BERTHA- The road to Bertha for their first football game of the season was long for the North Woods Grizzlies, but the ride home was even longer after the Bertha-Hewitt Bears scored a solid 34-18 victory.
The Grizzlies were saddled with the 200-mile jaunt after several schools slated to play nine-man football this year decided not to field teams, with the subsequent need to reschedule creating the long-distance matchup.
“It looked like the first game of the year came with a long bus ride,” Grizzlies Head Coach Joel Anderson said. “They’re a good football team. I thought we played well, maybe closer than the score might have suggested.
The Bears scored first, but the Grizzlies responded with a second quarter scoring drive capped by a two-yard touchdown plunge by senior Kaden Gornick to tie the game at 6-6.
But while the Bears eventually figured out the Grizzlies defense, North Woods had trouble getting on track offensively until the fourth quarter.
“We had a couple of good drives in the first half, but kind of stymied ourselves with penalties at inopportune times,” Anderson said. “We had some open guys but we missed on a couple of things. It really looked like first game jitters.”
In the fourth quarter, senior Nick Abramson rushed the ball across the goal line from five yards out to close the gap to 27-12, and senior quarterback Louie Panichi scampered 31 yards for the Grizzlies’ final score in the 34-18 loss.
“They were fantastic tacklers,” Anderson said of the Bears. “We were one step away from breaking a lot of them, but we couldn’t quite get away. They were big, they were strong, and they were fast.”
Anderson switched up some things on offense from last season, sending former quarterback and senior Trajen Barto out to wide receiver to take better advantage of his speed and agility. Panichi stepped into the quarterback position, with senior Talen Jarshaw taking some snaps as well. Panichi went 4-of-13 passing for 42 yards and threw one interception. Barto caught two passes for 0 yards.
Known more for their running game, this group of Grizzlies appeared poised to keep up the tradition, racking up 215 yards on the ground with a solid 5.81 yards per rush. Gornick led the way with 109 yards on 14 carries, while Abramson tallied 75 yards on 18 carries.
The effectiveness of the Bears offense could be seen in the Grizzlies’ defensive stats, where Barto, a defensive back, was the team’s leading tackler with seven solo take-downs and two assists. Linebackers Gornick and Abramson had six solo tackles each. Sophomore defensive end James Yernatich was the only defensive lineman to record tackles, with two solos and two assists.
Anderson was eager to get back on the practice field to prep for Friday’s home opener against Kelliher-Northome.
“Our guys played well – they’re vastly matured,” Anderson said. “There’s a lot of promising things there, and a lot of our mistakes are correctable. We have a lot of talent. It’s my job to figure out how to use it.”