Iron Mountain’s Caleb Evosevich-Hynes, center, breaks free with pursuit by Negaunee’s Steve Gooseberry, second from right, and Lukas Nelson, right. (Iron Mountain Daily News photo by Theresa Proudfit)

IRON MOUNTAIN — A brief look at the game statistics makes it look like Negaunee earned the road victory at Iron Mountain to open the high school football season on Thursday night.

But in actuality, the Mountaineers came up with a 17-14 victory.

The Miners outgained Iron Mountain 228-156 in total yards. Iron Mountain was flagged for five penalties for 29 yards, to Negaunee’s two for only 15 yards.

The key reason for the Mountaineers’ victory was special teams.

After a scoreless first quarter, a 73-yard punt return by IM’s Caleb Evosevich-Hynes brought the ball to the Negaunee 16, setting up the season’s first score.

A one-yard touchdown run by Colin Visintainer and a successful conversion kick by Evosevich-Hynes gave Iron Mountain a 7-0 lead in the second quarter.

Negaunee then went on an 11-play drive, ending when quarterback Jason Waterman threw an 11-yard TD pass to wide receiver Alex Munson. A poor snap on the PAT kick left the Mountaineers up 7-6 with just under a minute left in the first half.

After a scoreless third quarter, the Mountaineers began a 12-play scoring drive in that quarter that culminated 1:19 into the fourth on a 5-yard scoring run by Bryce Pietrantonio. A successful Gavin Goulette kick put Iron Mountain up 14-6.

After returning the ensuing kickoff to their own 30, the Miners fumbled the ball away to Evosevich-Hynes on 2nd-and-9.

Seven plays later, the Mountaineers went ahead 17-6 with a 30-yard field goal by Evosevich-Hynes with 6:19 remaining.

Roughly four minutes and 13 plays later, Waterman again hit Munson in the end zone for a 4-yard TD pass. Drew DuShane hauled in the two-point conversion pass from Waterman to shrink Iron Mountain’s lead to 17-14 with 2:16 left.

“It was a great team victory against a quality football program that we have the utmost repeat for,” Mountaineers head coach Robin Martilla said. “We won the field-position battle tonight, for the most part.

“Special teams, Caleb Evosevich-Hynes, his 73-yard punt return was huge. Then the 30-yard field goal he made, the kid is a playmaker.”

Visintainer hit Dante Basanese on third-and-long with a 29-yard reception during IM’s second scoring drive.

Martilla noted the strong running of Pietrantonio against Negaunee’s stout defense, plus how well Visintainer played while filling in for injured QB Marcus Johnson.

Miners coach Paul Jacobson, in his 20th season as head coach, was disappointed in the loss.

“We played tough tonight,” he said. “However the team that makes more plays usually wins, and tonight we didn’t come up with enough of them.

“It’s always a battle when we come down here, to play inside of these yellow walls. Who would have thought that in this game, with the type of games we usually have against one another, that a field goal would decide the game?

“Special teams is a third of the game, they definitely win the special teams battle tonight, with a field goal and the long returns.”

The coaches noted the play of Waterman.

“Waterman is a great quarterback,” Martilla said. “He throws the ball well and made some nice plays.”

“Jason played probably his best ball game in his career,” Jacobson said. “He put a lot of work in in the offseason. He threw the ball well, saw the field well and also ran well tonight. He’s developed himself into a quarterback to lead this team.”

Next Friday night, Negaunee plays its home opener against Calumet, while Iron Mountain entertains Westwood.