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We’re watching the best individual football player in northeastern Minnesota since the late Terry Egerdahl of Proctor, my close buddy, and the comparisons in terms of talent and personality are frighteningly similar.
Hermantown junior running back Martin Sleen turned Cloquet’s soggy carpet field into his personal highlight reel Friday night, delivering one of the most dominant rushing performances this state has seen in years.
He lugged the ball 20 times for 369 yards and six touchdowns in a 41-21 Northeast Red victory that never really felt in doubt. That’s 18.5 yards a tote, if you score at home, and one of those jaunts went for 70. The Hawks piled up 440 rushing yards on just 29 carries, which is the stat line that makes defensive coordinators think about early retirement.
“I’m quickly running out of adjectives for Martin,” Hermantown coach Mike Zagelmeyer said. “I hope people get a chance to watch him in person because you will not see someone of his ability play high school football very often.
“He is absolutely a multi-generational player. And when you combine that with a humble personality that always has a smile on his face and understands the big picture in life… he is way beyond his years in maturity as a human. How can you not root for someone like him?”
The numbers already border on the absurd. Friday’s eruption shoved Sleen to 952 rushing yards through four games, tying him for the state lead. He’s scored 15 touchdowns, averages more than 11 yards per carry, and walks around like none of it belongs to him, which is precisely why he’s become the poster child for what Zagelmeyer calls “the big picture in life.”
The Hawks were up 21-7 at halftime, added 13 in the third, and spent the fourth quarter watching Cloquet scratch in a couple of window-dressing scores. Hermantown finished with 482 yards on 36 plays, averaging more than 13 yards every time they snapped the ball. Quarterback Sawyer Senst tossed it nine times, completed six, and didn’t hand it over once.
“As far as Friday night goes, always happy to get a win in Cloquet,” Zagelmeyer said. “It was a wet, windy, dreary night… on the road against an 0-3 team. We will definitely take the win.”
“But with that being said,” he continued, “we believe that Cloquet has been the most improved team we have seen since week one. Having former Head Coach Lenarz back working with that Cloquet offensive line has made a difference for them.”
Cloquet’s stats weren’t terrible — 364 total yards, 17 first downs — and Jack Horvat had himself a couple of nice gallops, including a 64-yard score on his way to 122 yards and two touchdowns. Aiden Nelson chipped in 102 yards, and Adeolu Banjo punched in one late. But the Jacks went just 3-for-11 on third down, and Hermantown’s defense bagged two sacks while staying disciplined (two penalties, 23 yards).
“However,” Zagelmeyer said, “when a football team doesn’t tackle well or finds themselves out of position and not in their gap, it tends to make opponents look unstoppable at times. And we were pretty disappointed as a staff in our tackling and run defense.”
The Hawks (4-0, 3-0 Northeast Red) have been walking downhill to this point, but now comes the part where the sled ride gets tricky. They draw Grand Rapids (3-1, 3-0) at home Friday night, the most challenging test yet in a matchup of unbeatens in league play.
“We are going to face our toughest opponent to date in Grand Rapids this week and we need to be much better going into Friday night,” Zagelmeyer said. “We had the opportunity to throw cold water on their homecoming last year and I’m sure they want to do the same to us this year. They have the team to do it.”
“So we really need to address our concerns, make corrections with our team and have a great week of practice,” he added. “We really need to have some players step up for us this week, as I am certain Grand Rapids will focus on trying to stop Martin. We need to see it from someone offensively but more importantly, defensively we need to keep improving each week. I thought we stubbed our toe a little bit on Friday.”
Translation: Sleen can’t do this forever alone, even if he looks like Egerdahl reincarnated with fresher legs. The Hawks will need more than their one-man highlight machine to stay unbeaten. But as long as No. 21 keeps smiling, carrying, and scoring, you’d be a fool to bet against them.
And the Cloquet folks who slogged home through the drizzle? They knew exactly what they saw: a legend in the making, the 2025 Howie Preseason Player of the Year, up close and personal.
