NEGAUNEE – With a pair of quarterbacks sidelined, the Negaunee Miners are back to relying on the ground game to power to victories.

Senior George Johnson sounds like he’s happy to shoulder the burden.

The 5-foot-9, 165-pound running back pounded out 185 yards in 24 carries, scoring four first-half touchdowns to lead the Miners to a 44-7 home prep football victory over Norway.

Negaunee (4-0 Mid-Peninsula Conference) all but insured a playoff berth with its sixth win against no losses this season.

“We’ve been able to do a lot of things offensively and defensively because of our line play on both sides of the ball,” NHS coach Paul Jacobson said. “They really work well as a unit.”

Johnson and Shane Ring were cited for carrying the offensive load as the latter added 48 yards on seven tries and caught a two-point conversion pass.

Despite the dominant look of the final score, Norway (2-4, 1-2) jumped out to a 7-0 lead after its first play from scrimmage when Caleb Tinkey scored on a 62-yard run and Canyon Rossato added the PAT kick.

But the Miners turned around and ground out a nearly 7 1/2-minute drive when Johnson hit paydirt from a yard out. QB Eric Hurst’s 2-point pass to Ring made it 8-7 Negaunee.

The Miners’ Jeffrey Matthews added a 65-yard TD run late in the first and with a Hurst-to-Dylan Tasson PAT pass, Negaunee went up 16-7.

Johnson added TD runs of 52 and 2 yards in the next quarter before another 2-yard TD run by Johnson and a 70-yard punt returned for a score by Matthews rounded out the scoring in the second half.

Negaunee outgained Norway, 411-144, including 380-113 on the ground as each team passed for 31 yards.

The Miners’ Parker Bowman and Ring intercepted passes by Knights QB Bryce Grayvold for what Jacobson said were the only turnovers of the game.

Munising 42, Rudyard 0

At Rudyard Friday night, the home Bulldogs might refer to Mustangs’ running back Thomas Hyde as “Mr. Hyde,” in comparison to Dr. Jekyll, as the Munising player ran and slashed his way to five touchdowns in the game’s first 18 minutes.

“He was taking what they were giving him,” Mustangs coach Jeff Seaberg said about Hyde, listed as a 5-foot-7, 180-pound senior on the team’s preseason roster. “He just gets stronger as the game goes on. He has a real knack at finding the holes.

“Corey Cotey was blocking well from the fullback position and Hyde just found his rhythm.”

By gaining 214 yards in 24 rushes, Hyde far surpassed the 1,000-yard mark for the season as Munising improved to 5-1. Hyde reportedly is at around 1,170 yards for this season.

Hyde scored on runs of 8 and 3 yards in the first quarter and 13, 7 and 10 yards in the first six minutes of the second quarter, making it 33-0 at the time.

Teammate Colin Murdock tacked on a 2-yard TD run in the first half’s final 30 seconds to make it 38-0, and a safety in the game’s final minute when Rudyard quarterback Jace Jenerou was tackled in the end zone completed the scoring.

The Mustangs rolled up 415 yards rushing in 54 attempts and didn’t complete either of two pass attempts.

The Bulldogs were held to negative-9 yards rushing in 20 tries and 3 of 14 passing for 63 yards as Munising QB Will Seymour, playing in the secondary, picked off two passes.

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