FIELD TWP - After falling behind 12-6 in the first quarter, North Woods overpowered the Huskies in the Section 7 Nine-Man semifinals here on Saturday, chewing up 505 yards on the ground en route to eight touchdowns and a 58-26 victory.

The win was the 10th straight for the undefeated Grizzlies, who will advance to face Kelliher-Northome for the section championship at 3:45 p.m. today at Esko after the Mustangs defeated Ely 26-6 in Saturday’s other semifinal. Results of the section championship game will be posted on the Timberjay’s website at www.timberjay.com.

Senior running back Travis Hooper propelled the North Woods offense, scoring six touchdowns and amassing 288 yards, including a 52-yard kickoff return in the third quarter.

Teammate Justin Nelson added two touchdowns, picking up 177 yards on 17 carries, while quarterback Cole Martin also scored, rushing for 70 yards on six carries.

“We knew that Bigfork was a good team; they were 7-2 for a reason,” said Grizzlies Head Coach John Jirik. “We knew they were going to score, but we wanted to keep them under 30 to have a chance to win.”

Both teams scored on their opening drives with the Grizzlies on the scoreboard first after Hooper scrambled 35 yards for the TD. Bigfork answered with a drive that culminated in a nine-yard TD run by Patrick Kobal.

The Huskies pulled ahead after recovering an onside kick and driving to the end zone a few plays later with a 31-yard TD run by Josh Lovdahl. But North Woods evened the score and took the lead for good after Hooper rushed for 24 yards and 85 yards to add two more touchdowns for the Grizzlies in the first quarter.

“”That was the turning point when we scored right away after trailing 12-6 ,” said Jirik. “A lot of bad things were happening before that and scoring right away turned things around.”

Jirik said his team struggled defensively in the first quarter. “We had some injuries and had some different players in other positions. We made some on-field personnel adjustments and our defense improved.”

The second quarter was all North Woods, with Hooper scoring two more TDs for the Grizzlies on 26- and seven-yard runs. Martin put the Grizzlies on top 40-12 at the half after breaking free for a 26-yard TD run. North Woods’ score at the half included two successful runs for extra points by Martin and Nelson, respectively.

The third quarter opened with more of the same with Nelson finding a hole in Bigfork’s defense and galloping 67 yards for the touchdown.

The Huskies got their third score of the afternoon on a 13-yard run by Lovdahl, but gave up another TD when they attempted another onside kick. This time the ball bounced into the arms of Hooper, who skirted the Huskies’ defense and raced to the end zone for his sixth score of the afternoon.

Nelson broke free on another big run to take the ball to the one-yard line and got his second TD after bursting through Bigfork’s defense for the score.

With the Huskies trailing 58-18, the game entered running time in the fourth quarter. Bigfork scored once more in the fourth quarter on a two-yard run by Lovdahl and was successful on the attempt for conversion points for the final score of 58-26.

The Grizzlies stuck to a running game and didn’t make any pass attempts. “The wind on Saturday was so vicious we were forced to stick to our running game,” said Jirik, who noted that the Huskies attempted a few pass plays but struggled as well when the wind resulted in several overthrown passes.

North Woods’ defensive leaders included Garrett Snidarich, who was credited with 15 tackles including two solo tackles, and Dan Holman, who had 13 tackles including four solo tackles. Teammate Garrett Abramson recorded nine tackles.

The Grizzlies never played Kelliher-Northome during the regular season, but players and coaches attended Saturday’s game at Ely and had a chance to scout their opposition.

“They’re big, strong, fast and experienced,” said Jirik of the Mustangs, who returned most of their players this season. “They were the preseason favorites, so we’ve got to play our best to beat them.”