With the victory, the Miners improve to 5-1, continuing their momentum after a 48-0 win over Hancock the previous week. The Patriots dropped to 2-4.

Negaunee was relentless from the start, leaning on its reliable ground game and opportunistic defense to stifle the Patriots’ offense.

“This is us. This is our personality,” Miners veteran coach Paul Jacobson said. “This is the grit we talk about, this is being a Miner and what Miner football is all about. And I’m just proud of these guys and they take pride in it.”

Westwood head coach Tyler Thomas praised his team’s resilience despite the loss.

Westwood’s Ellis King yells out with excitement after the Patriots’ defense recovered a Negaunee fumble in the first quarter of their high school football game played at the Patriots’ stadium in Ishpeming on Friday. (Journal photo by Caden Sierra)

“I like that we didn’t give up,” he said. “We had a lot of injuries, and some kids had to play positions they weren’t used to. But we kept fighting.

“Negaunee is a tough team, and we knew we had to be perfect to win. We just fell short.”

Looking ahead, Thomas acknowledged the adversity his team faces after several players sustained injuries this night.

“It feels like every week we’ve had to overcome something,” Thomas said. “We’ve got a tough opponent in Kingsford coming up, so we need to be almost perfect again.”

Afterward, Jacobson emphasized the need for his Miners to clean up their mistakes.

Negaunee’s Weston Yesney kicks off following a Miners’ touchdown in the second quarter of a high school football game played against Westwood at the Patriots’ stadium in Ishpeming on Friday. (Journal photo by Caden Sierra)

“We turned the ball over way too many times tonight,” he said. “We can’t do that, we need to make sure we can still self-evaluate, evaluate on film, and continue to get better.”

Negaunee’s running backs, led by Weston Yesney and Broc Bonovetz, were the team’s workhorses, consistently churning out yards and breaking through Westwood’s defensive front.

Their efforts allowed the Miners to control the pace and kept the Patriots on their heels.

Negaunee took the opening kickoff, and after nearly fumbling the ball away on the opening play, the Miners quickly established their ground game. Moving the ball steadily, NHS reached the Patriots’ 35-yard line before the Westwood defense stood its ground, forcing a turnover on downs after a failed 4th-and-10 attempt.

Westwood’s offense, however, couldn’t move the ball effectively and was forced to punt, giving Negaunee excellent field position near midfield.

With just over a minute left in the opening quarter, Yesney found the end zone from 14 yards out, and with kicker Owen Cardinal’s extra point, the Miners led 7-0 as the quarter ended.

Early in the second, the Patriots responded with a beautiful pass play as Preston Argall leaped over a Negaunee defender to haul in the reception and race into the end zone. But Westwood’s 2-point conversion attempt was no good, leaving the visitors with a narrow 7-6 lead.

Negaunee wasted little time extending its lead, with Brady Mager making a spectacular touchdown catch on the following drive. Though the 2-point conversion failed, the Miners pushed the lead to 13-6. As halftime neared, Negaunee firmly seized control.

Bonovetz added another rushing touchdown, and a botched snap by Westwood led to a safety. The Miners closed the half with a 29-6 lead after quarterback Ty Jacobson would find Baron Heslip in the end zone for another score.

Westwood’s offense suffered another setback early in the second half when starting quarterback Tristan Miller was injured. Without their leader, the Patriots’ offense sputtered as Negaunee capitalized once again.

Mager, already having a great receiving game, returned a punt for a touchdown to make it 35-6 with 6:12 left in the third.

Despite several fumbles and turnovers made by the Miners, Westwood was unable to take advantage as the Pats couldn’t move the ball well, being forced to punt repeatedly. Backed by strong performance of its defense, Westwood was kept scoreless in the second half.

Cardinal took over at quarterback in the fourth for Negaunee, while its ground game continued to eat up the clock. Yesney added one final rushing TD early in the final period for the final margin.

Miners have possibly their toughest opponent yet on Friday when they host Upper Peninsula No. 1 Menominee at

7 p.m., while Westwood’s task isn’t much easier with a game at No. 2 Kingsford at 7 p.m. EDT.

Caden Sierra can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 551. His email address is csierra@nmu.edu.