C — Roberts 2 run (Niemi kick)

GR — Caleb How sack safety

C — Klatt 9 run (kick failed)

GR — Soderberg 9 run (Levi How run)

George Bailey can be reached at George@northlandsportsonline.com