HANCOCK — Negaunee didn’t waste any time taking control of a high school football game played at Hancock on Friday night, scoring five first-half touchdowns en route to a 47-0 victory.

The Miners (2-1) went to the ground with Nico Lukkarinen to score a pair of TDs in the first quarter, then went to the air with Gerald Johnson completing a pair of scoring throws in the second quarter.

Just for good measure, Miners back Easton Palomaki scored the final TD of the first half to make it 34-0 at the break.

It was part of a 388-yard effort for Negaunee, which only ran 49 plays and averaged nearly eight yards per play. It included 290 yards on the ground.

Johnson was near perfect as a passer, completing 8 of 9 for 98 yards, two TDs and no interceptions. He spread his throws around to four receivers, though it was Phil Nelson who caught five of them that included an 8-yard TD in the second quarter.

The other TD catch was by Brenten Belanger for 31 yards, also in quarter No. 2.

In addition, Nelson booted 5 of 7 extra points.

Palomaki led Miners’ rushers with 152 yards in 15 attempts, including a 24-yard scoring run. Lukkarinen added 65 yards on the ground on 12 attempts, including scoring runs of 2 and 14 yards in the opening period.

Negaunee got across the goal line twice more in the third quarter on a Lukkarinen 8-yard TD run and Brady Roose 1-yard scoring scamper for the final margin.

The Miners hit the road Friday night for a game at Manistique.

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L’Anse 28, Gwinn 0

On Friday in L’Anse, the Modeltowners (0-3) were forced to go to the air after their running game came up nearly dry and five turnovers put them down three touchdowns less than two minutes into the second half.

“It was a situation where we turned the ball over,” Gwinn head coach Tabb Lonergan said. “We came out flat, which I thought shouldn’t happen after we recovered (our own) onside kick to start the game.

“But on the first play from scrimmage, we fumbled the ball away and couldn’t seem to recover from it.

“(L’Anse has) a good kicker, and they won the field position game. We played some good defense, forcing them to punt four times, but they averaged about 38 yards each punt.”

The Purple Hornets broke the scoreless tie early in the second quarter when quarterback Dean Magaraggia threw a 25-yard TD pass to Braydon Lee. Hunter Stanaway booted the first of four extra points to make it 7-0.

Less than four minutes later and following a Modeltowners’ lost fumble, L’Anse’s Dysean Allen scored on a 30-yard run for a 14-0 halftime advantage.

The Hornets made it 21-0 just 89 seconds into the third quarter, even though Gwinn took the second half kickoff before again fumbling the ball away. L’Anse scored on another Magaraggia-to-Lee TD pass, this one from 16 yards.

LHS rounded out the scoring on the final play of the third quarter as Allen ran in from 11 yards out.

The Modeltowners managed just 114 yards offense, including only 17 yards rushing on 28 attempts.

A pair of QBs tried to keep Gwinn in the game. Starter Carl Peterson was 7 of 20 for 50 yards and an interception, while sophomore Connor Dupras was 5 of 9 for 47 yards without a pickoff.

L’Anse gained 191 yards, 150 on 50 rushes as Allen had more than the team with 170 yards in 28 carries. A number of QB sacks knocked the team total down.

Magaraggia was 2 of 4 passing for 41 yards but two interceptions, both by the Modeltowners’ Nate Chiles in the second and third quarters.

Lee and Allen also attempted three passes between them without a completion.

Both teams are at home on Friday, with Gwinn hosting Hancock and L’Anse entertaining Iron Mountain.

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