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North Branch and Grand Rapids played a pretty close game in the regular season, and the Vikings wanted to make sure there was no doubt when it came time to play the Thunderhawks in sections  Saturday, October 28.

They didn’t want fluke plays or lucky bounces to be the difference in their season continuing so they came out against Rapids, pounded it down the field on their first drive with an 11 play touchdown, and never looked back en route to a 28-0 win.  This propelled them to section finals against Hermantown.

The Vikings opened with their traditional run-heavy offense. They gashed the Thunderhawks, and only faced two third downs on the whole drive, each of which they converted easily. The first was a third and two in which Carter Drill ran for 14 yards and the second was a 15 yard scamper by quarterback Jacob Robillard on third and eight. That play brought the Vikings down to the three yard line and Jacob Tiegen punched it in on the next play, giving NB a 6-0 lead. Brody Beaver pushed his extra point attempt wide right and the score was unchanged.

North Branch’s special teams then did their part, with Beaver kicking off after the score. He hit a line drive kick that absolutely drilled a Grand Rapids front line defender, and it bounced straight back to North Branch, who recovered it and took over on offense.

The Vikings took the ball all the way down to Grand Rapids’ 13 yard line when they converted a fourth and one with a four yard rush, but on the next play, with Drill trying to reach out for the endzone after an 11 yard rush, the ball squirted free near the goalline. Grand Rapids jumped on it at the two yard line to stop the Vikes’ drive.

Even so, the Vikings had set the tone for the game, as the first quarter was inside of two minutes, meaning NB had held the ball for the first 10-plus minutes of the game. Also, with Rapids pinned down near their goal line, the Vikings’ defense got aggressive and was able to force a three and out, and Rapids had to punt.

Taking over on the Thunderhawks’ 40 yard line, the Vikings again moved the ball well, bringing it down to GR’s eight yard line, but an incomplete pass and rush for no gain left the Vikings at fourth and goal from the eight, so they attempted a field goal, their first of the year. Beaver’s line drive kick was too low from the jump and Rapids blocked it, keeping the game at 6-0.

But, the junior defensive back quickly made up for the kick, as Beaver intercepted the Rapids’ quarterback on the first play of their next drive, giving NB prime field position on the 25 yard line.

The Grand Rapids defense did play the Vikes tight on the next drive, forcing a fourth and short right away, but a punishing run by Tyler Minke gave NB a fresh set of downs inside the 20 yard line. Drill paid it off on the next play, dicing up the middle for an 18 yard score to put the Vikings up 12-0. They converted the two point conversion and had a 14-0 lead with just 90 seconds left in the half.

It seemed NB would go into the half up by two scores, but Grand Rapids made a terrible mistake, as their quarterback couldn’t connect on a pitch to the running back and they fumbled it on their own 45 with just over 16 seconds left, giving NB the ball.

The normally methodical and slow NB offense wasn’t content to just kneel it out, though. A rush for no gain and timeout drained the clock to 11 seconds, but on the next play, Robillard connected on a beautiful pass down the middle of the field into double coverage. Minke tracked the ball the whole way and came down with it at the one yard with just three seconds left in the half.

Chaos ensued as NB tried to rush down the field and get lined up and spike the ball since the clock stops in high school football after a first down. Some players thought Minke had scored, so they didn’t have the giddy up down the field, but eventually they got lined up and got a spike off, but the clock read zero. The North Branch sideline erupted, claiming they got the spike in with one second left, and after the referees got together and talked it over, they ruled NB did in fact get the spike off in time and put one second back on the clock.

The Grand Rapids head coach lost his mind at the referees’ decision. He berated them enough that he got a 15 yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, although that only moved the ball a half yard.

Slow motion review of the play did confirm that the referees made the right call and Robillard got the spike off with one second left on the clock.

After the tempers had simmered a bit, NB made good on the call, running it in from the half yard line with no time remaining on the first half clock. The extra point was good and NB led 21-0 at half and the Grand Rapids sideline was absolutely incensed and deflated all at once. It felt like it was the wave that finally crashed over the levee and swamped the Hawks’ season.

Although Rapids’ had a chance to answer on their first drive of the second half, they fumbled the ball on their third down play to give NB the ball right back.

Throughout the second half, the game was mostly played in Grand Rapids’ half of the field. North Branch wasn’t necessarily scoring, but they were controlling the clock and keeping the Hawk offense at bay, as they weren’t able to threaten. 

The best Rapids did was to throw basically a hail mary on fourth and nine from midfield that NB ended up intercepting at their own 11 yard line with just six minutes left in the game. But, the gassed GR defense finally had enough. After a one yard run on first down, Robillard threw a rainbow pass to a wide open Nathaniel Edwards-Gaona. Had Robillard hit him in stride, it was a 90 yard touchdown, but the quarterback was under heavy pressure, and the 29 yard gain did just fine since on the next play, Minke busted through the middle of the Thunderhawk defense and raced 59 yards for a touchdown and a 28-0 lead for the Vikings that put the nail in the coffin of GR’s season.

The impressive shutout win propelled NB to the section championship game, where they’ll take on third seeded Hermantown at Duluth Denfeld on Friday, November 3. The Hawks upset Duluth Denfeld on their side of the bracket. NB beat Hermantown 28-21 in mid-September.

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