Iron Mountain varsity football player Luke Decker (25) goes up high to celebrate with fellow Mountaineer Oskar Kangas (0) after Kangas’ touchdown catch against visiting Calumet on Friday night. The Mountaineers notched their fifth straight victory with the 35-7 win on Parents’ Night. (Terry Raiche photo)

IRON MOUNTAIN — On the opening series of Friday’s West Pac Conference football game between Calumet and Iron Mountain, the Copper Kings moved the ball just four yards and then punted.

On the next play, Mountaineer junior Luke Wolfe ran the ball up the middle, broke to his left and gained 53 yards down to the Calumet 3-yard line. Senior fullback Bradon Farragh pounded it in from there and just like that Iron Mountain led 7-0, less than three minutes into the game.

At that point, it looked like the Mountaineers would waltz to the victory. And coach Robin Martilla’s squad did notch their fifth straight victory, a 35-7 verdict over Calumet on Parents Night at Mountaineer Stadium.

Still, after the Mountaineers took a 10-0 first-quarter lead on Farragh’s 27-yard field goal, the Copper Kings stood up. Calumet began to run the ball effectively as senior Amar Patterson broke off two substantial runs before senior quarterback Aksel Loukus threw a 9-yard touchdown pass to Hans Kiilunen.

When the Mountaineers got the ball back, they couldn’t get anything going offensively. Only a late second-quarter interception by Wolfe in his endzone prevented the Mountaineers from trailing at halftime.

“You thought after that first play with Luke Wolfe … ,” Mountaineers coach Robin Marttila began. “But then they stiffened in the first half. Luke Wolfe had that one interception toward the end of the first half which was a big play, because if they score there, we would probably have been (down) 14-13 at the half.

“It was a weird game like that.”

On the Calumet sideline, the fact that the Copper Kings played the third-ranked Mountaineers evenly until intermission after taking the early blow was encouraging.

“That first half our kids did everything we asked them to do,” Calumet coach Josh Frantti said. “We knew that Iron Mountain has a heck of a football team and they got us early. Kind of had that feeling that it could get away from us a little bit. But our kids did a phenomenal job of just taking it and stepping back up and going back to work.”

While the Copper Kings held their own for much of the opening half, eventually the talented Mountaineers took back control. The teams traded punts to begin the third quarter, but on Calumet’s kick, Wolfe returned the punt to the Copper Kings’ 39-yard line.

Four plays later, Farragh scored his second touchdown on a 1-yard plunge and a 2-point conversion catch from Colavecchi to give the Mountaineers some wiggle room at 21-7.

“The first half was a bit slow, but going in at halftime and making adjustments and talking with the coaches, we came out and felt really good in the second half,” senior quarterback/defensive back Joe Colavecchi said.

Colavecchi said that the Mountaineers went to a three-linebacker look after playing with two in the first half and that stopped the Calumet ground game in its tracks. In the second half before both teams put in their reserves late in the fourth quarter, the Copper Kings gained just 20 yards on the ground and 6 through the air.

Sophomore defensive end Alex Haferkorn led Iron Mountain with 11 tackles, while junior linebacker Fulton Stroud added eight.

With its running game stopped, Calumet sputtered offensively. On the other hand, Iron Mountain’s bevy of playmakers made their impact again. Wolfe finished with 71 yards rushing on 13 carries, junior Matthew Colavecchi, substituting for starter Bradon Walstrom who sat out the game, showed his burst with 70 yards on just five carries and Farragh ended up with 62 yards on 10 carries.

Late in the third quarter, the Mountaineers put the game away, keyed by a 39-yard scramble by Joe Colavecchi down to the Calumet 4-yard line. Farragh scored his third touchdown of the night on a 1-yarder on the next play to put Iron Mountain up 28-7.

“My wide receiver on the right was doing a deep post, so I saw green grass as soon as I got out of the pocket,” Joe Colavecchi said. “I had to make sure my wide out (Matthew Colavecchi) got a good block on that.”

“I thought a huge play in the game was when Joe went down the right sideline for 39 yards,” Marttila said. “He made a play with his legs right there.”

Colavecchi later hit sophomore tight end Oskar Kangas on a 19-yard strike to finish off the scoring.

With an explosive offensive backfield, Marttila just wants to share the opportunities.

“We’ve talked about that,” he said. “They all need to touch the ball. I thought we had good balance with our running backs. They all picked their spots to do positive things.”

Iron Mountain finished the game with 240 yards rushing on 31 carries (7.7 per carry). The Mountaineers didn’t throw much in the game with Colavecchi completing 2 of 7 passes for 29 yards.

Calumet put up 164 yards rushing on 39 carries (4.2 average), while completing 5 of 7 passes for 29 yards.

Farragh had a basketball-like scoring line with 29 of his team’s 35 points. He scored three touchdowns, added a 2-point conversion, kicked two field goals and hit all three of his extra-point kicks.

“We’ve been talking about kicking field goals all year long because Bradon Farragh is a pretty good kicker,” Marttila said. “I am definitely happy with that. We like to have that weapon.”

Afterward, Frantti was asked what was the difference between the two teams.

“I think they’ve got a good, experienced ballclub over there,” he said. “I think that experience in big games kind of helped push them over the edge.”

The Calumet clash was Iron Mountain’s last regular-season home game of the 2022 slate. The Mountaineers finish their pre-playoff schedule at Hancock on Oct. 7, at Ishpeming on Oct. 14 and at Manistique on Oct. 21.

Then come the Division 8 playoffs with the Mountaineers hoping for possibly two home games.

“We’ve had high expectations the complete year,” Martilla said. “That hasn’t changed and that won’t change. But I’m a week-to-week coach. I don’t look at the big picture that much.”