by Ellen Shuster

September 18 – It was a disappointing night for the Grizzlies as they lost to Littlefork-Big Falls 8-26, with 220 total yards and scoring just one touchdown. Fumbles were a huge issue on the Grizzlies team and Coach Anderson commented, “We work hard and preach ball security. In [this] game, we had some issues with ball security, as we fumbled way too many times. We will go back to the basics in practice this week and make sure that our guys hold on to the ball.”

The game began with the Grizzlies’ opening kick being picked up at the 50-yard line to give the Vikings a good starting position. On the fourth down, they broke through the middle to run in for a touchdown putting the Grizzlies in an early hole.

After a few changes in possession, North Woods received a punt at their 20. On the first down, North Woods fumbled but recovered. Their next fumble wasn’t so fortunate and the Vikings got the ball at the Grizzlies’ 28-yard line. A throw to the end zone was intercepted by the Grizzlies who ran to their 30 tackled by the last Viking left between them and the end zone. A few more possession changes saw the Grizzlies on the Vikings’ 20 with less than a minute left in the half. On fourth down, they failed to cross the chains and with 33 seconds left, the Vikings got the ball and scored a touchdown going up 0-12. Another fumble gave the Vikings 16 seconds to go 20 yards to try for another touchdown which they got, leaving the field at halftime up 0-18.

With such a difficult end to the half, Coach Anderson wanted his guys to understand that they were only in control of their own selves. “Potential is only good on paper,” Anderson said. “We need to put it into practice.”

The Grizzlies received the kickoff to start the second half and a 41-yard throw put the ball within 5 yards of the end zone. They scored not only a touchdown, but the 2-point conversion to bring the score to 8-18. The fight was even for a while, but yet another fumble gave the Vikings the possession that led to a touchdown with their first successful conversion for a score of 8-26. With a few seconds remaining, the Grizzlies went for a long pass which was intercepted by the Vikings and the game was over.

“Overall our guys played hard and the first drive of the second half was one of the few that wasn’t limited due to our own mistakes.” Anderson commented, “Overall we played very well, minus the mistakes, and if we are able to control our own self we will hopefully be able to bounce back.”