Junior Heavy Cloquet Football Squad Set to Get First Taste of Varsity

Cloquet will hit the field for their first game on August 30th when they host Two Harbors.

CLOQUET, Minn.- The Cloquet football team’s 2023 season was filled with some ups and some downs.

It featured a three-game winning streak followed up by a four-game losing skid as the Lumberjacks ended the year at 3 and 6.

Even more of a challenge was the team had just one home game due to MCCU Stadium dealing with construction for a chunk of the fall.

But this year, things are back to normal for Cloquet. A full home schedule to look forward to and a hungry group of fresh talent ready to step up into bigger roles.

“I feel like we have some juniors who are ready to play some football for us at the varsity level. So we’re really excited about getting them involved and seeing where they stand. Seniors are really solid, I think we have a really good core group of skill guys as good as anybody in the area. It’s going come down to like always our line play,” said head coach Jeff Ojanen.

One of the seniors Ojanen is set to rely on is offensive lineman Riley Hillman, who says he’s doing his best to get those juniors who may have not seen varsity time yet, up to speed.

“I think just motivating during reps and during practice, keeping them energized and up. I don’t want them to get worried about their job being too hard. I just want to keep them happy and excited to play football,” said Hillman.

Hillman and his teammates will hit the field for their first game on August 30th when they host Two Harbors.