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Negaunee Miners squeak by, Westwood Patriots dominate in high school football games

NEGAUNEE — It might’ve been a foreshadowing of the Green Bay Packers’ game over the weekend.

Packers kicker Mason Crosby missed three straight field goals before booting the game-winner late in overtime on Sunday.

Two days earlier, Negaunee’s 31-30 win over Gladstone came down to a single extra-point kick after the Miners tied the game in the fourth quarter.

But NHS kicker Phil Nelson didn’t need to miss a bunch of kicks before he got it right, kicking the extra point following Nico Lukkarinen’s 5-yard TD run that tied the game momentarily 30-30.

Nelson also had a major hand in the early part of the game, returning the opening kickoff 80 yards for a TD.

Nelson missed that extra-point kick, but it was a theme for the day, as the Miners subsequently missed on three straight two-point conversions before Nelson finished up with his successful kick.

Lukkarinen scored three TDs on short runs. He also had a pair of 1-yarders in the high-scoring second quarter.

In between Lukkarinen’s second-quarter scores was teammate Easton Palomaki’s 50-yard scoring run in the second quarter.

Gladstone, meanwhile, got TD jaunts of 36 and 64 yards from Cole Potier in the second quarter. On either side of those, quarterback Nate Young accounted for TDs with a first-quarter 9-yard pass to Eli Berthaume and 53-yard run in the fourth.

The Braves outgained Negaunee by a single yard, 318-317, despite the Miners running close to twice as many plays, 66 to 38.

Palomaki led Negaunee’s rushing attack with 129 yards in 14 carries. Lukkarinen, who was called on for the short TD run duty, had 76 yards in 23 carries.

And QB Gerald Johnson rushed for 42 yards on nine carries, while completing 3 of 10 passes for 30 yards and an interception.

Potier led all rushers with 154 yards in 14 tries, while Young completed 3 of 8 passes for 76 yards, a TD and two interceptions. Young also ran for 88 yards in 13 attempts.

Berthaume caught all three of Young’s passes for 76 yards.

———————–

Westwood 38, L’Anse 6

At Westwood on Friday, quarterback Zach Beckman accounted for all five of the Patriots’ TDs, running in three and throwing for two more.

He had TD runs of 32, 6 and 37 yards and tossed scoring aerials of 22 yards to Marcus Boase and 50 yards to Zach Carlson.

Interestingly, Beckman was only 2 for 5 through the air for 67 yards, but he did rush for 157 yards on 15 carries.

Carlson finished with 72 yards on 11 tries, while Jayce Arseneau had 57 yards in 10 carries.

Overall, the Patriots gained exactly 300 yards on the ground in just 40 carries, a 7.5-yard-per-rush average, and totaled 367 yards in all.

Westwood limited L’Anse to just 82 total yards, including just 31 on the ground.

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

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