MARQUETTE – Every time Forest Park put the Munising football team to the test, the Mustangs came up with a good answer on Saturday night.

It led to Munising’s 43-14 victory at the Superior Dome and the MHSAA Division 8 regional championship for the Mustangs.

Munising advances to the D8 semifinals next weekend.

“We’ve got a lot of weapons,” Mustangs head coach Jeff Seaberg said. “If you concentrate on one, that lets us go to somebody else.”

The Trojans tested Munising right away, rushing for first downs on each of the game’s first four plays.

Bottled up on fourth down, the Trojans used a halfback pitch back to quarterback Lee Graff, who tossed it to Dan Nocerini for a 10-yard touchdown and 6-0 lead.

The Mustangs were forced to punt on their opening possession, but Andy Cooper’s pooch kick was downed on the FP 5 and led to the game’s first critical play.

The snap on the second play sailed wild and Graff was forced to fall on the ball in the end zone for a safety.

Then MHS senior Alex Hill returned the free kick to the Trojans’ 28, and eight plays later, senior workhorse back Garrett Blank bulled over a defender for a 2-yard score. Cooper’s extra-point made it 9-6 Munising.

“The momentum really changed on that safety,” Seaberg said. “All the positive yards up to that point had been theirs.”

Hill added a 17-yard TD in the second quarter on a perfect pass from senior QB Austin Kelto to make it 16-6 by halftime.

That forced the Trojans to the air more often, and Cooper made them pay by stepping in front of three passes for second-half interceptions.

“Really, that doesn’t surprise me,” Seaberg said about the senior’s three picks. “He just such a heck of an athlete. He can close on anybody.”

But Munising had one last test to pass.

Nocerini turned a swing pass into a 50-yard score with 8:30 left to go, and with a two-point pass, FP cut its deficit to two scores, 30-14.

Backed up after the ensuing kickoff, Blank tried to make something out of nothing that resulted in a nine-yard loss back to 3.

It looked eerily similar to the Trojans’ earlier adventures deep in their end.

But instead of a safety, the Mustangs turned it into a positive.

One play later, Kelto planted and found Hill in stride at the Munising 40. Hill pulled away from his defender for a 90-yard TD to make it 36-14.

Blank, who finished with four TD runs, led all rushers with 118 yards on 34 carries.

Kelto completed 7 of 8 passes for 172 yards, while the Mustangs’ defense held FP to 194 total yards, 99 on the ground and 95 through the air.

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