Justin St. Ours/Escanaba Daily Press photo North Central’s Drew Webber (21) forces a fumble from Pellston quarterback Kenny Crawford Saturday in Powers during a 8-player MHSAA Division 2 Regional Semifinal game.

POWERS — The top-ranked North Central Jets continued to roll here Saturday in a 64-14 football triumph over the Pellston Hornets in an eight-player Division 2 regional opener.

North Central (10-0) hosts Forest Park (8-2) in a regional final Friday at 6 p.m. Pellston finished 6-4.

The Jets used three quarterbacks, all of whom threw for touchdowns.

Junior Luke Gorzinski hit 5-of-6 passes for 68 yards. Senior Brent Labonte was 2-of-3 for 16 and sophomore Jake Gorzinski was 2-of-3 for 13.

Luke Gorzinski’s TD aerial of 37 yards to junior Elijah Gorzinski gave the Jets a 28-0 cushion early in the second quarter.

Labonte tossed a 20-yard TD pass to senior Carter Tietz for a 57-0 advantage early in the third and Jake Gorzinski’s six-yard pass to junior Jaden Walters ended North Central’s scoring with 4:54 left in the contest.

“We lost a couple guys to injuries (seniors Sebastian Deno and Mason Krumin) and have been shuffling a lot of people around,” said Jets’ coach Leo Gorzinski. “We were missing them today. We went to the depth of our depth. Thank God for our depth. We tried to grind it out early, then we opened it up. That was a solid football team. They played hard the whole game.”

The Jets, however, scored three times in the opening frame with their first TD coming on a 29-yard run around left end by senior Wyatt Raab.

Tietz added a 20-yard run through the left side for a 15-0 lead and Raab scored again on a 60-yard dash off left tackle for a 22-0 cushion with 23 seconds left in the first.

Raab added a 17-yard TD run around left end and an eight-yard interception return for a score in the second.

North Central’s advantage grew to 50-0 when Tietz recovered a fumble returned it 29 yards for a score 2:37 before halftime.

Sophomore QB Ken Crawford got the Hornets on the board on a 10-yard keeper to his left 32 seconds into the fourth and ran four yards for another score on the game’s final play against North Central’s reserves.

“The guys played their hearts out,” said Pellston coach Jack Carter. “There’s a reason why they’re defending state champs. Big number 71 (senior Lane Nehring) made a big difference for them. We had a game plan, but they had great athletes and they found ways to take that away. This is a tough loss for our seniors. We had six seniors who played four years for us. We’re hoping our younger kids see what it takes and that’s a lot of off-season conditioning.”

The Jets collected 398 yards in total offense, including 301 on the ground. They were led by Raab with 132 on six carries. Nine Jets carried the ball in this match-up.

Pellston was limited to 99 yards, with Crawford completing 4-of-20 aerials for 57 yards and two interceptions.

Junior Dillon Raab led North Central on defense with 5 1/2 tackles. Wyatt Raab and junior Drew Webber added 4 1/2 each and junior Owen Eichmeier and freshman Lane Gorzinski had four apiece.