After defeating Mancelona 40-8 in round one, and Charlevoix in round two 48-20, head coach Robin Marttila and his Mountaineers face a tough test this Saturday in perennial powerhouse Traverse City St. Francis.

The Gladiators finished 6-3 in the regular season and 5-1 in the Legends Division of the Northern Michigan Football League Conference.

TCSF’s regular season losses were to playoff qualifiers Maple City Glenn Lake (Calumet’s Division 6 opponent on Saturday) and at Kingsley and Muskegon Oakridge, who were both Division 5 qualifiers. The lone playoff qualifier St. Francis defeated was Marquette in Week 1.

Iron Mountain and St. Francis have faced one another four times, all in the postseason. The first three games were played at the Superior Dome in Marquette, with the Gladiators winning in 1991 and 1992. On Veterans Day 1994, IM defeated TCSF 42-0 to capture the Class C Regional trophy, the Mountaineers’ lone win in the series.

Maria Basanese-Hill photo Iron Mountain’s Bryce Pietrantonio (25), Brent Aman (66), Gio Colavecchi (56) and Tony Feira (63) block for Dante Basanese (22) as Marcus Johnson(14) looks on in last Saturday’s Division 7 district championship win over Charlevoix at Mountaineer Stadium.

The most recent meeting was at Thirlby Field in Traverse City in 2016. The Gladiators defeated IM 54-6 in a Division 7 round two matchup.

Kickoff at Mountaineer Stadium will be at noon, with a predicted high of 33 degrees and up to 20 mph wind gusts. With a win, Iron Mountain would advance to the state semifinals for the first time since 2011, Marttila’s first year at the helm.

Coming off a strong performance on both sides of the ball last week against Charlevoix, the Mountaineers look to keep their defensive dominance moving in the same direction, having given up under 10 points a game this season.

Offensively, IM was proficient last week, the running game powered by a 200-plus-yard performance by Caleb Evosevich-Hynes, complemented by the passing accuracy of quarterback Marcus Johnson.

“TCSF is a perennial powerhouse with good talent and size,” Marttila said. “On offense they want to play power football in the Straight T and Power I formations. They do a nice job of spreading the ball around in the backfield. In the shotgun, number 12, their QB is a physical kid who can run and throw. They will have multiple formations that pose a challenge for our defense.” said Marttila.

St. Francis’s offense uses dual tight ends, No. 7 Noah Kadlec and No. 11 Jimmy Muzljakovich. Senior quarterback Kolin Endres is a team captain, along with running back Andrew Simaz and right tackle Jack Groseclose, No. 56, also seniors.

On the left side of the Gladiators offensive line, are two very large individuals in juniors Corbin Domres and Jack Beckwith, both over six feet tall and 235-plus pounds.

“We have a hard working offensive line, they get the job done,” said TCSF head coach Josh Sellers.

“Their base defense is a “51” with No. 43 at the middle linebacker,” Marttila said. “He is an all-state wrestler who seems to make every tackle — we’ll need to block him. They play an aggressive style with a lot of blitzing. We expect a four-quarter war on Saturday.”

The Gladiators have six state titles in nine championship game appearances.

“Of our three losses, two of the three teams are still playing. We feel our schedule was an asset to us because it was strong again this season,” said Sellers.

“This will be the first time our program ever played at Iron Mountain, so that will be a challenge for us,” he said. “We always like to play against good programs and tough competition. IM is 11-0 for a reason, and the atmosphere should be great inside those yellow walls.”

“We are looking forward to a great opportunity on Saturday at home, a game in which our 11 seniors will play their final game at Mountaineer Stadium,” said Marttila.