By Journal Sports Staff

MARQUETTE — Brendan Kaski passed for 206 yards but had three interceptions as Marquette lost to Menominee 34-17 in a Great Northern Conference high school football game that closed both teams’ regular seasons on Friday night.

Marquette (4-5, 1-3 GNC) was left without its most potent weapon when junior running back Drew Gale went down with what appeared to be a serious knee injury on the Redmen’s third play from scrimmage, according to MSHS head coach Dave L’Huillier.

“He had 18 yards and carried the ball on each of the first three plays,” the coach said. “That changed the whole dynamic, the whole complexion of the game.”

Nevertheless, the Redmen built a 17-12 lead after one quarter, but were never able to score again.

“Our kids did well responding to the situation,” L’Huillier said. “We were able to get the ball to Ethan (Martysz) among others.

“But Menominee made some adjustments, doubling on Ethan and getting some help on (fellow receiver) Adam (Jenshak).”

Jenshak finished with six catches for 111 yards while Martysz had four for 70.

Marquette opened the scoring with a Martysz 42-yard field goal near the midpoint of the first quarter.

But Menominee (6-3, 2-2) needed just 12 seconds to respond when Maroons QB Ethan Mileski sprinted 65 yards for a touchdown to make it 6-3.

The back-and-forth quarter continued with the Redmen responding barely a minute later on a Jenshak 78-yard scoring strike from Kaski. Martysz’s kick made it 10-6.

Marquette extended the lead less than a minute and a half later when Martysz caught a 23-yard TD pass from Kaski, and with Martysz’s extra point, it was 17-6.

That’s when Menominee got down to work. Mileski hooked up with Devon Bournoville for a 33-yard TD with 1:35 left in the first. But the failed PAT run still left MSHS with a 17-12 lead.

The Maroons took the lead for good about three minutes into the second quarter when Jacob Rivard scored from a yard out. With a PAT pass thrown by Mileski, Menominee led 20-17.

The visitors added TD runs of 56 yards by Mileski late in the third quarter and 1 yard by William Burnett midway through the fourth for the final margin.

Kaski completed 13 of 28 passes, but the Redmen only managed 106 yards rushing after Gale’s early exit. Richard Weycker led MSHS runners with 27 yards in eight tries.

Menominee rolled up 341 yards, 266 on the ground as Mileski ran 20 times for 187 yards. He also was 3 of 11 for 75 yards and no pickoffs.

Bark River-Harris 22, Munising 14

At Munising, twice the Mustangs answered a Broncos’ score, but on BR-H’s final touchdown early in the fourth quarter, Munising came up less than 10 yards short of a response.

After the Broncos’ Logan Heim scored from 1 yard out with 9:59 left, the Mustangs put together a long, time-consuming drive that stalled out when on fourth down from the BR-H 7-yard-line, quarterback Alec Blank’s pass into the end zone just missed the receiver’s fingertips.

The Broncos were able to run out the last few minutes to secure the victory.

Both teams are in limbo and might be battling each other for a precious MHSAA Division 8 playoff berth. BR-H is 5-4 and Munising 4-4, meaning both will have to wait for the MHSAA Selection Sunday show to see if they’ve made the playoffs.

“I’m hearing both ways, that we’re in the playoffs and that we aren’t,” MHS coach Jeff Seaberg said.

Despite the game coming down to a late play, the Broncos held a decided statistical advantage, 278-134, in total yards.

Heim outgained Munising by himself, rolling up 177 yards on the ground in 20 tries as Bark River totaled 258 rushing. Heim had a 2-yard TD run late in the first quarter.

Munising had 77 yards on the ground, paced by Matt Revord’s 42 in 11 carries, and added 57 through the air as Blank was 6 of 15 with no interceptions.

“Bark River did an outstanding job blocking for Heim,” Seaberg said. “He’s shifty and he found the holes.

“They did a good job and just outworked us.”

Mason Schieding had a 1-yard TD run in the second quarter and Blank a 2-yard scoring jaunt in the third quarter for the Mustangs.

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