The North Branch Vikings will square off against the Hermantown Hawks at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. North Branch is coming into the contest hot, having won their last eight games.
North Branch stacked a sixth blowout onto their ever-increasing hoard on Saturday. They took their game at home with ease, bagging a 28-0 victory over Grand Rapids. North Branch pushed the score to 21-0 by the end of the third, a deficit Grand Rapids had little chance of recovering from.
North Branch got their win on the backs of several key players, but it was Tyler Minke out in front who rushed for 81 yards and a touchdown on only five carries. Minke was no stranger to the big play, taking off on a dash that went for 59 yards. Jacob Tiegen also deserves a shout-out for his two touchdowns.
Hermantown fell on hard times earlier this season, but after back-to-back wins it seems like their luck might finally be changing. They secured a 10-6 W over Denfeld on Saturday.
North Branch's victory was their fourth straight at home, bumping their overall record up to 8-1. That said, the team wasn't facing the toughest opposition over that stretch, as it included 1-8 Duluth East and 4-6 Mora (their opponents had an average overall winning percentage of 37.8% over those games). As for Hermantown, their win bumped their record up to 7-3.
North Branch was able to grind out a solid victory over Hermantown when the teams last played back in September, winning 28-21. Will North Branch repeat their success, or does Hermantown have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
