If seeding means anything in section tournaments, Cloquet sure doesn’t know it.
The Lumberjacks’ Trent Moe kicked a 25-yard field goal as time expired to give No. 7-seed Cloquet a 23-20 win over No. 3-seed Proctor on Saturday, Oct. 29, at Terry Egerdahl Memorial Field in Proctor.
Cloquet wasted little time getting on the board when Kellin Lamirande found Moe for a score in the back of the end zone after a methodical opening drive.
After a Billy Ciesieski touchdown grab pulled the Rails to within a point just a minute later, both defenses out-executed the offenses, limiting the ball movement to almost zilch until midway through the third quarter.
Cloquet’s defense came up with the bigger plays, though, forcing five turnovers in the game, collecting four sacks and, until late in the fourth quarter, allowing Proctor absolutely nothing.
But the Rails showed resiliency, and after two Kaleb Kadelbach touchdown runs put the Jacks up by 14 early in the final frame, Proctor started to march on offense.
Kaz Anderson ran for a three-yard scamper to cut the lead in half. The Proctor defense held and the Rails got the ball back with plenty of time left.
Ian Scherber scored from six yards out to tie the game. With all the momentum on Proctor’s side, things looked bleak for the Jacks.
It got worse when Cloquet was pinned inside its own 10 on the ensuing kickoff.
But the Jacks had a couple big plays left in them.
On third and 12 from its own eight, Lamirande scrambled for a 46-yard run to get Cloquet out of the shadow of its own end zone.
When Proctor got the ball back, the Jacks defense forced the biggest turnover of the year, got the ball at Proctor’s 12 and kicked the game-winning field goal.
Scherber rushed for 73 yards total to lead the Rails, who finish the season with a record of 7-3.
Lamirande was the star for Cloquet, rushing for 105 yards in addition to his 23 yards through the air.
The win marks the second-straight upset for Cloquet, who knocked off Pine City on the road earlier this week.
The Lumberjacks will again be underdogs when they play Greenway/Nashwauk-Keewatin Friday night in Duluth.