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Ishpeming, Munising grind out wins

By Journal Sports Staff

IRON RIVER — Ishpeming has gotten back to its smashmouth tradition of high school football this season, and the Hematites needed it in a 14-0 victory at West Iron County on Saturday afternoon.

In a battle of the Nos. 1 and 2 teams in the Upper Peninsula Little Schools poll, No. 1 Ishpeming (7-0) survived fumbling the ball away three times in the first half.

“We had a lot of mistakes, coughing up the ball, taking a few penalties, we just shot ourselves in the foot,” Hematites long-time head coach Jeff Olson said. “I like how we responded, however. Things can easily snowball and our defense came up pretty solid. We stopped them every time.

“Kudos to our offensive and defensive lines; especially in the second half, they completely controlled the line of scrimmage. (WIC has) something like a 285-pound fullback, and he never got past the line of scrimmage.”

Ishpeming quarterback Gavin Sundberg also provided enough offense to overcome the fumbles, rushing for 135 yards on 33 carries, including a 1-yard touchdown late in the first quarter and 4-yard score late in the third.

Running back Hunter Smith added 81 yards on 10 carries.

The defense limited No. 2 WIC (5-2) to 76 yards.

Munising 20, LL-Hubbell 16

At Lake Linden, the lead changed hands three times in the fourth quarter, the final time when Mustangs QB Josh Huotari hooked up with receiver Clayton Smith on a TD pass estimated at 30 yards with 1:52 left.

And Munising’s Jesse Matson made sure there wasn’t a fourth change in the lead on the final play of the game when he intercepted a Lakes’ pass around the Munising 30.

That allowed Munising to stay in the playoff hunt at 4-3, while the Lakes slipped to 1-6.

Previous to that, Munising running back Mason Schieding ripped off long TD runs of 86 yards late in the first half and 48 yards on the first play of the fourth quarter.

“You can’t be deceived by their record, they have a lot of tradition of quality football,” MHS head coach Jeff Seaberg said. “They executed and executed and executed a lot of fakes, and when we weren’t paying attention to our keys, their halfback was halfway down the field.”

Schieding gained 172 of the Mustangs’ 190 rushing yards, while Huotari completed 8 of 11 passes for 123 yards, a TD and an interception.

In addition to Matson’s late pickoff, Huotari also had an interception while playing defense, while Anthony Mattson made a Munising-high 20 tackles, causing a fumble and recovering another.

Information compiled by Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee. His email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.

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