0-No 0-7 Central Stuns Cloquet

Dan Saletel-NSO

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Oct 27

Kerry Rodd-NSO

When the winless Duluth Central Trojans arrived at Rol Bromberg Field on Tuesday night they asked that during pregame introductions that their whole team be announced, not just the starters. The Trojans were facing a daunting task ahead: playing the #1 seeded Cloquet Lumberjacks in Cloquet and perhaps the last game in school history for Central.
By the end of regulation time, the Trojans had given themselves at least one more game before the school closes down. Central upset the Lumberjacks 20-14 in the Section 7AAAA quarterfinal game.

Cloquet’s inability to stop the running game of the Trojans proved to be the Jacks downfall throughout the contest. Central ran for well over 300 yards in the game and by halftime they had dominated time of possession to the tune of 13 first downs compared to Cloquet’s two first downs.

The Lumberjacks problems began during Central’s second drive of the first quarter when the Trojans marched down the field. Despite not scoring, that drive appeared to give the Trojans hope that they could handle the Jacks on the line and by the early part of the second quarter they were cracking off runs of 5-8 yards on nearly every run from scrimmage. Central finally opened the scoring with 11:07 remaining in the first
half on a nine-yard touchdown run by Joey Janchar, but the missed extra point gave the Trojans a 6-0 lead. Before the half ended, the Trojans added another touchdown run. This time it was a three yard run by Luke Johannessen with 1:08 until half time. Quarterback Steve Knuth ran in the two-point conversion and the Trojans led it 14-0 at the intermission.

While the Trojans were plowing through the Cloquet defense, the Lumberjacks seemed mired in quicksand as they were unable to sustain any drives. They struggled with penalties and mistakes that continually thwarted any scoring attempts.

The killer play of the game for Cloquet took place midway through the third quarter when running back Nate Beaulieu slipped out of a crowd and raced 81 yards down the sidelines for a score making it 20-0. The Jacks stopped the two-point conversion run giving them at least a glimmer of hope of a comeback.

RaRa Jones finally got the Jacks on the board when he caught a crossing pass from Tyler Tollerud and out ran the defense to the end zone for a 60-yard pitch and catch. Thomas Rogers added the extra point kick as Cloquet pulled to within 20-7 with 5:41 left in regulation.

Following the Jones score, the Lumberjacks were able to stop the Trojans near midfield and a shanked punt gave Cloquet the ball in good field position at their own 43 yard line. A couple of plays later it was Tollerud finding Corbin Morse in the right corner of the end zone with 3:48 left in regulation and after Rogers extra point kick the Jacks had cut the lead to 20-14.

Unfortunately for the Jacks, they were unable to get the ball in the end zone one last time and the Trojans came away with a stunning upset win. The upset by the Trojans was one of three in Section 7AAAA. Not only did Cloquet lose, but the #3 and #4 seeded Hermantown Hawks and Duluth East Greyhounds also lost and were ousted from the sectional tournament.

The win pits the Trojans against Bemidji on Saturday, while the other semi final game will featured Duluth Denfeld, the #2 seed, hosting the Grand Rapids Thunderhawks.

Cloquet finishes the season with a 7-2 record.

Kerry Rodd can be reached at Kerry@northlandsportsonline.com