Colin Everson (12) gets ready to kick-off against the Ogilvie Lions on Friday, October 14. How closely matched were these teams? Put your thumb and forefinger together and squeeze as hard as you can. The space in-between was the difference in these two squads. Both teams played extremely well in cold, wet, windy conditions and left fans with memories to talk about for years to come.
High school football doesn’t get any more exciting than the game played last Friday night, October 14, in Grand Marais between the undefeated Ogilvie Lions and the once beaten Cook County Vikings.
Played in cold, wet, windy weather, fans shivered through the first half as neither team could generate much offense. The teams headed into the locker room tied at 0.
Ogilvie had the ball most of the third quarter. On their 17th play and facing third down and 20, the Vikings seemingly had the Lions stopped when they charged through into the backfield, forcing a fumble.
Ogilvie quarterback Hunter Weilinski picked up the ball and reversed his field running 19 yards before being caught. With the ball inside the 10-yard line, Ogilvie picked up the first down on fourth-and-one.
On the next play, the 19th play of the drive, halfback Colin Mitchell plowed in for a touchdown from one yard out giving Ogilvie a 6-0 lead.
With 1:53 left in the third quarter and the wind at their backs, the Vikings took over. Quarterback Mike Sjogren completed a pass to Ben Kroska for about 10 yards and then slipped by the defense for a big gain, bringing the ball to the one-yard line. Halfback Peter Warren took the ball in on the next play and Colin Everson’s extra point kick was good, sending the Vikings onto the fourth quarter up 7-6.
Mike Sjogren helps Gunner Anderson take down Ogilvie’s quarterback who was big, strong and fast and it often took more than one Viking player to bring him down. Out of all of the things the Viking players did well against unbeaten Ogilvie was fly to the ball and gang tackle. Ogilvie players were bigger but the Vikings were quicker and relentless in their pursuit on defense.
Ogilvie responded, once again turning a fumble into a score. Weilinski dropped the ball and again reversed his field of running, taking the ball 65 yards for a touchdown. The two-point conversion run failed and Ogilvie led 12-7.
Could the Vikings respond?
Sure, on the next play senior running back/ wide receiver Dylan Quaife took the kick-off 80 yards to once again give the Vikings a precarious 13-12 lead. Everson’s extra point kick was good and the Vikings led 14-12.
But Ogilvie wasn’t done. Once again the Lions ate up the clock as they moved the ball down the field. And once again, on a broken play, the Lions came up big. Weilinski went around the corner and started running down the field but was caught by Sjogren, who was taking him when Weilinski either fumbled or lateraled the ball to his teammate, Colin Mitchell, who took it to the house to give the lead back to Ogilvie. The play covered 59 yards and the two-point run was good, giving Ogilvie a 20-14 lead with less than two minutes on the clock.
It looked like all was lost. After all, how many times could the Vikings respond from seemingly stopping their opponents only to see great defense turn into scores?
Turns out the kids had more moxie than one would expect. Mike Sjogren took the kick-off back to Ogilvie’s 47-yard line. With time winding down, the Vikings marched to the 30-yard line.
Sjogren dropped back to pass on the last play of the game and Ogilvie’s defensive players stormed in around him. Somehow Sjogren slipped out of the mess and began making his way towards the goal line with more defenders in his way. But what do they say? Where there’s a will, there’s a way.
This was more willpower than anything as Sjogren slipped the ball over the end zone line as he was going down to score the game-tying touchdown.
Now it was up to Everson to kick the game winning point into the wind. But it wasn’t to be as his kick went wide left.
Overtime here we come.
Each team has four tries from the 10-yard line to score. Ogilvie was up first but Quaife intercepted Weilinski on third down. After four tries the Vikings were stopped and Ogilvie elected to have the Vikings try first on the other end of the field. The Vikings gained two yards on three plays before Sjogren once again showed off his speed and quickness, scampering 8 yards across the field on a broken play for a touchdown. Everson’s kick failed but the Vikings led 26-20.
Ogilvie played it tough right down to its fourth play, but the Vikings defense came up big and kept them out of the end zone.
Head coach Mitch Dorr said, “I thought the game really showed the character of our young men. We answered their score with a score of our own and lost the lead twice, but kept our composure throughout the game. I am so proud of how our young men embraced the moment and took on the challenge.
“Our coaches really did a great job of preparing for this game. Coach Pat Eliasen had the offensive line ready for Ogilvie’s constant pressure. Coach Bryan Carpenter had our special teams prepared (blocked punt and kickoff return for a TD). Coach Boomer had our defense recognizing everything they were running. Our coaches had our guys prepared.”
On a good note, the Vikings will get back Kale Boomer for the Chisholm game. “In what capacity exactly we are not sure. We will know more after the next couple of days of practice.”
Before spraining his knee, Boomer led the team (and conference) in tackles and was the Vikings’ starting quarterback.
Of Boomer’s replacement at quarterback, Dorr said, “Mike Sjogren played a game that he will remember for the rest of his life. His final touchdown to win the game was as exciting of a play as I have ever seen.”
On another high note, Dorr said, “Hunter Farley had his first start as a senior and I thought he played great!”
The last wind that came across the field was a great sigh of relief from the fans. The Vikings’ win gives them at least a tie for first place in the Great Polar Red conference title.
The Vikings played winless Chisholm on Wednesday, October 19 at home and won a yawner 54-6, more next week.
The first playoff game for Viking football will be Tuesday, October 25 at home at 6 p.m. versus Mesabi East. The Vikings are first in conference. Come on out and cheer on the Vikes!
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