(Theresa Proudfit photos) Iron Mountain defenders Joe Colavecchi (4), Michael Talerico (73) and Gabe Richtig (24) attempt to bring down a Westwood ball carrier. Lucas Maxon (52) and Marcus Verrette trail the play.

IRON MOUNTAIN — Westwood senior Zach Carlson’s 204 rushing yards and three touchdowns, along with a stifling Patriots defense, powered the visiting Patriots to a dominating 28-0 shutout of Iron Mountain on Thursday night at Mountaineer Stadium.

The West PAC Conference Copper Division win is the Patriots’ sixth win in 44 games versus Iron Mountain in Westwood school history.

The Mountaineers won the opening coin toss and decided to defer to the second half, while the Patriots elected to receive the opening kickoff. On the first play from scrimmage, Carlson hit the edge of the Mountaineer defense at full speed and scampered down the Iron Mountain sidelines for a 73-yard score.

That set the tone for the rest of the game. The Patriots racked up 300 yards rushing and 366 total yards.

“Westwood is a really good team, they beat us tonight in every aspect of the game, including coaching,” said veteran Mountaineers head coach Robin Marttila. “We knew No. 2 (Carlson) was a great athlete from how good he is in basketball. Our No. 1 goal tonight was to stop him and we didn’t do that at all.”

Iron Mountain’s Luke Wolfe (18) looks to evade Westwood’s Marcus Boase after catching a pass in the first half Thursday night in a West PAC Conference Copper Division game at Mountaineer Stadium.

The Mountaineers were held to 51 total yards of offense.

“It’s nice to have athletic type players like (Zach) Beckman and Carlson. Carlson is a special kid, an amazing athlete, and he worked very hard in the off season, and it showed tonight,” said Patriots head coach Scott Syrjala.

“I have been apart of some great teams at Ishpeming when I was on Jeff Olson’s staff. I don’t ever recall seeing a team come here and hold Iron Mountain scoreless and to as little of yardage as we did tonight,” Syrjala added. “I am very proud of our kids tonight, and they should be proud of themselves for their total effort in these yellow walls.”

Westwood used their speed in the running game, and mixed a few passes in along the way. Other than their opening touchdown, they didn’t have any big plays, they simply plugged away.

Hunter Fortner led the Mountaineers’ defense with eight tackles while Michael Talerico had seven.

“Programs like Iron Mountain, who I have the utmost respect for, are the measuring stick,” said Syrjala. “This is who I hope we can be as we keep improving, a team like this with rich history and tradition.”

The Mountaineers, who fall to 1-1 (1-1 West PAC) return to action on Sept. 11 when they travel to Houghton for a noon Central time kickoff.

“We give credit to Carlson, and give credit to that entire Westwood football team. They took it to us and we were outmatched,” Marttila added. “We’re going to regroup and move on, but we got humbled tonight, it’s as simple as that.”

Westwood 8 12 0 8 — 28

Iron Mtn 0 0 0 0 — 0

Scoring

1st Quarter

WW – Zach Carlson 73-yard run (Zach Beckman run), 11:40

2nd quarter

WW – Beckman 1-yard fun (run failed), 11:56

WW – Carlson 20 yard fun (run failed), 0:25

4th Quarter

WW – Carlson 8-yard Run (2-point run), 9:47