Grizzlies fall 47-12 to Cherry

FIELD TWP – Fans of big play football games got their fill at Friday’s North Woods home football game against Cherry, but the Tigers came up with far more of them in chalking up a 47-12 win over the Grizzlies.
The Grizzlies defense turned in what was arguably the first big play of the game when, trailing 7-0, Nick Abramson sacked the Cherry quarterback for a a six-yard loss, a play that after a subsequent incompletion set up a daunting fourth-and-25 for the Tigers at the North Woods 40. But instead of punting, the Tigers flipped the big play tables on the Grizzlies with a 40-yard touchdown pass.
Despite the lapse, the Grizzlies defense largely held their own against a Cherry squad that had rolled up 64 points against Cass Lake-Bena, thwarting multiple Tigers drives and keeping the score close late into the half. North Woods had some success moving the ball on offense, but had a pair of drives fizzle out in Cherry territory.
It looked as though the Grizzles would get out of the half without any more damage after stopping another Cherry drive at the North Woods 22 with only 50 seconds left, but the Tigers defense came up with a big play on a fumble recovery just five seconds later. With a short field to work with, the Tigers made the Grizzlies pay for the mistake, with Noah Sundquist scoring on a 14-yard run with 15 seconds left. The conversion gave Cherry a 21-0 halftime lead.
The Tigers were back on the board on their first possession of the second half courtesy of a 57-yard scamper by Noah Asuma that upped the lead to 27-0.
Then it was the Grizzlies’ turn to get in on the big play parade. They marched from their own 22 to the Cherry 49, and Nick Abramson took the ball to the house from there, running 49 yards around left end for a North Woods touchdown. The Grizzlies failed to make the conversion, leaving the score at 27-6.
A Grizzlies defense that had been solid in the first half couldn’t stop the Tigers in the second, as Cherry scored on its next three possessions to put the game out of reach at 47-6. But with a running clock and time running down, North Woods had one last big play up its sleeve. Dropping back to pass at the Cherry 32 with 46 seconds remaining, Talen Jarshaw heaved a pass to the end zone that was caught by Trajan Barto for a touchdown. The point after was no good, accounting for the final score of 47-12.
Abramson anchored the Grizzlies ground game, picking up 90 yards on 19 attempts with one touchdown. Jarshaw ran the ball 15 times for 46 yards.
Louie Panichi completed the only pass he threw for six yards before going out with an injury in the first half. Jarshaw stepped in and had a good night tossing the ball, hitting on five of ten attempts for 89 yards, one touchdown, and one interception. Barto pulled in four catches for 79 yards and a touchdown, while Abramson and Aidan Hartway each had one reception.
Defensively, the Grizzlies were paced by Carson Johnson with four solo tackles and six assists and Rogelio Noyes with four solos and five assists.
“I thought we played a really nice first half,” Head Coach Joel Anderson said. “We settled down and played really good defense for the first half. We had what I thought was a pretty good scheme going in against these guys. That fumble at the end of the first half was kind of the straw that felt like it broke us a little bit defensively. Credit to Cherry, they’re fast, they’re physical, they are tough to bring down. In the second half we just gave them too many extra chances.”
Anderson saw some bright spots on offense, although having to shuffle players around took away some of the timing and plays that were important to the Grizzlies attack, he said.
“If you don’t have the timing down you don’t really get to fool anybody,” Anderson said.
It was a kind of breakout game for senior wide receiver Barto, who was shifted from playing quarterback to make better use of his speed and agility.
“We’ve been kind of waiting for that from him the whole season,” Anderson said. “Trajan dealt with an ankle injury early on and it kind of hampered him a bit. He played a very nice game on Friday – he made big plays, took it out of their hands once, came up with the touchdown there at the end of the game. That’s kind of what we had in mind with Trajan.”
The 2-4 Grizzlies will hit the road on Thursday, not Friday, to take on 1-5 Bigfork. Their final regular season game will also be on the road on Wednesday, Oct. 16 at Cook County.