Cloquet Football Goes To 3-0 On The Season

Sept 21

Kerry Rodd-NSO

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After a tightly played first half, the Cloquet Lumberjacks took over in the second half to defeat the Virginia Blue Devils 30-14 in high school football on the road.

“We were able to wear them down in the second half,” commented Cloquet coach Tom Lenarz. “Virginia had more guys going both ways and our depth helped us. Our defense played well.”

After a scoreless first quarter the Lumberjacks got on the board when Paul Ryan traipsed in from the 11-yard line with 4:11 remaining in the first quarter. Thomas Rogers booted the extra point and the Jacks had a 7-0 lead.

Virginia cut the lead to 7-6 when Cavan Stackpool bulled his way into the end zone from the two-yard line, but the Blue Devils could not convert the extra point and the Jacks held a slim lead.

The Blue Devils were able to march the ball down field and get inside the Jacks 10-yard line twice during the first half, but the Jacks defense stiffened and kept them off the board.

RaRa Jones ignited things in the second half when he took the opening kick and raced 82 yards for the score.
Rogers knocked the extra point kick through making it 14-6 with just 12 seconds gone in the third quarter.

“That return by RaRa really got us going,” explained Lenarz. “We scored again on our next drive and never looked back. I was impressed with the way the guys handled the pressure of playing in a big game on the road.”

After Jones scored, the Jacks stopped the Blue Devils and took over the game on a nifty 11-yard touchdown run by Tony Hudson. Following the Rogers extra point kick, the Jacks were up 21-6 with 8:27 to play in the third quarter.

The Jacks went up 23-6 when they were able to stifle the Blue Devil offense with a safety and finally it was Tyler Tollerud crashing into the end zone from the two-yard line with 9:37 to go in the final quarter as the Jacks built a 30-6 lead following the Rogers extra point.

Virginia finally answered the Jacks with a touchdown on a 17-yard run by Jordan Krebsbach and a two-point conversion run by Stackpool with 2:53 remaining, but the damage had already been done and the game was over for all intents and purposes.

Hudson had a strong game with 18 rushes for 149 yards and Tollerud added 54 yards on the ground. In all, the Jacks rushed for 283 yards and passed for 22 yards while compiling 305 yards in total offense.

The Jacks are 3-0 on the season and will play at home this Friday against Hermantown who is 2-1 on the season.

Kerry Rodd can be reached at kerry@northlandsportsonline.com