Tigers suffer first loss

It was homecoming in Barron Friday and the normal hoopla surrounding such an event was present, but the most interesting act was the aerial circus put on by the Barron Bears football team as it handed the Northwestern High School Tigers their first loss of the season with a 35-19 victory.

Quarterback Neil Rasmussen passed for 317 yard and five touchdowns as the Bears pulled into a tie for first in the Heart O’ North Conference with Northwestern and Cumberland with 4-1 conference marks.

The game opened with both team’s initial drives being stopped on downs.

On Northwestern’s second series, tight end Micah Olson snagged a pass from Peter Lindsay and scampered 48 yards for a touchdown. The extra point failed but the Tigers were up 6-0.

Barron answered quickly with a 12-yard TD pass from Rasmussen to Jason Balts. Michael Prine split the uprights for a 7-6 Barron lead after the first quarter.

After a Rasmussen TD pass to Lane Elliot extended Barron’s lead, the Tigers’ Mark Pooler plunged in from the 1. The Tigers kicked the extra point and the halftime score was 14-13 for the Bears.

In the third quarter Barron came out passing and that resulted in a 78-yard drive and a Rasmussen to Isaiah Frandsen 20-yard touchdown pass.

The Rasmusen to Frandsen combination connected again early in the fourth quarter, this time for a 73-yard touchdown and the Tigers were down 28-13.

Northwestern then showed great resolve and it took less than two minutes for the Tiger to answer as Pooler scored his 11th touchdown of the season, this time from 5 yards out. The two-point conversion would have made it a seven-point game, but Barron stopped Northwestern and the score was 28-19 with 10:09 to play.

Northwestern threatened, but could not score again and Barron added a 15-yard Rasmussen-to-Balts insurance score to make the final 35-19 and throw the HON title chase into a logjam.

With Barron, Northwestern and Cumberland all at 4-1, and Bloomer at 3-2, any of those four could claim a piece of the crown.

“That was a great high school football game,” NHS coach Dennis Scherz said. “I thought we played well, but give credit to Barron for a mistake free game.”

Neither team threw an interception or lost a fumble and in unofficial statistics, Northwestern had 378 yards of offense and Barron’s 379.

Tyler Gamst ran for 108 yards on seven carries for the Tigers and Nathan Sikorski added 99 yards on 21 carries. Lindsay was 5-of-11 passing for 83 yards and also ran for 39 yards.

Rasmussen ended up 22-of-34 passing for Barron with Balts and Frandsen each snagging eight passes. Balts was the leading rusher for the Bears with 50 yards on five carries.

Defensively, Luke Schultz was credited with the only Tiger sack of the game.

Northwestern hosts Chetek-Weyerhauser Friday and Barron will play Cumberland.

Northwestern 19
Barron 35

N — Micah Olson 48 pass from Peter Lindsay (kick failed)

B — Jason Balts 12 pass from Neil Rasmussen (Michael Prine kick)

B — Lane Elliott pass from Rasmussen (Prine kick)

N — Mark Pooler 1 run (kick good)

B — Isaiah Frandsen 20 pass from Rasmussen (Prine kick)

Tags: sports, football, preps, tigers, updates