Cloquet Football Makes First Section Championship Appearance Since 2018

Cloquet and North Branch will go head to head for the title, Friday at North Branch. Kick off is at 7 PM. 

CLOQUET, Minn.- Saturday the Cloquet football team defeated one seeded Grand Rapids in the Section 7AAAA semi-finals, earning a spot in the championship game for the first time since 2018.

The Lumberjacks have just three losses on the season (7-3). One of those came just three weeks ago against the Vikings of North Branch, the team they will line up against for the title. Head coach Jeff Ojanen says the key to taking it all is learning from the errors made in the last match-up.

“Take care of some mistakes we made the first time. We had the lead 14-13, with 14 seconds left to go in the first half and they ended up scoring before the half to take the lead, and then they got the ball in the second half and scored again. So, we went from being up at halftime to being down two scores a couple minutes into the third quarter,” says Ojanen, “We clean up those mistakes, I think it’ll be a good game.”

In a do or die game, the Lumberjacks are eager to show up on the big stage, with a chance to continue their season at the state tournament.

“North Branch is a tough team. It’s going to be a good test, good challenge but I think they know, as well as we do, we’re pretty evenly matched. So, it’s going to come down to who’s going to catch some breaks and execute the best,” says Ojanen.

“We believe that we are equal teams and it’s just going to come down to who shows up that night. We’re super excited, we have all the confidence and ability to win a championship,” says senior lineman Lance Konietzko.

Cloquet and North Branch will go head to head for the title, Friday at North Branch. Kick off is at 7 PM.