Playing without all their offensive weapons available, the Mustangs held off visiting Merrill until the game’s final minute when the Vandals scored the final points for a 22-20 victory.

The win earns the Saginaw County team a berth in Saturday’s MHSAA eight-player football Division 1 state finals against Martin, a 42-8 winner over Brown City in Saturday’s other semifinal.

The D-1 championship game will be played at 11 a.m. at the Superior Dome in Marquette, a short bus trip that the Munising team and all its faithful fans were looking forward to making.

And it seemed that it was a dream that could — heck, that it would — come true until with 54 seconds remaining, Merrill receiver Kaleb Walker made a catch of a pass from quarterback Joel Tack.

With a member of the chain gang watching from the sideline, from left, Munising running back Josiah Peramaki turns the corner before he sprints for the end zone for a touchdown on the snowy field while pursued by Merrill defenders Kaleb Walker, Grant Vedrode, Garrett Frost, Cameron Raftery and Carter Feith during an MHSAA eight-player football Division 1 semifinal game in Munising on Saturday. (Journal photo by Steve Brownlee)

After making his fifth reception of the day right at the sideline around the Mustangs’ 2- or 3-yard line, Walker spun around to avoid a Mustangs’ defender and lunged into the end zone for a 10-yard touchdown catch.

Even then, that only tied the game 20-20.

The Vandals would have to make the 2-point conversion to avoid overtime, as neither team even considered kicking an extra point on this day or probably any other of the season.

Home fans’ spirits rose when the first try was flagged for a Merrill illegal procedure, backing the try up five yards.

Walker was the only Vandals’ player moving out wide on the try, and he sprinted for almost the same spot where he ended up on the previous play, waiting for Tack to throw him the ball for the lead.

Still, Munising had a few precious ticks of the clock remaining to answer and win the game.

But the desperate situation showed the one glaring weakness that Munising had after regular QB Kane Nebel was injured with a separated shoulder in a regional final win over Newberry the previous week.

Nebel put up a couple passes on his team’s final possession, but it was apparent he wasn’t able to get much on them, the second throw a big lofted pass that was caught by Walker — this time playing defense — at the sideline for an interception.

One knee taken by Tack ended the Mustangs’ season.

“We knew we had to run the ball without Kane really not able to pass,” MHS head coach Matt Mattson said. “But give credit to Merrill, they made the plays they needed to.

“Their quarterback throws the ball really well, and they made the plays down the stretch.

“In the first half, we shut down their run game. Josiah (Peramaki) ran the ball well, but he was getting fatigued in the second half.”

In the previous game when Nebel went down, Peramaki took over the offense, running the ball a state eight-player record 67 times for a pretty impressive 316 yards.

He didn’t have to shoulder as much of the workload this time, but still managed 34 carries for 268 yards.

Peramaki ran in all three Munising TDs that gave the home team leads of 12-0 in the second quarter and 20-8 in the third.

The last score seemed to put the Mustangs’ stamp on the game, a classic 10-play drive — more specifically, 10 runs by Peramaki — as each team was also whistled for penalties twice in the possession and the snow started coming down more heavily.

“We showed that you can run a spread (offense) in this kind of weather,” a happy Merrill head coach Christian Wiley said. “The big thing was that our guys didn’t panic, there was no moaning or complaining.

“They showed their composure. It was no fluke — we were down 13-8 against Portland St. Patrick (in late September) and came back against them.”

It might’ve been the most adversity either team faced all season as this was a clash of undefeateds on Saturday.

Merrill had won every game before this by at least three TDs, while the Mustangs had a pair of 14-point wins over Newberry and otherwise no games closer than four TDs.

But Tack proved to be a difference maker both with his arm and his legs.

“He’s one of the best quarterbacks in the state of Michigan,” Wiley said, sentiments that were echoed by Mattson in the lead-up to the game. “The kid has no conscience. If he makes a bad throw on one play, he’ll come back and launch it again.”

