Mother Nature, Vermillion Beat Thunder

Wes Vork-NSO

Oct 23

Kerry Rodd-NSO

DULUTH – Mother Nature decided to make a statement on Friday night. With a howling off lake wind and a driving rain she did her best to make sure conditions would be difficult in Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College’s 37-21 loss to Vermillion Community College. When playing with the wind each team shared an advantage, without it the complete opposite was true. Unfortunately for the Thunder, the Iron Men carried a much larger advantage during their time courting Mother Nature.

The Thunder came out on their opening drive with 67 yards for a score that culminated in a fourth and long pass for a touchdown by punter Branden Peterson to Jared Roberson. After Peterson tacked on the extra point, the Thunder led it 7-0. FDLTCC’s score came with the wind at their backs.

Vermillion’s only score into the wind of the quarter came when former Proctor player, Caleb Maki, booted a 40-yard field goal into the wind to cut the lead to 7-3, but things were about to soon change.

On their very first play in the second quarter, and with the wind now at their backs, the Iron Men scored to take a 10-7 lead. The score came when quarterback Logan McAllister found Levi Lawrence streaking down field for a 54-yard scoring strike. It came with just nine seconds gone in the second stanza and it would be the first of their 24 points of the quarter.

With 12:09 remaining in the quarter, Michael Cora stripped one of the Thunder players of the ball and raced it 36 yards for a touchdown.It would not be the only time that an FDLTCC player would lose the ball while running for a first down. Next it was Maki drilling a 37-yard field goal with 1:55 remaining and then it was Tim Paulk stripping a Thunder receiver of the ball and bringing it back to the FDLTCC 6-yard line with just 12 seconds remaining in the half. McAllister then hit Paulk on the very next play to allow the Iron Men to build a 27-7 halftime lead with 24 of their points coming with the wind at their back.

Unfortunately, the Thunder began the third quarter with the wind in their face and that meant another pair of scores for Vermillion. The first score was on a Maki 43-yard field goal and the second was on a six-yard touchdown pass. In all, the Iron Men scored 34 points with the wind at their backs and just three points with the wind in their face.

As far as the Thunder? Well, they added a Peterson 49-yard touchdown reception from Rumeal Carlton and a 28-yard touchdown by Peterson, again from Carlton, to cut the lead to 37-21. All of the Thunder’s 21 points came with the win behind them.

In all of the 58 points scored in the game, all but three were scored by the team with the wind at their back. That darn Mother Nature!

Kerry Rodd can be reached at kerry@northlandsportsonline.com