Jacks Fall in Championship

Dwight Cadwell – NSO

The Academy of Holy Angels, Richfield, won the Class AAAA championship for the first time in three tries with a 14-0 victory over Cloquet in the title game on Friday, Nov. 24 at U.S. Bank Stadium.

The Stars scored two timely touchdowns and survived a game of give-and-take that featured a combined 10 turnovers.

When the teams weren’t playing keep away, Holy Angels scored two touchdowns to supply all of the scoring it would need. Senior wide receiver Ryan Mazurek caught a 46-yard touchdown pass from senior quarterback Joseph Heimbold in the first quarter, and junior tailback Thomas Shelstad added a 1-yard scoring run in the third to spur the Stars (12-1) to the school’s first football championship.

Holy Angels was the Class AAAA runner-up in 2005 and 2013.

Shelstad rushed for 91 yards on 15 carries and Heimbold chipped in 72 yards rushing. Heimbold completed 7 of 19 passes for 106 yards, and was intercepted three times. Cloquet (12-1), however, couldn’t take advantage of the turnovers.

Cloquet fumbled four times and lost all of them. The Lumberjacks also had an interception. Holy Angels had four fumbles and lost two of them.

Senior defensive end Alex Gillard and Mazurek, a linebacker, had 10 tackles each for the Stars.

Cloquet senior quarterback Tim Pokornowski led the Lumberjacks offensively with 113 yards rushing on 22 carries.

Cloquet who was playing in their first state title game since 1976, finished the season with an 11-1 record overall.

Score by Quarters     1  2  3  4   Score
-----------------    -- -- -- --   -----
Academy-Holy Angels.  7  0  7  0  - 14       Record: (12-1)
CLOQUET.............  0  0  0  0  -  0       Record: (13-0)



Scoring Summary:
1st 04:26 AHA - Ryan Mazurek 46 yd pass from Joseph Heimbold (Aaron Sanchez kick), 5-62 1:11, AHA 7 - CLOQUET 0
3rd 00:58 AHA - Thomas Shelstad 1 yd run (Aaron Sanchez kick), 4-36 1:17, AHA 14 - CLOQUET 0



                                    AHA  CLOQUET
FIRST DOWNS...................       16       16
RUSHES-YARDS (NET)............   42-193   45-173
PASSING YDS (NET).............      109       43
Passes Att-Comp-Int...........   20-8-3   15-6-1
TOTAL OFFENSE PLAYS-YARDS.....   62-302   60-216
Fumble Returns-Yards..........      0-0      0-0
Punt Returns-Yards............      0-0      1-2
Kickoff Returns-Yards.........     1-16     2-15
Interception Returns-Yards....      1-0     3-56
Punts (Number-Avg)............   2-33.5   2-30.0
Fumbles-Lost..................      4-2      4-4
Penalties-Yards...............     7-37      1-5
Possession Time...............    23:36    24:20
Third-Down Conversions........  7 of 13  2 of 11
Fourth-Down Conversions.......   1 of 2   1 of 5
Red-Zone Scores-Chances.......      1-3      0-2
Sacks By: Number-Yards........     4-27      0-0


RUSHING: Academy-Holy Angels-Thomas Shelstad 15-91; Joseph Heimbold
19-72; Peter Laird 2-12; Rook Rowe 3-11; Jason Kraus 1-7; Keontay Shorter 1-2;
TEAM 1-minus 2. CLOQUET-Tim Pokornowski 22-113; Spencer Wehr 12-37; Aahsan
Maigag 8-33; Mitchell Gerlach 3-minus 10.

PASSING: Academy-Holy Angels-Joseph Heimbold 7-19-3-106; Jason Kraus
1-1-0-3. CLOQUET-Tim Pokornowski 6-15-1-43.

RECEIVING: Academy-Holy Angels-Peter Laird 2-13; Ryan Mazurek 1-46; John
Kosmach 1-14; Jason Kraus 1-11; Rook Rowe 1-11; Thomas Shelstad 1-11; Reed Lewis
1-3. CLOQUET-Aahsan Maigag 4-32; Spencer Wehr 2-11.

INTERCEPTIONS: Academy-Holy Angels-Keontay Shorter 1-0. CLOQUET-Tyler
Moose 1-38; Riley Leslie 1-18; Alex Leuzzo 1-0.

FUMBLES: Academy-Holy Angels-Joseph Heimbold 3-1; Thomas Shelstad 1-1.
CLOQUET-Tim Pokornowski 3-3; Mitchell Gerlach 1-1.