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Although football games aren’t played on paper, it was pretty evident heading into North Branch’s home game against Duluth East on Friday, October 13 what the end result was going to be.

North Branch was 5-1 going into the game and had crushed some teams who have beaten Duluth East handily. The Greyhounds' only hope was that the nasty, cold, wet and windy weather would affect the Vikings, but unfortunately for East, the Vikings’ vaunted rushing offense thrives in the elements.

The Vikings started quickly, forcing a turnover on downs near midfield on the Greyhounds’ first possession. Five plays later, quarterback Jacob Robillard kept the ball around the left side of the field and went untouched to the end zone from 39 yards out. Running back Jacob Teigen made some punishing blocks on the play to spring Robillard. Tiegen, who is normally a tight end but is playing running back for the injured Nolen Volner, who’s out for the season with a knee injury, blasted his first assignment to the ground four yards downfield, which tripped up the safety as he was trying to get to the edge to chase down Robillard. Tiegen continued to the stumbling safety, though, and pancake blocked him to make sure he didn’t get in on the play. North Branch’s two point conversion was good, and they led 8-0.

Duluth East again got bold after one first down, going for it on fourth and six from their own 36 yard line, but the NB defense snuffed out the play and turned them over on downs and gave the offense a short field.

Carter Drill led the drive with a 21 yard run and, after a short run and a penalty, North Branch went to the air. It’s rare that the Vikings turn to the pass game during nice, calm conditions, so it was even more of a surprise they chucked the ball with the wind swirling. But the element of surprise worked on East. They didn’t expect the play and Tyler Minke streaked out of the backfield up the seam and no Greyhound defender picked him up and Robillard delivered a strike to Minke for a 20 yard touchdown pass. NB’s two pointer was good again, and they led 16-0 in the first quarter.

Duluth East got essentially their only spark of the game on the ensuing kickoff when their returner scooped-up a bouncing ball around the 22 yard line and busted through the NB line of defense to score on a 78 yard kick return touchdown. The two pointer was stuffed and NB led 16-6.

It didn’t take long for the Vikings to establish their dominance and let the ‘Hounds know they wouldn’t be mounting a comeback. On the first play of NB’s next drive, which opened the second quarter, Drill took a handoff up the middle 60 yards for an easy touchdown. The two point conversion was good and the Vikes were  up big, 24-6.

Duluth East kept being aggressive, however, and it was biting them big time. They faced a fourth down on their ensuing drive from their own 37 yard line and despite failing twice already, they went for it again and North Branch again stopped them to get the ball back in East territory.

This time, Robillard led the quick strike on the first play, calling his own number as he wrapped around the left side of the East defense and broke away for a 43 yard rushing touchdown. The two point conversion was good and it was 32-6 in favor of NB.

The onslaught didn’t stop there, however. Vikings’ kicker Brody Beaver blasted his kickoff right into East’s front line, and it bounced off of one of the defenders straight back North Branch’s way. A Viking pounced on the live ball and their offense got to go right back out on the field. And – surprise! – it was another immediate strike for the Vikings. On the first play of the possession, Drill took a handoff up the middle and weaved through the East defense and broke through an arm tackle as he went 49 yards to paydirt for another long touchdown. The two point conversion made it 40-6.

After the flurry was all said and done North Branch had scored a touchdown on four straight plays. Their finishing play on one drive was a touchdown, and then they had three straight one-play drives that resulted in long touchdowns.

East finally went on a sustained drive on their next possession, going 11 plays and bringing it all the way down to North Branch’s seven yard line, but on fourth and goal from the seven, East’s quarterback couldn’t handle the snap and it squirted past him and NB’s defense recovered to take over on their own 18 yard line with three minutes left in the half.

Although the Vikings were going to be content to run the clock down on the half, Drill broke free again, rushing for 68 yards on the first play and almost making it five touchdowns in five plays for the Vikes, but he was tracked down at the 10 yard line. Three plays later, Robillard scored his second rushing touchdown of the game from four yards out to put NB up by 40. Their two point conversion stretched that lead to 42 and the second half was all but academic.

The North Branch starters did come out for two drives in the third quarter, and they were actually stopped on downs inside of East’s 15 yard line on the first attempt, but the Hounds fumbled the ball away on their first snap of the ensuing possession, and it took the Vikings just four plays after that to score, with Minke getting his first rushing touchdown of the night.

At that point, it became important to just get out of the game healthy. With the wet conditions, the Vikings pulled almost all their starters and brought in the back ups. East did get a  79 yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter, but the game moved quickly due to a running clock, and that was the only score of the last quarter and a half.

Drill ended the game with 222 yards on just eight carries and Robillard added 97 yards on just nine carries.

North Branch moved to 6-1 on the year and wrapped up the season on Wednesday, October 18 with a game against Cloquet on the MEA shortened week. With two byes available in Section 7AAAA, the win over East all but ensured the Vikings would get one of the byes. Even if the Lumberjacks were able to upset NB, they would still be in contention for the top seed, but would for sure get one of the top two seeds and a bye. That means North Branch will be sitting out the first round of sections on Tuesday, October 24 and will host a home game on Saturday, October 28 in the section semifinals.

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