Lumberjacks Ready to Head Back to State Title Game

Cloquet lost 21 seniors, but are confident in this year's squad.

CLOQUET, Minn. – U.S. Bank Stadium is home to the Minnesota High School Football Championships and it’s a place Cloquet wants to return to following their deep run last season.

The Lumberjacks suffered their only loss of the season in the title game, making this year’s squad even more hungry for a return to the Twin Cities. The current seniors learned a lot on that run and plan to use that experience in 2018.

“Most of the players were seniors last year, so the juniors got a lot of time together to play together and build some more team chemistry. And I think overall, it brought us closer and we know what to do more with each other,” quarterback Riley Leslie said.

“They taught us a lot so I think mentally and physically, the seniors this year are prepared and the high level of the state tournament and the teams that we played, those teams readied us for this year also,” said center Noah Niemi.

This is week two of practice for Cloquet, which will be a huge difference from the previous week in many different ways.

“The intensity level is higher because you get to go full pads and you’re going live segments during practice, whereas in the first week it’s lots of walkthroughs and lots of drills with the dummies. Any time you’re going body-on-body, it’s a little harder,” head coach Tom Lenarz said.

Cloquet will open their season on the road next Thursday against Esko.