Vikings Weekly: Vikings volleyball prepares for key matches; football rolls past South Ridge

Josh Hinke | September 20, 2026

Volleyball

The Cook County girls’ volleyball team split its matches this week, setting up a crucial end-of-season stretch before the section tournament in late October.

Last weekend, the Vikings competed in the Hilltopper Invitational in Duluth. The tournament provided a preview of two upcoming conference matchups against Fond du Lac and Silver Bay. Cook County lost to Silver Bay 2-0 and beat Fond du Lac 2-0.

The team returned to regular-season play Monday, beating Littlefork-Big Falls 3-2. Cook County jumped out to a 2-0 lead, but Littlefork-Big Falls battled back to force a fifth set.

The Vikings are 4-0 in matches that have gone to a fifth set this season.

Cook County finished the week with a 3-1 home loss to the Floodwood Polar Bears. The teams split the first two sets before Floodwood took the third 25-14. The fourth set went back and forth, but Floodwood ultimately prevailed to close out the match.

Scarlet Higgins was a strong presence at the net throughout the match with several kills, while senior Lauren Berglund put together several strong serving runs. Late in the match, Alivia Higgins suffered an ankle injury and did not return. Sophomore Aubrey Williams replaced her.

The Vikings will host Silver Bay on Monday in an important matchup as the teams compete for improved seeding in the section tournament. The match is also Volleyball for a Cure night, with a charity auction benefiting Care Partners of Cook County. The varsity match begins at 6:30 p.m.

The C-squad will play at 4 p.m., followed by junior varsity at 5:15 p.m. All matches will be played in Pam Taylor Gymnasium.

Cook County will then host McGregor on Thursday. The eighth-grade team will play at 4:30 p.m., junior varsity at 5:15 p.m. and varsity at 6:30 p.m. in Pam Taylor Gymnasium.

WTIP will broadcast Thursday’s varsity match.

Cross Country

The North Shore Storm competed in the Paul Bauer Invitational last Tuesday.

The girls’ team placed fourth overall, while the boys’ team finished fifth.

Ethan Fish posted the Storm’s top boys’ varsity time, finishing in 19:09.

For the girls, Sierra Geatz finished 10th with a time of 21:21.

William Richner finished seventh for the boys’ junior varsity team, followed by Alex Teeter in ninth and Owen Nix in 10th.

Grace Bean placed 10th for the girls’ junior varsity team.

The North Shore Storm travel to the Twin Cities this weekend to compete in the Roy Griak Invitational.

The Storm will travel to Hibbing next Thursday to compete in the Hibbing Rotary Meet.

Football

The Cook County Vikings beat the South Ridge Panthers 46-6 Friday night to improve to 2-0 on the season.

Talon Deboer scored on a 70-yard touchdown run on the first play from scrimmage. Deboer finished with three touchdowns, including a kickoff return for a touchdown in the second half.

Quarterback Graham Oberholtzer connected with MaCoy Fairbanks three times for touchdown passes.

The Vikings will host the Blackduck Drakes next Friday at 6 p.m.

WTIP will broadcast the game.