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The late Dion Brown must be smiling after football playoff win by Gwinn Modeltowners

EAST JORDAN — Somewhere up there Dion Brown is celebrating.

The late varsity head coach led a struggling Gwinn football program that nearly folded a few years earlier to playoff appearances in 2016 and 2018, the Modeltowners’ first in nearly 20 years.

But Brown, 37, who once starred for Northern Michigan University, left a small Marquette County community in shock one Wednesday evening in January when he died after suffering a brain aneurysm in the team’s football facility.

“His goal was to win a playoff game,” said Gwinn coach Ben Olsen, resisting letting his emotions get the better of him after the Modeltowners’ 24-20 win on Friday evening. “It’s a big deal for us, for Coach Brown.”

Gwinn, which finished its 2019 season at 1-8, did just that. It beat East Jordan in a nailbiter to advance to the second round of the MHSAA Division 8 playoffs. It marked the Modeltowners’ first playoff win since 1999, according to Olsen, the same year as East Jordan’s last playoff victory.

The Modeltowners now travel to Iron Mountain — which has played just one game after being a part of six forfeits, including their first- round playoff game with Rogers City.

“We knew it was going to be a battle,” Olsen said about Friday night. “We felt like they (East Jordan) were very comparable to us as far as personnel goes.”

Olsen also mentioned that he believed this was the first time a Gwinn football team had ever played a game in the Lower Peninsula.

East Jordan coach Greg Kitson said the Modeltowners showed good sportsmanship after a game some might expect hard feelings in.

“We went back out for our senior walk and they came back to congratulate us,” Kitson said. “They (Gwinn) played a heck of a game and you give them credit.”

The Modeltowners made a number of big defensive plays to keep the game competitive, according to Olsen. Jude Andrews stripped the ball on a quarterback sack that led to a Reid Hill touchdown, teammates Carl Peterson and Cameron Ghiringhelli each had interceptions, and Ghiringhelli and Reid both had fumble recoveries.

Scoreless after the first quarter, Gwinn got on the scoreboard first and succeeded on the ensuing two-point conversion. East Jordan quarterback Dawson Olstrom led the Red Devils to the end zone on the next drive, scoring on a QB wedge but failing on the conversion to leave the Upper Peninsula visitors ahead 8-6.

The Modeltowners didn’t wait to extend their lead. Peterson returned the ensuing kickoff 70 yards for a touchdown and went up 16-6, holding a halftime lead despite turning the ball over twice in the final four minutes.

Aidan Webb scored on a toe-dragging catch in the back of the end zone with 4.7 seconds left in the first half to cut the deficit to four points, 16-12.

The third quarter, like the first, was scoreless. East Jordan’s Carter Sherman picked the ball off in the end zone on a Gwinn fourth down, the closest either team got to scoring in that quarter, but the Red Devils turned the ball over on a fumble and ended the quarter with the Modeltowners near the red zone.

Gwinn extended its lead to 24-12 early in the fourth when QB Mastin Love scored on a quick pass with 10:51 to go. Love ended up as his team’s leading rusher with 48 yards in 12 carries.

East Jordan matched that score with a TD from Granger Kitson, succeeding on the conversion.

Coach Kitson elected for the onside kick and East Jordan nearly recovered it, then forced a turnover with a recovered fumble. The Red Devils ended up punting on that drive, but stopped the Modeltowners on fourth down in the red zone.

With only two minutes left and the Red Devils out of timeouts, Coach Kitson rallied his team to hustle back and get the ball moving.

Olstrom listened.

He threw a dime that sailed 30 yards in the air that was tipped by junior Hayden Peck and caught by Sherman.

“That play was crazy,” Peck said. “I was on the ground, I looked up, and he’s (Sherman) running. He surprised me, he really did.”

Sherman got brought down at the 23-yard line, giving the Red Devils three chances at the end zone after Olstrom spiked the ball to stop the clock. He missed on each pass, wheeling out on fourth down and overthrowing junior Tom Reid on the final play.

Sherman, who combined with Peck for well over 100 yards receiving, said that sequence felt like success the team hadn’t seen until then.

“We really just gave it to them in that last five minutes,” the junior said. “It felt good.”

East Jordan finished its season 3-4.

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