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After not scoring for the first three weeks of the season, the North Branch football team thought they broke the seal last week in putting up nearly 30 points against Big Lake in a losing effort.

Although they scored twice again this week against a 1-3 Duluth East team, they failed to score on three other attempts inside the redzone, and it cost them in a 26-14 loss.

North Branch went three and out on their first possession, and then nearly forced the same out of East, but a costly mistake started them behind the eight ball.

On first down, Cody Segelstrom knifed through the Duluth East interior line and wrapped up quarterback Jack Rashid for a 10-yard sack, putting Duluth far behind the chains. The defense didn’t allow East any room on second and third down, and forced them to punt. However, on a fourth and 19, North Branch drilled the punter after the ball was booted, leading to a 15 yard penalty and a first down for Duluth East.
The wind in the defense’s sails died with the penalty, and seven plays later, Rashid plunged into the endzone for a two yard touchdown and an early 6-0 lead.

On the ensuing drive, North Branch started to put together a threat. The two key plays were North Branch going for it on fourth and four from their own 26 yard line, with Darien Fair running for 18 yards and the first down. They also had a cold-blooded 18 yard pass connection from Aaron Robillard to Evan Amunrud on third and 17 that moved the ball into East territory.

After a three straight runs of 14, seven and two by Josiah Hall, the Vikings were in a very manageable third and one from the East 24 yardline. On third down, Robillard fumbled the snap to lose two yards and set them up for a still makeable fourth and three. But, a penalty cost the Vikes again, as a false start sent them back five yard into a fourth and eight. Robillard’s pass on fourth down was complete to Amunrud, but it was for no gain and the Vikings had another fruitless trip deep into enemy territory.

On the Duluth drive, North Branch forced the Greyhounds into a similar situation, but they made good on their conversion. After a false start by East forced them into a fourth and nine from North Branch’s 23 yard line, Peter Rubin, who had taken over at quarterback for an injured Rashid, found Ian Mageau for a 22 yard gain down to the one yard line. Two plays later, Rubin punched it in to make it 12-0. He also ran in the two point conversion, stretching the lead to 14-0.

Again, North Branch moved the ball in the late stages of the first half. They dinked and dunked their way down to the Duluth East 23 yard line with over two minutes left, but facing a fourth and two, Micah Hindt was stuffed for no gain, turning the ball back over to East with nothing to show on the scoreboard.

The Greyhounds wasted no time sprinting down the field in their two minute drill. It was highlighted by a 28 yard run by Tommy Kimball and a 16 yard pass on third and 15.

North Branch still had a chance to keep them out of the endzone, but they gave up a 20 yard pass with only 30 seconds left that brought East down to the third yard line. Rubin made good from there and scored his second touchdown of the game to make it 20-0.

With East set to return the second half kick off, things looked bleak for North Branch. But their defense wouldn’t quit. After a long return from the Hounds put the ball around midfield, the Vikings forced East into a fourth down try. They went for it, but North Branch was up to the task, stopping them and giving their offense great field position.

This time it paid off. Hindt ripped off a 31 yard run two plays into the ensuing possession and Robillard capped off the four-play drive with a 14 yard touchdown run.

The extra point was no good, but NB trimmed the lead to two scores at 20-6.

On the next East drive, the North Branch defense was still energized from the momentum swing and they forced a three-and-out, with East wisely punting this time. The punt only went 18 yards though, and North Branch took over in East territory to start their drive.

It ended up being the Micach Hindt Show on this drive. After a no gain by James Peltier on the first play, nobody else except Hindt touched the ball and it paid off with a touchdown. The senior running back ripped off runs of 10, seven, 20 and seven, the last of which was of the scoring variety. The Vikings smartly gave Hindt the ball on the two-point conversion, and he made good on that too, cutting the lead to 20-14 and giving North Branch a real shot.

It was the defense’s turn again to shine, and it looked like they had run out of steam for a big. In three consecutive plays to start East’s drive, they ran for 65 yards, bringing them all the way down to the North Branch 15 yard line.

But, on third down, defensive lineman Colton Bauer picked off a screen pass attempt and instantly swung the momentum back to North Branch. The Vikings only mustered one first down on offense though, punting away on fourth and three from their own 31.

After each team stalled on their next possessions, North Branch looked to be in decent position. A 51 yard booming punt by Hindt was downed at the one yard line and East had their own goal line breathing down their neck as they took over with 6:55 left in the game up by only six points.

But, they were up to the task. Rubin, a sophomore who’s typically a running back, orchestrated a 13-play, 99 yard drive for East, punctuated by his third touchdown run of the night, and leaving North Branch with only one minute left on the scoreboard and down two scores.

The Vikings did put a nice drive together through the air that got them down to Duluth East’s 16 yard line, but Robillard threw a pick that sealed the game. Two kneel downs later and East had their second win of the season and North Branch remained winless.

Robillard ended the night nine-of-16 for 75 yards and a rushing touchdown. Hindt had 94 yards and a score on 11 carries.

Next up on the schedule for North Branch is an away game at 1-4 Princeton. The Tigers beat East by 11 earlier this year and have played in a few close games, so North Branch will have to be on top of their game to beat the them. The game will be at 7 p.m. in Princeton.

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