The Northland Pines varsity football team came off a win against Antigo in week one and went into the home opener last week against Ashland with some confidence. In a back-and-forth affair, the Eagles dropped their first game of the year after Ashland pushed through with a late score to win 26-23.
With a combined 40 points already this year, Eagles Head Coach Justin Nimsgern is happy with how the offense is flowing and knows that some of the miscues are correctable.
“I have been happy with how efficiently the offense has been operating. Coach Weinand has been very methodical with calling plays for the offense this year,” said Nimsgern. “Outside of the mental mistakes and penalties, the offense has executed at a high level so far.”
Things got going in the Hall of Fame game as the visitors from Ashland marched down the field on the opening possession to take a 7-0 lead and took about six minutes off the clock early on. Northland Pines moved the ball on the first few possessions, but couldn’t find the end zone in the opening quarter and still trailed by a touchdown.
Pines responded with a 10-yard touchdown pass by senior Will Dickman to tie things at 7-7 with about seven minutes left in the first half.
In the following possession, it looked like the Eagles would make a defensive stop on a short pass play by Ashland, but a few missed tackles led to a big catch-and-run touchdown to make it 13-7 late in the half. The Eagles responded loudly to end the half. With seconds left before the halftime break, Dickman threw his second touchdown of the night on a screen play to running back Conrad Droby. He raced down the near sideline for a 55-yard touchdown to take a 14-13 lead at halftime.
Pines got the ball to start the second half with the lead and extended the lead to 17-13 with about six minutes left in the third after senior Tyler Vojta nailed a 43-yarder.
“Tyler has been very impressive in practice, and I was excited for him to hit a 43-yard field goal. He is a great asset to the team this year,” Nimsgern stated.
That 17-13 lead went into the fourth quarter before Ashland scored again. Deep in Pines’ territory, Ashland converted a long fourth-down pass play into the end zone for the 19-17 lead. The Eagles did stop a two-point conversion attempt.
On the next Pines possession, Dickman threw his third passing touchdown to continue the back-and-forth affair, as the Eagles took a 23-19 lead with less than six minutes to go.
Pines’ defense had a few lapses that assisted Ashland in marching down the field to score what was the eventual game-winning touchdown. The Eagles jumped offsides on one penalty and then had a 15-yard penalty for a facemask tackle.
Coach Nimsgern said the defense has been aggressive so far this season, but the unit needs to clean up some small mistakes that kill drives.
“Defense has been very aggressive, but we have lacked discipline in crucial moments to get off the field. I believe it’s all correctable, and we will need to spend more time during practice this week,” mentioned Nimsgern.
The Eagles had a short week of practice this week, as they welcome a tough Coleman team to Eagle River this Thursday, Sept. 3, for a 7 p.m. kickoff.
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