The CCHS Vikings’ football team and coaches do something unique, they all stand while the national anthem is being sung or played. Following the loss to Silver Bay, the boys traveled to play Northeast Range on Wednesday, October 19 and fell 52-40. The 3-5 Vikings travel to Mountain Iron-Buhlon Tuesday, October 25 to play the 5-3 Rangers in the first round of the Section 7A Nine-Man playoffs.
An injury-riddled Cook County High School football team made the short jaunt down to Silver Bay last Friday to take on their nearest rivals, the Silver Bay Mariners and lost a hard fought game.
The Vikings scored first on a touchdown run by senior running back Sam O’Phelan but failed to convert the two-point extra point attempt. After one quarter, the Vikings were up 6-0.
During the second quarter, Silver Bay managed to rack up significant gains on the ground and scored a touchdown. They converted their two-point conversion to lead 8-6 at halftime.
Meanwhile, the Vikings were having trouble holding onto the ball. “We lost three fumbles and muffed a punt which resulted in four turnovers,” said head coach Mitch Dorr.
Silver Bay scored two touchdowns in the third quarter and added a TD in the fourth to take the game 30-6.
Sam O’Phelan led the Vikings with 27 carries, gaining 190 yards on the ground.
On defense, Dillon Sjogren had a team-high 13 tackles. Jack Haussner finished with 10 tackles and one interception; Miller had 10 tackles; and Mikey Burton finished with eight tackles, two for losses.
Silver Bay rushed 43 times for 315 yards. Silver Bay gained a total of 375 yards to Cook County’s 268.
Andrew Miller started at quarterback in place of Josh Prom, who is out for the year with an injury to his hand. Over the course of three quarters, Miller took a lot of hard hits, and he had to leave the game. He was replaced by senior running back Sam O’Phelan. Despite never having played the position, O’Phelan performed admirably, moving the ball down the field on hard runs and the Vikings nearly scored a touchdown late in the fourth quarter.
The Vikings played an away game at Babbitt on Wednesday, October 19, against the 2-5 Northeast Range Knights. The Vikings have averaged 16.3 points per game over the season while the Knights have averaged 23.7 points. It was the team’s final game before the Section 7A playoffs.
Cook County sports a record of three wins, four losses and currently sits in 11th place in the North Polar League Conference. Ely, Cromwell, Nevis and Northwoods are all still unbeaten in conference play.
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