Quote Me, Howie: Legendary Hawks FB coach Mike Zagelmeyer

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Hermantown football coach Mike Zagelmeyer on the Hawks' 72-0, season-opening home win against Proctor on Friday night: "I thought both coaching staffs did the best they could under the circumstances. Obviously, Proctor is in a bit of a rebuild and all pitfalls that go along with that, but we needed to make sure that we played crisp and fast. I am happy for our seniors that they got to retain The Hammer and the fact we were able to get all of our players a lot of valuable playing time under the bright lights of Friday night. The experience for the young guys will only help us moving forward.

There were a lot of players that contributed. Our lineman controlled the trenches on both sides of the ball, which enabled us to have nine different players who scored touchdowns.

Next week we play Cloquet which is always another great rivalry game. They are well-coached and their players will be a little salty after losing Week 1 to Two Harbors. They also probably feel they have a bit of a score to settle after we beat them last year. I know our players are already looking forward to the challenge.

We need to have a great week of practice. After watching film there still are some technique things that we still need to work on coming out of the Proctor game.  The football season is unique because you only play eight regular season games so each week feels like a season in and of itself. Our coaching staff will do its best to remind our players to focus on each individual week to reach the lofty goals they have set for themselves."

Northeast Red Week 1 Results

All Non-Conference Games

Hermantown 72, Proctor 0

Two Harbors 37, Cloquet 14

Duluth Denfeld 70, Mora 42

Grand Rapids 28, Pine City 0

Duluth East 24, Esko 14

Pequot Lakes 28, North Branch 20

Rock Ridge 55, Hibbing 0

Next Friday's Northeast Red Games

Cloquet (0-1) at Hermantown (1-0) – Prediction: Hermantown wins by 20

Hibbing (0-1) at Duluth East (1-0) – Prediction: Duluth East wins by 30

Rock Ridge (1-0) at North Branch (0-1) – Prediction: Rock Ridge wins in a nail-biter

Duluth Denfeld (1-0) at Grand Rapids (1-0) – Grand Rapids wins at home by single digits with a strong second-half push against a porous Hunters' defense.