That’s mostly because the Hematites played their first season of eight-player football last fall after a long tradition of winning in 11-player, including a trio of state championships in the past 15 years under state Hall of Fame coach Jeff Olson.

Lyman is in his third year at Ishpeming, having coached one year of each type of the game.

“Last year was our first in eight-man, and it’s definitely a different game, but it’s definitely football and definitely a tough game to play,” Lyman said. “You’re playing one-on-one a lot of times.

“But we made it to the playoffs, and I feel pretty confident that we can do that again, even with all the tough teams we have on our schedule.”

Ishpeming fans have their own section in the bleachers at East Jordan during their MHSAA Division 8 playoff game played in East Jordan on Oct. 28, 2023. (Petoskey News-Review photo by Drew Kochanny)

Last year was an uphill battle for Ishpeming, not just because of the change in the game, but also the schedule.

With football a sport where schedules are often worked out multiple years ahead of when the games are actually played, Ishpeming got caught without a conference to play in after Ishpeming Public Schools decided to change from 11-player to eight-player in that previous offseason.

The Hematites only played one Upper Peninsula team last year in the regular season — and that was eventual state Division 1 runner-up Pickford.

Ishpeming also made a road trip downstate to Merrill and into Wisconsin to Florence and Sturgeon Bay.

They won their D-1 playoff opener over Norway 44-38 before falling to that powerful Pickford team for the second time, 44-6.

Ishpeming’s Ethan DeMarois, right, gains yardage before he is tackled by Gwinn’s Quade Weiland, center, during their high school football game played at the Ishpeming Playgrounds on Oct. 6, 2023. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)

“I’m looking forward to not having to travel so far,” Lyman said as the Hematites have been able to join the Great Lakes Eight Conference’s East Division.

The season starts with a home game against Ontonagon at 7 p.m. Friday.

And he added that while the games might be closer to home, they certainly won’t be any easier, with four playoff teams on their schedule — Division 2’s Forest Park on Sept. 5 and Division 1’s Munising on Sept. 20, Norway on Oct. 3 and Pickford to end the regular season on Oct. 24.

“We’ve lost some seniors, but Ishpeming football always has that ‘next man up’ mentality,” Lyman said. “We’re still learning, but I’m glad we can get back to what we like to do.”

No. 1 is running the ball.

Ishpeming’s Grady Gauthier, left, successfully wrestles the ball away from Iron Mountain receiver Luke Wolfe for an incomplete pass in the second quarter of their high school game played at the Ishpeming Playgrounds on Sept. 8, 2023. (Photo courtesy Daryl T. Jarvinen)

He has 25 players out between all four grades.

“I think there’s only about 10 boys in the whole senior class this year, so to get even two of them isn’t so bad,” Lyman said.

Both are among the team’s leaders and may very well make the biggest dent in a productive rushing attack.

First is senior quarterback Grady Gauthier, who started as a sophomore on defense, while last year he spent most of his time as a defensive back and running back.

“We, and myself, always want to run the ball first,” he repeated about his affinity to rushing, “but we’ll take what the defense gives us.

Ishpeming's Joshua Wojie, front with ball, breaks several tackles for a gain during a high school game played against Gwinn at the Ishpeming Playgrounds on Oct. 6, 2023. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)

“Grady is still working on his passing skills, but he’s thrown the ball for along time — he was a quarterback in middle school.”

The other senior, Josh Wojie, is the most seasoned running back, while he’ll be joined by junior Dax Kakkuri and sophomores Derek Meyer and Kian Gauthier.

“We might be a little bit smaller than some at (running) back, but they’re good skill guys,” the coach said, adding that in most instances, these running backs will also look like receivers when they split out wide.

Lyman might be concerned with no offensive linemen returning, except that he has six guys he can count on.

There’s junior tight end Cody Baer and interior linemen who include juniors twins Nick and Xavier Bannister, junior Ethan DeMarois and sophomores Davis Hyatt and Marcus Annala.

“We have a decent-sized line,” Lyman said, “maybe bigger on the end positions and on the interior a little smaller.”

He adds that huge linemen aren’t always a benefit in the eight-player game.

The coach said he was still working on his defensive lineup barely a week into fall practice.

“We’ll mix it up,” he said about employing the eight-player equivalent of the 3-4 and 4-3.

“The transition from 11-man to eight-man can be a little tricky, but our philosophy is similar to offense — everyone has a job to do.”

He sees Wojie being a linebacker who can move to the line, while Grady Gauthier also starting out at linebacker with him moving into the secondary, too.

“We work it out week to week, depending on our scouting report,” Lyman said. “We’ve got to see what (opponents) like to do.”

He added that he wants to start up front with the line on defense.

“That cycles back to our linebackers, which then cycles back to the secondary,” the coach said.

Finally, in the kicking game, Lyman has penciled — but not inked — in Cody Baer as both punter and kicker after he handled kicking chores only last season.

On kickoffs, he expects one of his backs, particularly Meyer and Grady Gauthier, as likely return men.

Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee’s email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.