Cloquet Boys Fall To Grand Rapids

Wes Vork-NSO

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Dec 9

Dwight Cadwell-NSO

Looking to start the season on the right foot, the Cloquet Lumberjacks were disappointed. The Grand Rapids Thunderhawks beat the Lumberjacks 65-51 at the Cloquet High School.

The Thunderhawks came out strong, helping them cruise to an early halftime lead of 21 points at 36-15. Good defense by the Thunderhawks and the Jacks poor shooting shut Cloquet down. Cloquet played much better in the second half, but struggled to overcome the huge lead that Grand Rapids gained.

The Thunderhawks did a good job of shutting down Cloquet’s Chad Calcaterra, holding him to only thirteen points on the night. Going into the game, the Lumberjacks were hoping to end a four game losing streak to the Thunderhawks. Grand Rapids now has won five straight games against Cloquet, including the last two section 7AAA championship games.

Leading the Jacks in scoring was Tim DeFoe, who had 14 points on the night for Cloquet. Calcaterra was next with his 13 points, followed by RaRa Jones who had 9, Peter LaCourse had 6 on the night, Conner Stowell 5, and Ben Shultz ended with 4.

The Thunderhawks were led by Eric Stark, who had 21 points to lead all scorers Tuesday. Brian Akre scored 11, Matt O’Fallon and Kevin Rabbers both added 10 points for the Thunderhawks, Dan Wilde chipped in with 7 and Austin Pohlen rounded out the scoring with 6 in the Thunderhawks win.

Cloquet starts the season 0-1 and the Lumberjacks will be in action on Friday night when they host Chisago Lakes. The Thunderhawks move to 1-0 and they will play at home Friday against Park of Cottage Grove.

Dwight Cadwell can be reached at dwight@northlandsportsonline.com