Defense lifts Red past Black
Flivvs' Terrian honored
MARQUETTE — The 12th annual Upper Peninsula Football All-Star Game was a booming success that sent 87 seniors from around the U.P. off on a high note.
It was Travis Ojala who sent his team to victory as well, with the Calumet line-backer notching a fourth-quarter interception that he returned for a touchdown with 4:49 remaining that all but put the game out of reach.
Thanks in part to that play, the Red All-Stars earned a 42-28 win over the Black All-Stars at the Superior Dome on Saturday afternoon.
It was Team Red’s first win over Team Black under this “fantasy draft” format, which has been in place since 2017. The Black All-Stars took the 2017 contest 19-14 and also won the 2018 game 14-7.
It was also the first win for Team Red head coach and Manistique assistant Cody Kangas, who was 0-3 as an assistant coach at this game.
Kangas credited Ojala’s pick, as well as a 41-yard TD run up the gut from Gladstone’s Brody Sanville just before that.
“Our offense was struggling a little bit throughout the day, but our defense really kept us in the ball game,” he said. “Those guys did a fantastic job.
“We started to look at our off-tackle stuff (on offense). We ran ‘power’ once or twice, got some decent yards and finally broke them. The very next drive we came back and got a pick-6 (Ojala’s interception return). Those two plays back to back really put us over the top.”
Black head coach and Westwood head coach Scott Syrjala saluted both his players and the Red team’s execution.
“We had some really great kids on that Black team
that played their heart out,” he said. “My hat’s off to the Red team. They made some big plays when they needed to and one of those guys was my guy (from Westwood), Nathan Beckman. I couldn’t be more proud of him.
“You always want to try to win, but it’s just an all-star game. We got together, we threw some guys together in a week. I don’t want to say it’s just an all-star game, but I mean you’ve got to have some perspective on things.”
Beckman won the Red team’s Offensive MVP award.
Beckman rotated in as his team’s quarterback with Escanaba’s Craig Kamin. Being the only Patriots player on the Red side with four of his Westwood counterparts playing for Black, it only made the game all the more fun.
Marquette’s Ethan Martysz suited up for Black and received several looks from Ishpeming quarterback Gavin Sundberg, their team’s
primary QB. Sundberg rotated with Kingsford’s Luke Terrian.
Martysz’s biggest play of the day was a more-than-90-yard kickoff return in the first quarter that knotted the game at 7-7.
Terrian won Offensive MVP award for Black, while Andrew Blanchard of Engadine earned Defensive MVP.
Ojala took the Defensive MVP award for Red to complement Beckman
Also handed out was the Character Award, which went to Brent Loukus of Calumet for the Red side and Alex Cannoot of Marquette for Black.