By BRYCE DEROUIN

Houghton Daily

Mining Gazette

CALUMET – Ishpeming head coach Jeff Olson was looking to diversify his offense before Friday’s matchup against Calumet.

And after three carries to junior running back Isaac Olson, the Ishpeming Hematites had discovered another weapon.

On Isaac Olson’s first three carries, he scored on plays of 69, 27 and 53 yards in the first quarter, as Ishpeming went on to beat Calumet 34-8.

“We’re trying to use his talents,” Jeff Olson said of Isaac Olson. “We’ve been pretty one-dimensional in what we do, so we’re adding a couple more wrinkles that teams will have to defend.

“It worked well tonight. I think it caught Calumet by surprise.”

Isaac Olson wasn’t touched on either of his scoring plays. The 5-foot-10 back outran the defense along the right sideline on his first score – a 69-yard run – and then took two jet sweeps to the left for his final two TDs.

“That was kind of a different look that we weren’t ready for and it took us awhile to get down on it,” Calumet head coach John Croze said. “But it sure puts pressure on you.”

Ishpeming gained 313 yards rushing, with Isaac Olson leading the way with 152 yards on six carries. Senior quarterback Ozzy Corp – who provided the inside running threat off direct snaps – finished with 94 yards and a touchdown on 15 tries.

Calumet’s (1-2) lone offensive success came a minute and a half after Olson’s first TD run. Junior quarterback Russ Bjorn found senior running back Robert Erkkila for a 40-yard score on a throwback pass to the left side of the field. Erkkila would score the two-point conversion to give the Copper Kings an 8-6 lead.

It took just 48 seconds for Ishpeming to retake the lead, as Isaac Olson recorded his second TD. After Olson’s third score, Corp hit paydirt on a 3-yard run and senior end Thomas Finegan intercepted Bjorn and returned it for another TD, putting Ishpeming up 34-8 before the half.

Ishpeming forced Calumet into five turnovers – four interceptions and one fumble.

“We didn’t make adjustments. We just played tighter coverage,” Jeff Olson said about his team’s pass defense after allowing the one score. “That’s what I was really pleased about with our defense – the turnovers we caused and the interceptions.

“They made three third-and-longs in a row, and from then on, I thought our kids really stiffened up. That’s what I love to see – that defense creating turnovers. That was big for us.”

Overall, Ishpeming (3-0) outgained Calumet, 361-202.

“They put a lot of guys in the box,” Croze said of Ishpeming’s defense. “They just eventually wear you down and figure it out. We kept moving the ball, but we got to finish drives.”

With the outcome never in doubt and neither offense able to move the ball in the second half, the most dramatic event over the final two quarters was when Corp limped off to the sidelines in the third quarter after a 3-yard run. However, it appeared to not be serious.

“He’ll be fine,” Jeff Olson said of Corp. “We just kept him out for precautionary reasons. It was more of a cramp. He got cleated in his leg, so we kept him out as more of a precautionary.”