Tack didn’t have many bad throws, considering he completed 19 of 27 passes for 226 yards and no interceptions.

In addition to his last-minute scoring throw to Walker, Tack ran in Merrill’s other two TDs as he finished with 96 yards rushing on 29 carries.

As a team, Munising finished with a small 365-340 edge in yards. But how they got there was totally different, as Nebel was just 1 of 4 passing for 13 yards with the late interception while Peramaki led a 352-yard Mustangs rushing attack.

Merrill only totaled 114 yards on the ground to go with nearly twice as many through the air.

Even though it was only barely cold enough to snow, the whipping wind sent wind chills plunging and made the ball hard to hold onto — Munising lost three fumbles among its four turnovers while Merrill coughed it up twice.

In fact, the Vandals fumbled the ball away on the handoff on the game’s first snap from scrimmage.

Combining penalties — there were 14 whistled on Merrill and nine on Munising — with stout defense, the game’s first five possessions resulted in a total of one first down for each team.

The Mustangs finally broke through on a short field after Merrill gambled and failed on a 4th-and-2 inside its own 35. Munising’s Tyler Nelson tackled Tack on a run up the middle for just a 1-yard gain on the fourth down.

Once the Mustangs took over, Nebel ran the first three times and Peramaki the next three as the latter scored on a 9-yard run to the left that began with a fumbled shotgun snap late in the opening quarter.

Missed 2-pointers on Munising’s first two TDs left some uneasy in the partisan Munising crowd, though as the Mustangs continued to keep the lead they seemed to become less important.

But that initial sense of dread would prove fateful by game’s end.

Merrill was ready to answer after a short boot on the ensuing kickoff. Tack went to the air on third down and completed a 45-yard pass to Walker to bring the ball to the Munising 9.

But two penalties — one declined — on the Vandals forced fourth down at the same spot before Peramaki chased down Tack for a 13-yard QB sack to end that possession.

Following an exchange of possessions, Munising took over at its own 28 with 5:13 left. On the first play 13 seconds later, Peramaki was celebrating in the far end zone after breaking through the middle of the line and sprinting 72 yards for a 12-0 lead.

Calling up his inner Green Bay Packers QB Aaron Rodgers, or considering he’s a “troll” maybe the Detroit Lions’ Jared Goff, Tack took over and expertly worked the sideline with five passes and several QB keeper runs before he scored on a 1-yard scamper with 1:33 left.

He also threw the 2-point pass to Walker to make it a 12-8 game at halftime.

The Mustangs had an excellent chance to put the first nail in the coffin to open the second half, marching to the Merrill 10 before Peramaki was stopped on a 4th-and-2 to turn the ball back to the visitors.

But the next time Munising got the ball, they took advantage, marching 59 yards before Peramaki’s 4-yard TD run with 1:15 left in the third. With Peramaki also running in the 2-pointer, the Mustangs had a 12-point lead.

Even better, the line-drive squib boot on the ensuing kickoff wasn’t handled by Walker as the Mustangs’ Jamisen Ake jumped on it for the recovery.

It set the home team up just inside Merrill territory, but with Micaiah Peramaki taking over running duties for his twin brother, he lost a fumble five plays later to dash that chance.

The Vandals had a checkered follow-up possession, Tack completing just 3 of 6 passes. But a key roughing-the-passer penalty on Munising on third down set up Tack for a 25-yard scoring run into the right corner of the end zone with 7:03 remaining.

Tack’s 2-point run failed, meaning the Mustangs were still clinging to a six-point lead.

With time becoming a factor, Munising’s run-heavy game seemed to be the key. And while Micaiah Peramaki got one first down that way, the Mustangs then got bogged down after a holding penalty that forced a punt on 4th-and-17 near midfield.

The Vandals took over at their own 24 with 2:23 left, only enough time for a QB-led offense like Merrill’s.

Using only 89 seconds, Tack completed 5 of 8 passes and overcame their own holding penalty to score in the final minute on the Tack-to-Walker hookup.

Steve Brownlee can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 252. His email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.