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Friday the 13th turned into a horror fest for the Hermantown Hawks when the North Branch football team made a dramatic last second comeback to win 48-44 in a battle of two of the best Class AAAA teams.

With just under 90 seconds left in a barnburner of a football game on Friday, September 13, North Branch’s hopes looked all but lost against undefeated Hermantown. They had just given up a touchdown to the Hawks and were down 44-40 and had the length of the field to go for a touchdown. The Vikings are not built to pass, and when they do, it’s set up by the run, so going that far in that short of time with just one timeout was going to be a challenge. Luckily for the Vikings, senior quarterback Jacob Robillard enjoys a good challenge.

Robillard delivered two amazing plays at the end of the drive including an 18 yard run and 19 yard touchdown pass, both with under 15 seconds left, to propel the Vikings to a 48-44 win over the eighth-ranked Hawks in a game most kids can only dream of.

The big score was set up with some good runs and astute clock management by North Branch. They had the ball at Hermantown’s 37 yard line with 17 seconds left when Robillard dropped back to pass. With Hermantown expecting that, Robillard didn’t find anyone, but what he did find was a huge patch of green grass to the left side of the field, and he took advantage. He raced down the field towards the sideline and leapt over a downed Hawk defender to get out of bounds at the 19 yard line with nine seconds left in the game.

There were multiple Hermantown defenders calling for a flag for hurdling after the play – which is something the Vikings didn’t get the benefit of the doubt of in the opener against Pequot Lakes – but the defender had been steamrolled by running back Brody Mitchell and was very clearly on the ground when Robillard leapt over him, which is legal.

With just one or two plays left, the Vikings had to look to the endzone, and Robillard did it out of sheer desperation on the next play. He dropped back to pass again and immediately had a defender closing in from the right side and from up the middle. He gave a little shoulder shake and slithered between the two but was also facing pressure from a third defender coming up the middle. He launched the ball to the endzone and Nathaniel Edwards-Gaona, North Branch’s 6’3” monster tight end, just squeezed past a Hermantown defender and went up and grabbed the ball from over the top of him to finish the comeback.

Of course, building up to a 48-44 win was a lot of exciting plays and momentum swings, and the game went down as an instant classic between two very good Class AAAA teams.

The first drive for the Vikings was a precursor for how the night would go. North Branch quickly marched down the field and Hermantown had no answer. After the Hawks kicked the ball out of bounds on the opening kickoff, the Vikings took over on their own 35. London Olson opened the drive with an 18 yard run right up the gut. Tyler Minke followed by weaving through the middle of the field for a 15 yard gain. Minke put another 10 yard run on the board, but the Hawk defender brought him down by the helmet tacking on more yards and putting NB inside of the 10 yard line. Mitchell punctuated the drive with a touchdown run up the middle from nine yards out. The Hawk defenders were thoroughly confused on the play as most followed Minke and quarterback Robillard out to the left while Olson was untouched until the goal line.

North Branch tried an extra point with soccer player Chazz Johnson, as they’ve struggled a bit with two point conversions this year, but it was blocked and the Vikes were up 6-0.

The defense made their first stop of the night on Hermantown’s first drive. The Hawks gained just six yards in three plays to force them to punt the ball away back to NB. Although the Viking offense couldn’t sustain the next drive, they got an absolute boomer of a punt from senior Carter Drill. The running back who moonlights as the punter blasted a kick from his own 38 yard line, and it came to a standstill at Hermantown’s nine yard line, a boot of 53 yards.

With the Hawks in the shadow of their own endzone, their playbook was a bit limited and the Vikings defense was again able to force a three and out from their rivals from the North. That allowed the Vikings to take over from Hermantown’s 48 yard line after the punt, and they quickly marched down the field to extend their lead to two scores. The drive was finished off by Robillard, who kept the ball around the right side and followed a great pulling block from left guard Reegan Dick to hit paydirt from 15 yards out. Minke followed up with the two point conversion and North Branch led 14-0.

North Branch knew Hermantown, who was ranked eighth in the state in Class AAAA coming into the game, wouldn’t go quietly, and their fireworks started to explode on their next drive. Hawk quarterback Alex Schott hit tight end for a 41 yard gain up the seam on the second play of their drive, and then three plays later, Schott again went to the air and threw a dart to Kale Smith for a 19 yard touchdown to get Hermantown on the board. Their extra point was good and the Hawks cut the deficit in half to 14-7.

The Viking offense, though, continued to gash Hermantown’s defense. They just never were threatened on the next drive with a tough play call or decision. The Vikings ripped off gains of 4, 7, 7, 7 and 11 yards before Minke followed his blockers up the middle for a 44 yard touchdown run. Minke added the two point conversion, as well, and the Vikes were up 22-7 over the Hawks.

