×

Munising football team takes to the road

Munising quarterback Alec Blank, center, dodges a tackle by Westwood Friday night. Aug. 25, 2017, at Westwood. (Journal photo by Rachel Oakley)

MUNISING — After missing out last season, the Munising football team is back in the MHSAA Division 8 playoffs.

But the Mustangs will not have an easy journey ahead of them as they will have to spend it all on the road if they want to make a trip to Ford Field like they did in 2014.

All that may seem intimidating, but Munising head coach Jeff Seaberg says playing on the road doesn’t matter as much as others might think.

“You always want to play at home and have your same routine without any extra stuff,” he said. “But it is what it is and we’re in the playoffs. That’s what matters.”

The Mustangs enter the postseason at 4-4 and Seaberg said the regular season had mixed results, but thinks that his team made a lot of progress up to now.

“The regular season had its up and downs,” Seaberg said. “There were a couple of games that we wished we would have won like the game against Newberry and the last game we played. But I think we’ve learned some things and hopefully we can carry that over to this weekend.”

The Mustangs’ first obstacle will be undefeated Gaylord St. Mary (9-0), the top seed in the district. The Snowbirds are known for their rushing attack led by Cal Gilling. According to Seaberg, Gilling finished with about 1,800 yards on the ground and will be the player Munising will have to focus on stopping.

“Their running back is a heck of a player and he’ll obviously be their main focal point,” Seaberg said. “The ball is mostly going to be in his hands, so we can’t miss any assignments and hopefully, we can use our size to shut him down. We just can’t afford to miss any assignments and make sure we execute on every chance we have.”

It’s going to be tough for the Mustangs to ground the Snowbirds, but Seaberg is confident in his team.

“Now that we’re in, everybody should be fired up and ready to go,” he said. “We are playing the No. 1 seed and they’re really good, but I think if we do the things that we’re supposed to do, we have a good chance. Everybody is 0-0 right now, so we just need to look at it that way and take it one game at a time.”

Munising takes on GMS at 3 pm. Saturday.

Ryan Stieg can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 252. His email address is rstieg@miningjournal.net.

Newsletter

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper *
   

Starting at $4.62/week.

Subscribe Today