Iron Mountain's David Brule III, right, shoots as Kingsford's Dennis Neuens defends on Tuesday, Oct. 16, 2018, at Commemorative Field in Kingsford, Mich. (Adam Niemi/Iron Mountain Daily News)

KINGSFORD — Iron Mountain blanked rival Kingsford 2-0 in the season finale Tuesday at Commemorative Field.

The Mountaineers (10-7-1) controlled the ball for much of the game but found few prime scoring opportunities. They took a few shots that just missed the goal and had more attacks in the final third thwarted by Kingsford’s defense.

The win was another in Iron Mountain’s turnaround after a 1-5 start to the season. The Mountaineers won nine of their final 12 games.

“It was fantastic for our seniors,” Iron Mountain head coach David Brule II said. “They played their hearts out and they’ve been playing a lot of smart soccer.”

On the other end, Kingsford found scoring opportunities few and far between, with just a few shots on the night and nothing that made Mountaineers goaltender Caleb Bryant sweat too much.

Jurgen Kleiman broke the scoreless tie with nine and a half minutes left in the first half on a left-footed kick from the edge of the 18. The ball came to him on a pass from David Brule III.

Brule added the dagger with nine minutes remaining in the second half on a pass from Ryan Hakamaki.

Kingsford’s offense sputtered with long balls sent up the field to areas Iron Mountain controlled throughout the game, namely the midfield.

“We had a couple miscues on our defense with our mids,” Kingsford head coach Jeff Gordon said of the goals Kingsford conceded. “We got the ball up several times. We just couldn’t keep it up long enough to make it back there. Our offensive mids were playing a little further back than we wanted to.”

Iron Mountain’s midfield deflected long balls and through passes to spark runs back towards Kingsford’s goal. Even when Kingsford mounted a run, the Iron Mountain defenders paid close attention to leading scorers Ben Backlund and Kobe Gordon.

“We just couldn’t keep the ball up. We couldn’t bring it up enough,” Coach Gordon said. “I tried to switch formations at that point. We were still working it up pretty decent, but I think changing formations was not the way to go. We tried the long ball too many times.”

Backlund’s speed earned him double coverage on his attacks, with a player pressuring him on-ball and another backing up.

“We wanted to make sure we never had Ben free against one defender in the back,” Brule said. “He can get by one guy pretty readily. He’s very quick. We made sure there was always somebody backing up. Defensively we knew they tried to spread the field wide and would leave the midfield fairly open.

“I think we did a pretty good job in the middle third of the field being able to pass, find easy passes, find the right angles, get the ball wide and find some crosses. We didn’t get many clear shots and I think that’s a testament to their stout defense. Both teams wanted to win and they play that way.”

The difference in experience between both teams is also obvious, with Iron Mountain’s seven seniors on the field to Kingsford’s one. Needless to say, Tuesday was the end of a season-long rebuilding project.

“We’ve got a young team. That’s our learning curves,” Gordon said. “We’ve learned a lot this year. We’re going to lose two people — Austin and our foreign exchange student which is Pablo (Cano Sarobe). We’ll be losing two, but we have a whole lot of players coming back so we’re excited.”

Iron Mountain’s seniors include Brule, Bryant, Myles Carey, Eamonn Weed, Jaden Vicenzi and Joe Bogaudo. The other senior, Owen Caudell, returned to the field for his final game after missing a few weeks with a surgically repaired broken wrist.

Kingsford’s lone senior is Austin Hirthe.

Brule said Tuesday’s game was his last as the Mountaineers boys soccer coach.

“Probably the last game for me as a coach as my son’s graduating,” Brule said. “Hoping to spend my August, September and October doing something else for a while.”

In his final address to the team after the game, he told them to respectfully enjoy the win against the rival Flivvers.

“I told them that there’s few times in life when you get an opportunity to play a game against a really good competitor whose also a rival,” Brule said. “Even fewer times to come out on top, so enjoy it. It’s a sweet moment. Relish it, have fun with it. Make sure you go shake hands with all your buddies on the other side, because they’re good kids too.”

Iron Mountain 1 1 — 2

Kingsford 0 0 — 0

First Half

IM — Kleiman (Brule), 9:29

Second Half

IM — Brule (Hakamaki), 9:11