Mountaineers return to title chase
Regional football final Saturday in Marquette
IRON MOUNTAIN — This high school football season seems like it’s gone on since last year. Well it has, in fact, since Aug. 10, 2020.
For the Iron Mountain Mountaineers, it continues Saturday as they host Johannesburg-Lewiston in a Division 8 Regional championship game at the Superior Dome in Marquette at 4 p.m. Central time.
Neither team has played since winning their respective third round games back on Nov. 13. The Mountaineers defeated Bark River-Harris 36-16 at Mountaineer Stadium, while the Cardinals defeated Beal City 28-21.
Jo-Berg, coached by Crystal Falls native and Forest Park class of 1990 graduate Joe Smokevich, won their second round playoff game this season via a forfeit over Frankfort. Iron Mountain was awarded a forfeit win over Rogers City on Oct. 31, which was round one of the Division 8 playoffs.
Mountaineers head coach Robin Marttila is pleased with the way the team has practiced since Dec. 21.
“The last couple of weeks have been great, “ Marttila said. “We haven’t played a football game in a long time. However, our enthusiasm and effort — myself and the coaching staff are happy with both.”
Marttila stated the team will have had 10 practices since being able to reconvene, including sessions Tuesday and Thursday at the Superior Dome.
“Playing in the Dome is much different than playing outside,” Marttila said. “I am glad we were able to get up there and practice this week.”
The Cardinals, who play in the Legacy division of the Northern Michigan Football Conference, are 9-0 on the season.
“We have a senior-heavy roster, and the seniors have kept the team focused and together during all the pauses in the season,” Smokevich said. “Many of the kids on the team haven’t been beyond St. Ignace in the U.P. They’re excited to travel to Marquette and play in the Dome.”
It’ll be the second game in school history for the Cardinals at the Superior Dome. In a Class DD regional final in 1998, Jo-Berg defeated the Bessemer Speedboys 56-13.
Other U.P. teams Jo-Berg has played are DeTour, Newberry, Rudyard and Pickford. Both all-time meetings versus Bessemer were playoff matchups. The first, in 1991, was Jo-Berg’s first ever playoff appearance.
Johannesburg-Lewiston School is in Johannesburg on Highway 32, 14 miles southeast of Gaylord, with Lewiston being 15 miles southeast of Johannesburg. They are going to travel up and back on the same day, Smokevich noted.
With a trip to the state semifinals on the line, both teams know what they’re up against. Jo-Berg runs a full-house straight-T offense, using lots of ball fakes, and misdirection.
“They’re a straight-T offensive team who carry out their fakes extremely well,” Marttila said. “Their fullback Sheldon Huff is an all-state player for a reason. He’s a load on both sides of the football. Their quarterback runs a lot out of their offense and he passes very seldom.”
Marttila added that the Cardinals resemble Hurley, Wis., because “they execute their offense pretty well.”
The Cardinals use a “44” defense. “Defensively, Jo-Berg has great pursuit of the football, they’re 9-0 for a reason,” said Marttila.
The team has a winning record in every decade dating back to the 1970s. Their only other trip to the state semifinals was in 1998 versus Middleton-Fulton in Class DD.
In Jo-Berg’s other playoff games versus U.P. teams, they defeated St. Ignace in a second round Division 8 playoff game in 2009, but lost to the Saints in second round Division 8 postseason games in 2013 and 2015.
In 1976, Jo-Berg finished the regular season 9-0, but did not make the playoffs.
In regards to the roller-coaster ride of a season IM has endured due to COVID-19, Marttila said, “We have to worry about where we are now and it’s the third round of the playoffs with a trip to the semifinals on the line.” He continued, “COVID is the elephant in the room. It’s a hurdle we have to overcome.”
The Mountaineers haven’t had any positive tests thus far. The rapid COVID-19 tests have been administered to the players and coaching staff every other day, three days a week, since Dec. 30.
No fans: Despite the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services giving the MHSAA the green light to allow up to 125 fans per team, for the remaining rounds of the football playoffs, this game will be without fans. That decision was made by Northern Michigan University officials. One factor is that NMU teams that are currently playing winter sports do not have spectators at their games.