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North Branch concluded their regular season with a bang, absolutely throttling the Cloquet Lumberjacks 68-6 on Wednesday, October 16 at home before the MEA holiday weekend.

North Branch had leads of 20-0 after the first quarter and 54-0 at halftime, leaving no doubt against the 2-6 Jacks as they battled for seeding in Section 7AAAA.

The Vikings took just one play to stake their early lead. London Olson had a nice kick return that set North Branch up in Cloquet territory at the 39 yard line. On the ensuing play, senior running back Tyler Minke took a handoff up the middle and after a quick stutter cut in the backfield and a stiff arm down the field, he was off to the races for an opening touchdown to give NB a 6-0 lead. Chaz Johnson’s extra point split the uprights, and the Vikes were up 7-0.

The defense didn’t allow Cloquet any movement on their first drive, and then the Vikings’ offense took over in another advantageous spot. Cloquet’s punter hit an extremely low line drive kick from his own 24 yard line that barely cleared the lineman blocking. Nolen Volner, who had actually dropped back and was ready to block for the punt returner about 30 yards in front of him, smartly leapt up and snagged the line drive punt out of the air at the 36, stiff armed a Cloquet defender and returned the ball all the way to the 18 yard line. 

It was all for naught, though, when the Vikings’ offense fumbled on the first play of their next drive. But, with the good return, the Cloquet offense was still pinned back pretty far, allowing for the next drive to unfold in favor of NB.

The Lumberjacks were pushed back three yards in their three plays and were punting on fourth and long. The punter had his heels inside the five yard line and readied to kick it away. But, the snap was skipped to him and he couldn’t corral it. Instead of just falling on it for a safety, the punter backed away from the ball and allowed NB’s Logan Hammel to fall on the ball for a special teams touchdown for the Vikings. Johnson’s extra point was true and North Branch was up 14-0.

The Vikings defense held tough again on the next drive, forcing another Cloquet punt. It was the first time in the game their punter got a good kick off, but it didn’t matter. It took North Branch only three plays to score their third touchdown of the opening frame, with quarterback Aaron Robillard keeping it from 58 yards out for a touchdown. Robillard had a fantastic open field move against the safety, starting and stopping twice, reversing field and just leaving the defensive back rolling on the ground in frustration.

Things just kept rolling for North Branch, and they even decided to have a little fun as the score started to balloon. North Branch’s defense forced a turnover on downs just past midfield before Dooley Beaver took a handoff 40 yards down to the two yard line, and then scored a touchdown on the next play. Having missed the extra point after Robillard’s touchdown, the Vikings brought in offensive lineman Austin Reynolds to attempt the two point conversion. The senior barreled up the middle and rolled close to the endzone but came up just short, putting NB up 26-0.

The onslaught continued, though, as Cloquet couldn’t get out of their own way and North Branch continued to capitalize on it over and over. The Lumberjacks fumbled the snap on their next drive and NB pounced on it, and scored quickly again.

Olson made multiple defenders miss on a dazzling run up the middle that gained 19 yards, and then Robillard fought off multiple defenders to score a touchdown on the next play from six yards out to stretch NB’s lead to 33-0 with nine minutes left in the first half still.

That trend continued throughout the first half. North Branch’s next touchdown was scored by Matthew Fenton, a defensive standout, who got a rare carry. He scored from four yards out after a relatively long NB drive.

The quick strikes kept hitting for North Branch on their next drive, even though they were parading in back up running back. Dalton Nesseth was the next to get his first touchdown of the year, with the sophomore gouging the Cloquet defense for a 50 yard touchdown.

Before the half was done, Robillard put the cherry on top of the beatdown sundae with a quarterback keeper from 29 yards out for a score. After Johnson’s extra point, the astounding lead was at 54-0 for North Branch at halftime, marking one of the more lopsided affairs in Viking history.

North Branch brought out all back ups in the second half, and the Vikings actually piled on another touchdown, with back up quarterback Ethan Thorsen running a quarterback sneak from the goalline that made the game 60-0.

After all was said and done, the Vikings walked away with a fun, dominant and convincing 68-6 victory over the Lumberjacks.

Robillard was the only Viking over 100 yards rushing, with 110 on four carries. Nesseth had 87 yards on eight carries and Mitchell had 51 on two carries while Beaver had 53 yards on three carries.The Vikings ran for 409 yards on 32 carries for an average of almost 13 yards per tote.

The win moved the Vikings to 6-2 on the year and gave them the top seed in Section 7AAAA over one loss Hermantown. The problem for Hermantown is that their one loss was to North Branch.

But, the match ups for NB are not easy. After their first round bye, they’ll take on the winner of Grand Rapids-Rock Ridge. Rapids upset the Vikings two weeks ago and Rock Ridge gave them a battle early in the season, so either team will be tough. On the other half of the bracket, Hermantown got a bye as the two seed and will take on the winner of third seeded Denfeld and sixth seeded Cloquet.

North Branch’s first game against either Rock Ridge or Grand Rapids will be Saturday, October 26 at 6 p.m. If they lose, their season will come to an end. If they win, they’ll move on to the section championship game on Friday, November 1 at 7 p.m. at Walt Hunting Stadium in Duluth.

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