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North Branch made good on their second home game in a stretch of three straight when they beat the Cloquet Lumberjacks on Friday, September 12.

The Vikings’ usually potent run game was the catalyst for them as they had four rushing touchdowns and nearly 400 yards in the 30-16 victory. 

Cloquet started with the ball and did grind out a first down before being stopped on two straight runs. They were then called for a holding penalty on third down to force them into a long conversion attempt. Senior Reegan Dick blew up the ‘Jacks pass play with a big sack, forcing them to punt.

It didn’t take long for the Vikings to capitalize after taking over near midfield. Senior tailback Logan Raine took the first play 37 yards down to the 13 yard line, and after a false start penalty, Raine added to his total with an 18 yard touchdown run. Raine then converted the two point play and North Branch jumped out to an 8-0 lead in the first quarter.

Cloquet then got another chance on offense and moved the ball quite well down the field, but they went for it on fourth and four from NB’s 27 yard line and the quarterback sailed a swing pass over his running backs head and turned the ball over on downs.

North Branch then went on a prolonged drive that included a great third down conversion run From quarterback Ethan Thomsen and then another fourth and five conversion where Thomsen called his own number and got the first down by inches. A few plays later, Raine hit paydirt again from three yards out to stretch NB’s lead to 16-0 after his second two point conversion.

Cloquet finally answered back soon after. They opened their next drive with a 33 yard run and 15 yard late hit penalty, bringing them all the way down to the 12 yard line. The Viking defense did force the, into a fourth and four at the five yard line, but the Cloquet running back powered his way into the endzone to cut the lead in half after the two point conversion.

But, the quick strike North Branch offense wouldn’t relent. On the second play on their next drive, Raine took a hand off from Thorsen and a great fake from the rest of the offense allowed Raine to rush up the left side of the field for nearly 60 yards. He was tracked down inside the five yard line, but North Branch scored a couple of plays later to push NBs lead back to two scores at 22-8. Logan Hammel got the touchdown for NB from just one yard out.

Cloquet then put together a quick drive to answer back that was capped off with a 48 yard reverse touchdown run to cut into the Vikings lead. Cloquet hit their two point conversion and the tally stood at 22-16 in favor of NB.

The second half became a defensive battle, but not before North Branch scored on their first drive of the stanza. Thorsen executed another perfect fake handoff up the middle, and that allowed him to sprint out to the left side untouched for an 18 yard touchdown. The two point conversion was good and NB led 30-16.

Even with the defense playing great in the second half, the offense also did their part despite not scoring more than once. They took two different drives deep into Cloquet territory that burned time and kept the Lumberjacks in tough field position. In fact, the final drive was a master class in milking the clock and allowed North Branch to just take knees to end the game in the 30-16 final.

Of the Vikings’ 365 rushing yards, Raine had 153 of them, Thorsen had 78 and Apollo Leija added 69.

Dick ended up with 10 tackles on defense and Nolan Barr had nine and senior Jacob Knoespel had six.

North Branch is now 3-0 on the year and welcomes Rock Ridge this Friday. The Wolverines are 1-2 on the year with a close loss to Duluth East, a blowout loss to Pequot Lakes and a 20-0 win over Pine City last week.

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