Jacks Win Big On Homecoming Night

Wes Vork-NSO

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Sept 28, 2012

Kerry Rodd-NSO

For the first time in many years Cloquet High School held their Homecoming ceremonies during the fall football season. Friday night was a perfect fall night for the halftime ceremony, and it also proved to be a wild night for football as Cloquet downed Greenway/Nashwauk/Keewatin 49-30 in a rematch of last year’s Section 7AAA title game in which the Titans defeated Cloquet.

The Lumberjacks set the tone from the outset by scoring on a 66-yard touchdown pass from Sean Kedrowski to tight end Nate Niemi on the first play from scrimmage giving Cloquet a 7-0 lead following the extra point kick by Nick Niemi.

“We have been running that play in practice this week because we saw things on game film that looked like we could have some success,” Niemi stated. “The safety went with our motion man and the corner was still outside so I just ran right up the field. It was really nice to execute right away and get the crowd in the game. Our line blocked it up real well so our quarterback had time and we played great as a team.”

Cloquet’s momentum gained even more steam behind the inspirational defensive play of Tanner Louhela. On the Titan’s first drive of the game Louhela blocked a punt and four plays later the Jacks Jeff Sarkela scored on a five yard run off tackle and following Niemi’s extra point it was 14-0 Cloquet.

Getting up quick and getting some points on the board was huge,” senior quarterback Sean Kedrowski stated. It made life a lot easier, in the past couple of games we haven’t been doing well on the first drives, so hitting that (touchdown pass) on the first play was a huge momentum boost. Kedrowski added “It gave everyone confidence and allowed us to use our entire playbook. The defense was able to play more relaxed and they stepped it up big time.”

Louhela, who had four solo tackles and two assists on the night, continued his great defensive play when he recovered a fumble at the Cloquet 49-yard line. On the next drive the Jacks scored again, this time with 4:10 remaining in the first quarter, when Kaleb Kadelbach caught a Kedrowski pass and raced 49 yards to pay dirt making it 21-0 after the extra point.

The Titans started to gain offensive momentum when Louhela struck again, this time when he sacked quarterback Jaden Gangle on fourth down giving the Jacks the ball on the 49 yard line for a second time. Just 33 seconds into the second quarter the Jacks got a five yard scamper by Marquez Evans as they built the lead to 28-0 following the Niemi point after kick.

Again the Jacks used a big play on defense when Ryan Lind stepped in on a Gangle pass and raced down the right sideline where he was driven out at the four-yard line after returning the interception 43 yards. A few plays later, following a Cloquet penalty, the Jacks scored when Kedrowski found Nate Niemi in the left corner of the end zone on a nine-yard touchdown pass and the Jacks were up 35-0 after Nick Niemi booted another extra point.

The Titans finally came to life with a pair of touchdowns in the last 3:13 of the first half when Gangle hit Mitch Bonderson on a 33-yard pass and another scoring pass when Gangle found Josh Engle open for a 15-yard touchdown pass. The Titans did manage a two-point conversion on the second score cutting the Cloquet lead to 35-14 entering the half.

Cloquet scored with 8:23 remaining in the third quarter on a Marquez Evans 13-yard cutback for a touchdown and Niemi nailed the extra point making it 42-14, but again, just six minutes later the Titans answered on a Gangle to Aaron Trunt pass that cut the lead to 42-22 after the two-point conversion.

The Lumberjacks added a score with 2:57 left in regulation when Kedrowksi scored on a one-yard plunge and after the extra point kick the Jacks were up 49-22. Bonderson managed a late score, with just nine seconds remaining, that cut the lead to 49-30 after the conversion run, but by then the homecoming game was in the proverbial bag for the Jacks.

“I said early in the week the dance will be a lot more fun if we win the football game,” said Head Coach Tom Lenarz. “I kind of wondered later about the wisdom of that, but the kids were flying high and had a lot of momentum coming out. Give Greenway a lot of credit though, they came out and smacked us in the mouth; they’re as physical of a team as we’ve faced and we really had to earn it up front.”

The Titans led in total offense with 401 yards including 243 through the air, while the Jacks answered with 383 yards which included 213 rushing yards.

Cloquet improved to 4-1 overall and 3-0 in the Sea Range Conference, while the Titans fall to 2-3 overall and 1-2 in conference play.

Kerry Rodd can be reached at kerry@northlandsportsonline.com