CHISHOLM- The North Woods football season came to an end on Tuesday at Chisholm, with the Bluestreaks coming out on top 22-6.
The Grizzlies could ill-afford to let Chisholm get its passing game on track, but after a scoreless first quarter that’s just what the Bluestreaks did. Almost all of a second quarter 77-yard scoring drive came through the air, including a 34-yard touchdown and two-point conversion at the 7:30 mark. North Woods failed to score as Chisholm took an 8-0 lead into halftime.
The Grizzlies came out roaring in the third quarter. Head Coach Joel Anderson switched tactics and sent his runners straight through the middle of the Chisholm line, starting with an electrifying 27-yard burst from Olin Nelson. Nelson was the primary workhorse in the Grizzlies’ eight-play, 62-yard scoring drive with five carries, including a five-yard touchdown plunge. The Grizzlies failed on the two-point conversion attempt, but were right in the thick of things, trailing just 8-6 with eight minutes left in the quarter.
The momentum carried over to the North Woods defense, with Tommy Debeltz recovering a Chisholm fumble on the next series at the North Woods 44.
But the offense sputtered, failing to pick up a first down, and North Woods never found the end zone again.
Chisholm responded with a nine-play drive that ended with a touchdown on first play of the fourth quarter, and the conversion boosted the lead to 16-6.
The Grizzlies burned a lot of clock but gained only 21 yards on their next possession and gave the ball back to Chisholm after failing to convert on fourth-and-14 at their own 41 yard line, with just 6:31 remaining.
The Bluestreaks cashed in again at the 2:48 mark with a short three-yard touchdown sweep to put the game out of reach at 22-6. North Woods picked up a meaningless first down as time ran out.
“I thought our guys battled well. We made things difficult for them all night long,” Anderson said. “When we were driving, we just shot ourselves in the foot here and there. We just had to be able to sustain things a little bit longer and we just weren’t able to do that today. It’s kind of been the story of our season.”
The Grizzlies were hobbled throughout the season with injuries, Anderson said.
“We’ve had a lot of ticky-tack injuries,” he said. “We’re a little thin in places and it seems like the injuries happened where we were thin. We’ll go back to the drawing board and hopefully have a good offseason and go from there.”
Nelson led the Grizzlies in rushing with 89 yards on 17 carries and a touchdown. Tommy Debeltz led the defensive charge with eight tackles, two forced fumbles, and a fumble recovery.
North Woods wrapped up the season at 2-6.