Thunder Rally For Comeback Victory

Wes Vork-NSO

Sept 26

Kerry Rodd-NSO

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Apparently the wake-up call didn’t come until the second quarter for the Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College football team on Saturday. Trailing 14-0 the Thunder rallied for an impressive 20-14 overtime victory over the Itasca Vikings in Cloquet on a beautiful fall afternoon.

“That was two evenly matched football teams,” said offensive coordinator Scott Antonutti in an interview on WKLK following the game. “We did just enough on offense to win and the defense played well as they have all year.”

The Vikings struck on just their third place from scrimmage when quarterback Josh Stougard hit Shane Rasley on a crossing route and 71 yards later Itasca led the game 7-0 following an extra point kick.

Itasca forged to a 14-0 lead when the scored on a five yard run and then they converted the extra point kick with just 44 seconds remaining in the first quarter.

The Thunder answered back before halftime when John Qualls caught a short pass from Rumeal Carlton and took it 27 yards for the score. Former Barnum athlete, Derek Benson, booted the extra point to pull the Thunder to within 14-7 at the break.

“Getting that score before halftime was big for us,” said head coach Tony Deleon following the game. “If they would have gone ahead by three touchdowns that would have been tough to overcome, but instead, we got that touchdown and we were only one play out of tying the game.

In the third quarter the Thunder did indeed tie the game when Carlton hit a Robert Drayton-Wiley on a slant pattern that saw Drayton-Wiley outrun the defense for a 37-yard touchdown. Benson tacked on the extra point and the game was even at 14-14.

Both teams had chances to score in the final quarter, but penalties and stout defense took its toll on both offenses and eventually the game went into overtime. The Thunder won the coin flip and elected to play defense with the Vikings starting with a first down at the Thunder 25-yard line. The Thunder stopped the Vikings and eventually got their chance from the 25. After a big pass reception from Josh Fleming the Thunder advanced the ball to the three yard line on a pass interference call in the end zone and that is when the Thunder elected to use linebacker Kevin Chestang as a full back and he was able to crash into the end zone ending the game.

“He played offense in high school and he is a big strong kid,” Deleon commented following the game. “We put in our big package and they pounded it in for us.”

Kerry Rodd can be reached at Kerry@northlandsportsonline.com