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North Branch struggled to slow down Cloquet’s big-play rushing attack Friday night, as the Vikings fell 35-8 on the road Sept. 18.

Cloquet scored twice in the opening quarter and added another touchdown in the second to take a 21-0 advantage into halftime. The Lumberjacks added two more scores in the third quarter before North Branch got on the board late in the fourth.

Despite the lopsided score, the Vikings did find some success on the ground, albeit not to the levels they’ve been used to the last half decade. Samuel Gilbert led North Branch with 83 yards on 13 carries, averaging 6.4 yards per attempt. Apollo Leija added 38 yards on six carries, while quarterback William Determan rushed nine times for 31 yards. Altogether, North Branch finished with 153 yards on 30 rushing attempts.

The Vikings' biggest problem was on defense containing Cloquet's explosive ground game.

Lumberjack Jacob Parks opened the scoring with a 15-yard touchdown run midway through the first quarter, and the Lumberjacks added an eight-yard touchdown pass from Keith Diver to Davis Snesrud later in the frame.

Connor Etter broke loose for a 52-yard touchdown in the second quarter to make it 21-0, and Cloquet continued to pile up the big plays after halftime. Parks ripped off an 87-yard touchdown run less than two minutes into the third quarter before Jack Horvat added a 35-yard scoring run later in the period.

Cloquet finished with 342 rushing yards on only 29 attempts, an average of nearly 12 yards per carry. Parks accounted for half of that damage, piling up 172 yards and two touchdowns on 13 carries.

North Branch kept battling despite the deficit and finally punched one in with 26 seconds remaining. Gilbert capped the Vikings' scoring drive with a two-yard touchdown run, and Leija followed by running in the two-point conversion to produce the final 35-8 margin.

The late touchdown capped a solid individual night for Gilbert, who accounted for more than half of North Branch's rushing yardage.

The Vikings, still licking their wounds from an unfamiliar 0-3 start, will travel north for the third straight week when they take on Rock Ridge on Friday, September 25. The Wolverines are 2-1 and have won their last two games by a combined score of 78-12 after a 36-25 opening week loss to Duluth East.

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