EVELETH- North Woods opened the new football season last week with a formidable foe in 7AAA Rock Ridge, and the Wolverines hammered the visiting Grizzlies right from the outset, scoring 22 points in the game’s first five minutes en route to an easy 42-8 win.
The Wolverines returned the opening kickoff to the North Woods 26 and needed just two plays to put the ball in the end zone, with Ian Mikulich scoring the first of his four touchdowns on a 12-yard run. The extra point kick failed, leaving the score 6-0 with only 1:07 elapsed on the clock.
The Grizzlies took over at their own 24 after the ensuing kickoff and were facing third down and one at the 33 when Rock Ridge recovered a fumble on a bobbled handoff at the 32.
Rock Ridge capitalized immediately with receiver Isaac Flatley shedding a couple of Grizzlies’ defenders on a 32-yard touchdown reception. A two-point conversion made the score 14-0 with 9:14 remaining in the first quarter.
Facing first-and-15 from their own 30 on the next possession, North Woods senior quarterback Lane Kneen tossed a swing pass to senior running back Jared Chiabotti, but the ball was stripped by a Wolverines defender and Rock Ridge recovered at the 35.
It took only four plays for the Wolverines to get on the board again with Mikulich toting it in from the 15, Ryan Manninen converted his second two-point conversion. With 7:46 still remaining in the quarter, Rock Ridge led 22-0.
Chiabotti gave the Grizzlies good field position on the ensuing kickoff, returning the ball to the North Woods 41. From there they put together their first drive of the night, with Chiabotti and junior Jonah Burnett taking handoffs and senior tight end Olin Nelson snagging a Kneen pass. North Woods moved to the Rock Ridge 34, but that’s where the Wolverines forced a third Grizzlies fumble and recovered at their own 31.
A five-yard penalty set the Wolverines back to the 26, but Mikulich took the ball around left end and outraced everyone to the end zone on a 74-yard score, his third of the quarter. The point-after failed, leaving the score 28-0.
Mikulich struck again with a big play after the Grizzlies punted to start the second quarter, sprinting 66 yards for a touchdown. A two-point conversion pass was good. Rock Ridge completed its scoring with a 70-yard sustained drive ending in a seven-yard TD run by quarterback Griffin Dosan just before halftime.
With the clock running in the second half, possessions were limited for both teams, but senior defensive back Jake Swanson came up with a turnover at the North Woods 16 after a bad snap by the Wolverines.
Chiabotti immediately ripped off a 20-yard run to get the Grizzlies out of the hole, then capped the long scoring drive by cutting across the grain and scampering 25 yards into the Wolverines’ end zone for a touchdown. Kneen passed to Burnett for the two-point conversion and the final points of the game.
“I knew we were going to struggle,” North Woods Head Coach Joel Anderson said. “I knew Rock Ridge was going to be much improved from last year – that’s bound to happen when you get programs coming together. Last year when we played them they fumbled a lot. This year they were very polished.”
Anderson noted that turnovers had proved disastrous for the Grizzlies, but still found some good signs that his team will be more competitive when they start facing teams in their own class.
“Other than being our own worst enemy, I thought we were starting to put some nice drives together,” he said. “I talked to them at halftime and said to make sure to keep their morale up because this was going to be one of the best football teams we’ll see all year. I thought we did a much better job of communicating in the second half. We were able to do a lot of the little things that we set out to do. So hopefully we can clean up our own play because that’s the part we can control.”
While the going was tough, Chiabotti racked up 120 yards on the ground on 21 carries and netted 31 yards on two pass receptions. Burnett had seven carries for 56 yards. Kneen was five-of-11 passing for 39 yards, including the two-point conversion to Burnett.
Swanson and Chiabotti led the way on defense with six tackles each.
The Grizzlies are scheduled for a Friday night game at Chisholm, and will have their first home game on Friday, Sept. 16 when they host Deer River.