Hermantown went back to the air, where they would eventually find their success on the night, and moved the ball all the way down near North Branch’s goalline on the next drive. But, after two incomplete passes and a short rush, Hermantown found themselves going for it on fourth and goal from the two yard line. They tried a sweep to the left side, but Drill absolutely blew the play up. He beat his blocker off the line and almost instantly forced Hermantown’s running back toward the middle of the field where Matthew Fenton and Logan Hammel were waiting to stuff him for no gain.

North Branch had a chance to really seize control of the game and go up by three scores before the halftime break. The chance started nicely with a 17 yard run from Drill to get North Branch off of their own goalline, but three straight short rushes forced them to punt from their own 21 on fourth and eight. Drill hit a line drive punt that the Hawk return man fielded on a hop, and he was able to return it all the way to NB’s 37 yard line to give Hermantown a short field. They made good on their starting position, completing two longer passes and then punching it in from one yard out to cut the lead to 22-13. Hermantown’s extra point snap was fumbled, which looked to be great for the Vikes,  but they ran a perfect busted point play and got the two point conversion anyway to get within seven at 22-15.

The Hawks had run the drive perfectly, and left North Branch no time to do anything with their last drive before half.

North Branch was still in command of the game to start the second half, but that quickly shifted. On the opening kickoff, North Branch squibbed the kick to an upback, hoping to just contain him for a short return, but a breakdown in coverage allowed Hermantown’s Landon Burg to race untouched for a Hawk score. Their extra point was good, and all of a sudden, a game that was looking like it could turn into a blowout was tied at 22-22.

The Vikings offense is never one to sulk or dwell on a bad play, and almost instantly, they picked their special teams up. Four plays into their drive, Robillard hit a wide open Nathaniel Edwards-Goana for a pass play that went 44 yards. The Hawks were also called for roughing the passer, putting the ball all the way down on Hermantown’s 18 yard line. Olson quickly made the Hawks pay, scoring on the next play from 18 yards out for his second score of the game to give the lead back to NB. The two pointer was no good and the game stood at 28-22 in favor of NB.

But, that was just the start of what would be the wild second half. Hermantown didn’t waste any time retaking the lead. They had a 20 yard pass play and then Martin Sleen broke two tackles and found nothing but green in front of him for a 38 yard touchdown run. Their extra point was good and Hermantown was back up, 29-28.

Worst case scenario struck for the Vikings on their next drive. They weren’t able to move the ball, forcing them to punt from their own 30 yard line, but the snap sailed over Drill’s head and although he was able to recover it, Hermantown took over on North Branch’s 20 yard line, giving them a very short field. Just three plays later, the Hawks scored. The ensuing extra point made it 36-28 in favor of Hermantown.

Luckily, North Branch’s offense was able to recover on their next drive. It took them just seven plays to march back down the field and score a touchdown. The two big plays were a 20 yard rush from Robillard and a 33 yard completion from Robillard to Drill on back-to-back plays. Robillard also got the score when he punched it in from seven yards out. The two point conversion again fell short, and the Vikes trailed by two at 36-34.

The big turning point that got the Vikings the ball back came on the next drive. After Hermantown had moved the ball near midfield, they had a short rush on first down, but then on a second down that saw their rush stopped, an offensive lineman was called for an illegal chop block, a 15 yard penalty, and it put H’Town far behind the sticks at second and 22. Their next play was incomplete and then the third down screen pass was blown up by North Branch’s Aydan Loren and Nolan Bahr, forcing a Hermantown punt with just over eight minutes left in the game.

The Vikings offense continued to make good on their opportunities. They went eight plays, capped off by a tough 37 yard touchdown run from Olson up the middle to retake the lead from the Hawks. Their two point conversion failed, though, leaving the Vikings up 40-36 with 3:53 left in the game.

Even though Hermantown’s passing game had heated up quite a bit at that point, they recognized the need to burn some clock, so they went to the ground and found success against the NB defense. Schott opened with a 17 yard quarterback draw, and two plays later Sleen found a gap on the outside and went 26 yards down to NB’s 11 yard line. After two short runs put them in a third and four from the nine yard line, Hermantown went back to the air and found a touchdown in the front corner of the endzone. North Branch defenders and coach were adamant the receiver was out of bounds, but the official ruled he got a foot down, giving Hermantown a 42-40 edge with 1:27 left in the game. Their two point conversion was good and they led 44-40 and things looked a bit lost for the Vikings.

But, that’s when Robillard’s heroics came through on the final drive to give North Branch the improbable Friday night victory.

The Vikings ran for almost 450 yards as a team, with Robillard rushing for 116 and two scores to go along with his three-of-five passing for 96 yards and the one giant touchdown. Olson had 13 carries for 112 yards and two touchdowns. Minke had 96 yards on 10 carries and Mitchell came in with 83 yards on 11 carries. Drill added 40 big yards on nine carries as well.

The Vikings visit Class AAA Mora on Friday, September 20. The Mustangs own an 0-3 record but after two blowout losses to start the year, they played always-tough Esko close last week, losing just 27-14.

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