Grizzlies notch season’s first W at Littlefork

LITTLEFORK- Big plays on offense and defense catapulted the North Woods football team to their first win of the season on Friday, using a last-minute defensive stand to hold off the Littlefork-Big Falls Vikings at Littlefork.
The Grizzlies set the tone early, separating a Vikings ball carrier from the ball on the third play of the game, with James Yernatich recovering for North Woods at their own 38-yard line.
Quarterback Louie Panichi then led the Grizzlies on an eight-play scoring drive, picking up a big chunk of change with a 25-yard pass to Yernatich at the L-BF 23. Panichi ran it up the middle down to the three, and scored on a 1-yard sneak. Nick Abramson ran in the conversion for an 8-0 lead.
North Woods got on the board again at the start of the second quarter. On second-and-six at their own 36, Talen Jarshaw lined up at receiver, then came back through the backfield to take a handoff from Panichi. Jarshaw raced around the left end, avoided a pair of tacklers, and toted the ball 64 yards to the house. Panichi scored the conversion to put North Woods ahead 16-0.
The Vikings, relying completely on their running game, took over at their own 48 after a short kick and return, and took just six plays to get into the end zone. A two-yard plunge for the score and the two-point conversion made the score 16-8.
The Vikings were right back out on the field after they picked off a Panichi pass, setting up shop at the North Woods 47. L-BF got several big gainers, including a 14-yard touchdown sweep, and the PAT was good to tie it a 16-16.
After exchanging fumbles, it looked as though the Grizzlies had struck again when Abramson took the ball up the middle, shed several tacklers and dashed 62 yards for a score, but the touchdown was nullified by a North Woods holding penalty. The half ended with the score still tied.
The Grizzlies’ defense handed the offense a golden opportunity early in the third quarter when they forced a punt by L-BF deep in their own territory that was shanked and went out of bounds at the Vikings 25, but North Woods gave the ball back two plays later on a fumble.
The Vikings were on the move again late in the quarter, moving from the North Woods 47 to a first-and-goal at the nine. On third down from the three, L-BF lost three yards, and a subsequent false start penalty put the ball back on the 12. The Grizzlies squashed a fourth-down quarterback sneak to turn back the scoring threat.
From there, the Grizzlies embarked on a masterful ten-play drive that culminated in another sweep and score by Jarshaw, this time from 34 yards out, and Panichi’s conversion bumped the lead to 24-16.
Aided by a holding call against L-BF, the Grizzlies shut down the next Vikings drive, but they would have to step up one more time to preserve the win. Starting from their own 35, the Vikings ground out yards on the ground as they mounted a ten-play drive to the Grizzlies 15, where they had third-and-one for a first down. Panichi broke through the line and blew up a handoff in the backfield, forcing a rolling fumble that L-BF recovered on the 28. With time running down, the Vikings attempted a rare pass with a back circling out of the backfield. John Warren picked up the receiver and had him covered at the goal line when Aidan Hartway zoomed in from his safety position to bat the pass away and preserve the win.
With his two big scoring runs, Jarshaw led the Grizzlies in rushing with 97 yards on four carries. Panichi toted the ball 15 times for 70 yards, a touchdown and two PATs. Abramson, who’s been the workhorse of the backfield this season, carried the ball 12 times for 45 yards and a PAT.
Panichi had his best game throwing the ball, going eight-of-10 for 68 yards and one interception. Jarshaw was his favorite target with five receptions for 35 yards. Panichi’s other completions were to Warren, Yernatich, and Abramson.
Panichi and Carson Johnson led the defensive charge with four tackles and three assists each. Johnson also forced two fumbles.
Head Coach Joel Anderson was pleased with his team’s efforts on both sides of the ball, noting that they made multiple adjustments based on the Vikings’ packed in run-oriented offensive set.
“It can be somewhat of a challenge against them in the sense that you’ve got 17 or 18 guys in the box – there are just humans everywhere,” Anderson said. “Our message to the guys all week is that if it’s working or if it’s not working, this is what they’re going to do and we have to be in our spots and make sure we’re attacking. On offense, we had some extra receivers in there. They’re good at being packed in tight, they practice against it every day, so we tried to pull some of those guys out of there and have to adjust, and it worked out well for us.”
Jarshaw’s two long touchdown runs were designed to take advantage of his speed and agility in open space, Anderson said.
“He made a nice play at the end of the Mt. Iron game that really started to set up a lot of stuff that we were looking to do in terms of getting him out in space, to let him make a move and be the athlete he is,” Anderson said. “It was nice to see Talen be able to make a move and make a cut and just keep going.”
Anderson also praised his punting unit, with Panichi kicking, for flipping the field on the Vikings to make it more challenging for their offense. And the game-ending defensive stand was huge, he said.
“It was a nice, nice thing to see that we made a defensive stop there at the end of the game to preserve the lead and be able to go out to victory formation after that,” he said.
“It was a fun game to be a part of,” Anderson said. “Our guys were very much prepared, we lined up well, defensively we made our reads and played our positions well, and offensively we gave ourselves the opportunity to move the football. We’ve just got to keep moving forward now after that.”
Next up on the schedule for the Grizzlies was a Friday afternoon homecoming tilt against 0-4 Cass Lake-Bena. While the Panthers are winless, they’ve played a powerhouse schedule, and Anderson knows that playing against tough competition can often work to a team’s advantage against more evenly matched foes.
“We’re going to put in a hard week of practice here and come in prepared on Friday,” Anderson said. “We can’t overlook anybody.”
Game time was scheduled for 3:30 p.m.