Mountaineers wallop Emeralds, maintain perfect record
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IRON MOUNTAIN -- It's hard to top an 18th birthday.
However, throw in a one-sided, 62-25, win over Manistique in the Iron Mountain varsity football team's opener at Mountaineer Stadium on Friday and it was a pretty good day for Mountaineers starting quarterback Ian Marttila.
"He turned 18 (on Friday)," IM head coach Robin Marttila said. "I had a football in his crib the day he was born and here we are, 18 years later. It is a good day for Mountaineers."
Outside of the celebration, coach Marttila was happy with his team's ability to score.
"We were able to put a lot of points on the board from multiple guys," Marttila said. "We got off to a good start of 28-0 after the first quarter."
IM opened the scoring when senior Alex Jayne punched in a rushing touchdown three minutes into the first quarter. Jayne added another touchdown run with four minutes left in the quarter.
Senior Evan Copley pushed the Mountaineers' lead to 21 points, 15-seconds later, when he intercepted a pass and returned it 10-yards for a touchdown.
"We're trying to spread the ball around, so it's good to have three guys score touchdowns," coach Marttila said. "We want to get the ball to a number of playmakers."
A muffed kickoff in the late stages of the first quarter set up a 15-yard rushing touchdown for Jayne and the Mountaineers took a 28-0 lead into the second quarter.
The Emeralds responded on their first drive of the frame. After putting together their first sustained drive into IM's half, junior Jayce Goudreau punched in a 25-yard run to make it a 28-6 game.
However, a 42-yard carry by Jayne on the next drive set up a 24-yard TD run for sophomore Brayden Kassin and the Mountaineers pulled ahead 35-6 with eight minutes remaining until halftime.
Down big, the Emeralds tried turning to their air attack. Aiden Osterhout broke free and scored on a 61-yard reception to cut the Mountaineers' lead to 35-12.
"Manistique got behind early, and that forced them to pass the ball," coach Marttila said. "They have a bunch of pretty good athletes, and they are able to make some plays themselves and put some points on the board. So give them credit. They're pretty athletic."
The Mountaineers tacked on 14 points in the final two minutes of the first half.
Senior Oskar Kangas caught a 34-yard pass and 20-yard pass for scores and IM took a 49-12 lead into half.
Jackson Goudreau caught a 34-yard TD pass and Jayce Goudreau scored on a 35-yard rush to account for Manistique's second half points as IM rolled to a 62-25 win.
Jayne led all rushers in the contest with 153 rushing yards on 15 carries. He scored. three touchdowns.
The Mountaineers also received offensive contributions from Kangas (4 catches, 57 yards, 2 TDs), Marttila, 1 rush, 5 yards; 5 for 8 passing, 98 yards, 2 TDs), Kassin (3 rushes, 75 yards, 1 TD; 1 catch, 41 yards), Aiden Ellis (4 rushes, 72 yards, 2 TDs), Collin Punzel (3 carries, 31 yards) and Di Saldana (1 carry, 2 yards).
Alex Haferkorn led Iron Mountain's defense with six solo tackles and two sacks. He also had six assisted tackles. Jayne added a sack while Copley had a fumble recovery and an interception.
Iron Mountain heads to Iron River on Friday to face West Iron County while Manistique heads to L'Anse for a 7 p.m. kickoff.
Although the Mountaineers are 3-0 on the season, coach Marttila knows there's room for improvement.
"We've got to be more consistent," coach Marttila said. "I said the exact same thing last week. We're looking for more consistency with everything."
FLIVVERS 42, BRAVES 0
GLADSTONE -- The Gladstone Braves continued to have great difficulty moving the football here Friday night in a 42-0 loss to the Kingsford Flivvers.
A strout defensive line, led by senior Blake Flaminio, helped the Flivvers limit the Braves to 52 total yards in this WestPAC Conference Copper Division contest.
"Our defense has been pretty good," Kingsford coach Mark Novara said. "Blake put some time in during the off-season to get stronger, and our linebackers and secondary are intact from last year. Our experience is invaluable. That is not a bad team at all. They've probably played the toughest schedule in the U.P. to this point in the season and been snake-bit at times, but their kids play hard."
Kingsford got on the board on a six-yard run up the middle by junior Jack Kreigl just 51 seconds into the second stanza.
The Flivvers gained a 14-0 cushion on Kriegl's 43-yard dash along the right sideline with 5:33 left in the second frame and made it 21-0 when senior Nic Novara tossed a 25-yard pass to senior wide receiver Gavin Grondin 95 seconds before halftime.
"They have a solid team," Braves' coach Craig Ness said. "They did some things up front that confused us. We're short on confidence, and I think we panicked a little. We just need to get a few breaks to go our way. Once that happens, we'll be fine."
Kingsford gained a 35-0 advantage on Nic Novara's 10-yard aerial to senior Trenton VanOss with 3:31 remaining in the third and concluded the scoring on junior Owen Edwards' five-yard run through the middle slightly more than two minutes into the fourth.
The Flivvers (3-0 overall, 2-0 league) finished with 259 yards in total offense, including 153 on the ground. Kriegl led a balanced attack with 55 yards on four carries and Nic Novara hit 8-of-15 passes for 106.
The Braves will try to get their first win at Hancock and the Flivvers host Negaunee in a battle of undefeated teams.
John Vrancic compiled this report.