Cook County gridders fell for the first time this season, losing a hard-fought contest 39-30 to the North Woods Grizzlies in a game played at North Woods on Friday, September 22.
The last time these two teams met the Grizzlies beat the Vikings 52-14 in a lopsided contest. A much-improved Viking team was hoping to take a victory from the always-strong North Woods program and nearly did just that.
North Woods scored the lone touchdown in the first quarter on a 45-yard pass play. Grizzlies’ kicker Tate Olson, who also played quarterback, made the extra point and North Woods led 7-0.
Viking receiver Connor Somnis caught a four-yard pass from quarterback Josh Prom, and Ethan Sporn ran the two-point conversion to give the Vikings an 8-7 lead at halftime.
North Woods scored first in the third period on a 39-yard touchdown run. The two-point try was also successful to pull the Grizzlies back into the lead 15-8.
Viking quarterback Josh Prom rushed for an 8-yard TD to pull the Vikings within one point. Sporn ran in the two-point conversion to give the Vikings a one-point lead, 16-15.
North Woods countered with a 17-yard TD run and their two-point conversion was good to pull the Grizzlies back in front 23-16.
Late in the period, Prom hooked up with Sporn for an eight-yard touchdown pass. The pass for two points failed, and the score was 23-22 as the teams headed into the fourth quarter of play.
The Vikings’ second lead in the game came early in the fourth quarter when Prom snuck across the goal line from two yards out. Prom also carried the ball in for the two-point conversion and the Vikings led 30-23 in this seesaw contest.
Grizzlies running back Jake Hyppa eluded the Vikings on two long scoring runs, one from 32 yards and one from 37 yards, and both tries for two points were good to give the Grizzlies the 39-30 victory.
After the game Vikings’ head coach Mitch Dorr said, “I thought Josh Prom really had an outstanding game. He was not feeling well at all and played a really gritty game. He found a way to will us down the field at times.
“Right now, we have to get back to work and focus on blocking and tackling. We could quite possibly see North Woods again, and we will work hard to be ready for that moment.”
Andrew Miller and Dillon Sjogren led the team with 11 tackles each. Cook County finished the game with 367 yards of offense to North Woods’ 488 yards.
On a positive note, the team came away from the game relatively healthy.
“For the most part, we are injury free,” Dorr said. “We have some bumps and bruises, and a few guys still dealing with illnesses, but for the most part we are okay.”
With the loss the Vikings’ record is now 3-1. North Woods’ record is also 3-1.
Floodwood comes to Cook County on Friday, September 29. The Polar Bears are 3-0 on the season. The game will start at 7 p.m. Come out and cheer on your Vikings!
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