News & Articles

Duluth East’s Aaron DeBeir raced around left end to start on a 50-yard touchdown run and break a scoreless start against Proctor. Photos by John Gilbert.

It was pretty much small talk, as I walked into our living room to turn on the satellite feed for the Vikings game at Green Bay. I suggested to my wife, Joan, that I had a funny feeling about that game, because it was almost too certain. My younger son, by text message, responded when I asked him what he thought the score would be, by saying “Packers by 75.” But I said the Vikings had played so poorly the week before losing 40-23 at Atlanta, that they had to have the ability to summon up a big game against their arch rivals.

Besides, I added, I don’t think the Packers are that great. My theory follows that this division is questionable, with Chicago and Detroit improving, the Vikings faltering, and the Packers having the unfair advantage of having Aaron Rodgers on their side.

So if I was predicting, I’ll accept it, but nobody could anticipate Rodgers would throw three touchdown passes to Davante Adams, but the Vikings would win the game 28-22 simply because the game plan called for handing the ball to Dalvin Cook 30 times — enough to prevent quarterback Kirk Cousins from imploding or fouling up the system — and Cook would run for four touchdowns while gaining 163 yards on the ground and speeding away for 63 yards and another touchdown with Cousins passes.

Hard to believe or not, the victory lifted the Vikings to 2-5 and knocked the Packers down to 5-2, preventing a division runaway and leaving there Bears and even the Lions with hope. Watch out this week, however, because the Vikings have to go up against Detroit, which has Matthew Stafford and the kind of team that could foul up the Vikings. Green Bay, meanwhile, has to go to San Francisco Thursday night in a battle of two battered teams, physically

If there was a weekend where it wasn’t bad to turn on the big-screen TV and watch a little football, last weekend was it. Maybe it’s because we spent so many weeks without any sports to watch, but now that we’ve got high school, college and NFL football at full speed, there was quite an array to choose from.

Now I have a new theory: Because of the short training camps in pro and college ball, the teams are not as razor-sharp, which means some mistakes are more likely, and the offenses have a chance to score large numbers of touchdowns for sensational comebacks.

East sophomore Austan Orvedahl burst away from the Rails defense for a 66-yard touchdown and a 13-0 lead.

My weekend started out when I went out to Duluth East’s Ordean field where Proctor was facing the Greyhounds in a 3 p.m. game. It was an intriguing game for a while, but then East sent its bookend game-breakers into action. That would be sophomore Austan Orvedahl and senior Aaron DeBeir, a pair of swift running backs who take the pressure off junior quarterback Dean Hudoba with their skill.

It was still scoreless when DeBeir swung around left end and took off, sprinting away from the Rails defense for a 50-yard touchdown run. Next time with the ball, it was Orvedahl’s turn, and he, too, got around left end, turned the corner and took off — 66 yards for a 13-0 Greyhounds lead. DeBeir caught a 45-yard touchdown pass form Hudoba later, and Orvedahl ran in for a short TD. East led 26-0 at the half, but the great thing about Proctor is you always can count on getting all the Rails have got.

They came back and scored the two final touchdowns in a 33-17 setback against the powerful Hounds. Hudoba connected with Jayden Mueller for a 19-yard touchdown pass before the Rails rally, which was highlighted by a 70-yard touchdown pass from Evan Checkalski to Dominic Jauhola.

My plan was to go up to Hermantown to watch the powerful Cloquet Lumberjacks invade the Hawks new artificial turf field, but as things broke, I made an alternative choice. The University of Minnesota had pumped up all its loyal backers for a big opener against Michigan, but the Gophers fell apart and lost 49-24. Somebody Gophers could do so well last year and yet get whipped so soundly by Michigan. I pointed out that last season, they built up a nice resume but nowhere on their schedule were games against either Michigan or Ohio State. Now we see how the big boys play.

So last Friday night, the Gophers were going out to Maryland, where they were overwhelming favorites against a Maryland team that got blasted 43-3 in their opener against Northwestern. Northwestern! The only way the Wildcats could beat a team that badly was if they beat ‘em up with their thesauruses first. But I suggested before that game at Maryland that it, too, was one of those set-up games where the Gophers were no guarantee, and Maryland was going home to prove they weren’t that bad.

And did they? After a crazy game of Big Ten Defense giveaway, Maryland turned loose a quarterback named Taulia Tagovailoa, from Ewa Beach, Hawaii, and he proved that all those passes he threw out of reach of his receivers against Northwestern, he could put on the money against Minnesota. He threw two touchdown passes and ran for a third for a 21-7 early lead, then, after the Gophers had taken over the game and built a 38-21 lead after three quarters, Tagovailoa led the Terrapins to two touchdowns and a 51-yard field goal in the fourth quarter, to rise to a 38-all tie.

Tagovailoa brought the Terrapins in from the 25 and scored himself for a 45-38 edge, and when the Gophers marched right back in themselves for a potentially tying touchdown, the Gophers missed the extra point — and fell 45-44.

I wasn’t so smart, though, because the game I missed was a barn-burner, with Hermantown seizing a 31-30 upset with a goal-line stop against Cloquet.

On NFL Sunday, there were other intriguing games, with Indianapolis crushing Detroit 41-21 despite Matthew Stafford’s 336 yards passing. It was 20-14 after three quarters. New Orleans rallied to knock off Chicago 26-23 in overtime, after tying the game with a field goal with 13 seconds left in regulation. Denver beat the Los Angeles Chargers 31-30 when Drew Lock threw a 1-yard touchdown pass to K.J. Hamler as the clock went to 0:00.

And my old favorite, Seattle, whipped San Francisco 37-27 as the inimitable Russell Wilson went 27-37 for four touchdowns. The Seahawks led 27-7 after three quarters, then took their foot off the gas and let the 49ers come back to make it close. Funny how some teams get to learn serious lessons but still win?

Also on Sunday morning, we got up early for a 6:10 a.m. Imola, Italy, Grand Prix, with Lewis Hamilton winning — again. He now has 92 career Formula 1 victories, passing Michael Schumacher two weeks ago, and now putting distance between his Mercedes and the field. When he won at Portugal to tie Schumacher, the former World Champion sent one of his red Ferrari race helmets to Hamilton to celebrate his success.

Proctor’s Dominic Jauhola kept the Rails in the game, with a later 70-yard touchdown pass reception.