by Ellen Shuster

September 12- Tonight the Grizzlies football team beat the Kelliher-Northome Mustangs 26-12. Rain before the game added drama for the fans as players were tackled with spectacular splashes and the fog rolled in for a beautiful backdrop to the action.

The game began with early excitement as a short kickoff was fumbled and recovered by the Grizzlies who then drove about 70 yards for a touchdown. A failed conversion set the score at 6-0.

Getting possession, Kelliher-Northome was stopped on their third down with a sack and chose to punt. Two 10-yard sacks against the Grizzlies forced them to do the same. Possession went back and forth with the next significant play happening when the Grizzlies punted deep into Mustang territory. This set them up to score a safety, bringing the score to 8-0. The very next possession saw the Grizzlies score a touchdown to go ahead 14-0.

The Mustangs got their first first down and used the momentum to quickly get a touchdown, bringing it to 14-6. The Grizzlies answered with a drive of their own scoring a touchdown with 4 seconds left in the half, making it 20-6.

Mustangs scored in the opening drive of the second half to bring the score to 20-12. A 41-yard pass thrown by Cedar Holman to John Warren was the answer given and the Grizzlies brought the game to its final score of 26-12. Both sides struggled to gain ground for a while and a bad injury on the Mustangs team halted the game till he could be safely removed from the field. Both teams made one final push as an intercepted touchdown pass stopped the Grizzlies from scoring and a fumble at the North Woods’ 40 ended the Mustangs’ drive and saw the clock run out.