By Journal Sports Staff

ISHPEMING — Jeff Olson knows about the value of quality play in the trenches.

So his compliments for the Ishpeming offensive and defensive lines were high praise indeed as the Hematites prevailed over Norway 46-19 in a high school football game played Friday night.

Olson led a number of smaller Ishpeming teams to the state finals earlier this decade, much because of that quality line play.

“I thought we played well in all phases of the game,” the veteran Hematites’ coach said about Friday’s game. “Both of our lines controlled the line of scrimmage.

“Offensively, we were able to get some of our speed guys out in the open. And on defense, we were able to take away their run game and forced them to throw.”

While Knights’ quarterback Trey Doda threw a pair of touchdown passes to Mitchell LeGrave of 15 and 46 yards, their team was playing catch-up all night after Ishpeming put 40 first-half points on the scoreboard.

“I think we scored the first five times we had the ball,” Olson said. “They came back twice to score on us, but you get in more of a comfort zone when you’re able to establish a good lead.”

IHS QB Gavin Sundberg led all rushers with 201 yards in 15 attempts, while teammate Hunter Smith added 87 yards in seven carries.

Sundberg was only called on to throw three passes, but he completed two of them for 66 yards. One was a 49-yard scoring strike to Smith early in the second quarter.

That score came with 9:53 left in the frame and was the third TD in less than a minute and a half between the two teams, making it 32-13 at the time.

Gavin Sundberg ran in three TDs in addition to his one passing, while Drake Sundberg had Ishpeming’s first two TDs in the first eight minutes of the game on a pair of 1-yard runs.

Norway scored the only points of the fourth quarter on a 1-yard run by Austin Janssen, who led Knights’ rushers with 56 yards in 14 carries. Doda completed 11 of 21 passes for 163 yards.

There were no turnovers by either side.

Munising 58, Bark River-Harris 8

At Munising, the Mustangs got their first win by forcing five turnovers while committing none themselves.

“This was an important win because when you start 0-2, it can wreck your season if you go 0-3,” Munising head coach Jeff Seaberg said. “We were able to maintain control because we had no turnovers.

“Defensively, turnovers were definitely the difference. If you hustle, you have a chance to make those turnovers.”

The Mustangs had three interceptions despite the Broncos attempting just four passes — the pickoffs were by Thomas Murdock, Mason Schieding and Dante Valle.

Murdock also recovered a BR-H fumble, while another Broncos fumble was scooped up by teammate Logan Waldron, who returned it 38 yards for a late third-quarter touchdown that made it 51-8.

Schieding was the workhorse of the Munising offense, scoring first-half TDs of 19, 1, 6 and 20 yards for a 28-0 halftime lead while finishing with 87 yards on 12 rushes.

Quarterback Josh Huotari provided aerial support, completing 13 of 15 passes for 173 yards. Seven of the catches were made by Anthony Mattson for 80 yards, while Jesse Matson caught six for 93.

Those totals don’t include Huotari throwing twice each to Matson and Mattson for two-point conversions.

Two of Matson’s catches were for TDs of 10 and 14 yards in the third quarter. Munising’s final two TDs were Waldron’s fumble return and a 2-yard run by Bryce Bowerman.

The Mustangs outgained BR-H 358-83.

The Broncos’ lone TD came in the third quarter on an Eric Viau 87-yard kickoff return.

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