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Grizzlies bow out in Littlefork slugfest

David Colburn
Posted 10/24/24

LITTLEFORK- If ever the North Woods Grizzlies had it too good in Tuesday’s 42-38 sectional playoff loss to Littlefork-Big Falls, it might have been on their next to last possession of the game. …

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Grizzlies bow out in Littlefork slugfest

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LITTLEFORK- If ever the North Woods Grizzlies had it too good in Tuesday’s 42-38 sectional playoff loss to Littlefork-Big Falls, it might have been on their next to last possession of the game.
After the Vikings scored to go up 34-30 with 5:52 left in the game, the Grizzlies’ Aidan Hartway made a scintillating return of the kickoff to the L-BF 35, and a Vikings personal foul at the end of the play gave North Woods the ball at the Vikings 20. Two minutes and 20 seconds and five quick plays later, North Woods went back on top when Nick Abramson plunged into the end zone from the one-yard line. Kaden Gornick’s two-point conversion gave the Grizzlies the lead once again, 38-34.
But as the Grizzlies’ fans celebrated the team’s quick comeback and second lead of the night, the Vikings with their potent misdirection ground game still had 3:27 on the clock. Enough time, as it turned out, for a game-winning 53-yard drive.
Starting from their own 47-yard line, a short run and two big sweeps took the Vikings to the North Woods 29. Then running back Anthony Boorman found a crease in the middle of the line and outraced Grizzlies defenders for the go-ahead touchdown with 1:11 remaining. The two-point conversion made the score 42-38.
North Woods had one final shot to pull the game out, and with the aid of a pair of L-BF penalties quickly moved from their own 35 to the Vikings 33 with 55 seconds remaining. A holding call on the Grizzlies moved the ball back to the 41, and dreams of one final comeback were dashed when quarterback Talen Jarshaw dropped back to pass and L-BF rushers knocked the ball loose and covered the fumble. The Vikings ran out the clock for the win.
The finale took the shine off what was the Grizzlies’ gutsiest performance of the season, taking blow after blow from the Vikings and punching back in kind.
After the Vikings opened the game with a 55-yard scoring drive, North Woods responded with the equalizer, a 57-yard bomb from Jarshaw to Trajan Barto for the touchdown. In a theme that would repeat itself too often, the two-point conversion try failed, leaving the score knotted at 6-6.
Trailing 14-6 going into the second quarter, Abramson and Gornick took turns running the ball from the Grizzlies 45 to the L-BF 14, and Gornick swept around the left end for the score. Again, the conversion attempt was no good, leaving North Woods trailing 14-12.
The Vikings made it three in a row with a touchdown on their next possession, a ten-play drive with two fourth-down conversions capped by an 18-yard Boorman touchdown and a successful conversion for a 22-12 lead.
North Woods needed only 55 seconds to respond after recovering an onside kick at the 50-yard line. On third-and-four from the L-BF 44, Jarshaw found daylight and took the ball to the house for the score. And for a third time, the conversion attempt was no good, leaving the score at 22-18.
The Vikings struck back on the ensuing kickoff, with kick returner A.J. Knaeble running through multiple North Woods tacklers for an 80-yard touchdown return and a 28-18 lead.
After the half, the Grizzlies seized the momentum. Covering the opening kick at their own 43, North Woods engineered an eight-play scoring drive with Gornick bulling in for the score from the nine-yard line, but for a fourth time the Grizzlies failed on the conversion, making the score 28-24.
Then the North Woods defense stepped up, with Louie Panichi leading a wave of Grizzlies tacklers to snuff out a L-BF drive on a fourth-and-one at the North Woods 42. Two plays later, Gornick raced around the left end and gave the Grizzlies their first lead of the night with a 57-yard touchdown. Another failed conversion left the score at 30-28.
The Vikings were threatening again as the end of the third quarter approached, but the North Woods defense held again, with a fourth-down pass from the Grizzlies’ 20-yard line falling incomplete.
Grizzlies Head Coach Joel Anderson acknowledged after the game that the team’s inability to punch in conversion attempts was the difference maker.
“Offensively, we played well,” Anderson said. “It came down to two-point conversions- they got two more than we did. But we played well – at times there, we were really rolling with it. We ended up getting a turnover at the end, and unfortunately, that was the end of the game.”
Anderson said that reading L-BF’s misdirection on offense was a challenge in getting stops in the first half.
“Part of their deception is that they want you to look and chase the wrong guy,” Anderson said. “You see it on film when the film guy is filming the wrong person a lot. At halftime, we made adjustments. We moved some people around a little bit, tightened our ends up, and it worked out well for us there in the second half.”
In the end, the Grizzlies just didn’t do enough to get the win, Anderson said.
“We’ve got to limit our own mistakes, penalties and everything else along the way,” he said. “We shot ourselves in the foot more than they stopped us. It’s something that we’ve been working on all year and we just weren’t able to clean it up enough here tonight.”
Game statistics were not available by press time. The Grizzlies finished the season with a record of 3-6.
Cook County
The Grizzlies went on the road to Cook County for their final regular season game on Wednesday, Oct. 16, and despite big offensive performances by Abramson, Gornick and Jarshaw, came home with a 26-14 loss.
Gornick carried the ball 19 times for 111 yards, and Gornick rushed for 90 yards on 19 carries with a two-point conversion. Jarshaw scored the team’s two touchdowns, gaining 84 yards on 16 carries. Jarshaw also had a good game through the air, connecting on five of ten passes for 70 yards and one interception. Barto was his favorite target, pulling in four receptions for 43 yards, and James Yernatich had one reception for 27 yards.