Gwinn’s Tucker Taylor, center, gets stopped by Munising’s Mason Schieding, left, as the Modeltowners’ Aaron Armatti looks to block on the play during the second quarter of their West PAC football game played Friday night in Munising. (Photo courtesy of Shannon Stieg)

MUNISING — For many years, the Gwinn football program was down in the dumps.

For almost two decades, the Modeltowners were on the outside looking in, hoping to someday get back to the postseason.

Things have changed dramatically over the past few years, and on Friday night, the Modeltowners did what was once seen as unthinkable as they made the MHSAA playoffs for the second time in three years with a 20-16 win over Munising.

As Gwinn students ran onto the field at Mustang Stadium to celebrate with their team, Modeltowners (6-3) head coach Dion Brown walked off the field with a big smile on his face.

“This is what I came to Gwinn for,” he said. “When I took over the job, I told people that this is what this was going to be about. A lot of people laughed at me and said ‘You’ll be done in three years,’ but hard work pays off.

“We were without Seth (Aho), my nephew ToQuan (Starnes) went out (of) the game (with an injury), but you saw this all year. This is what we’ve been battling with all year, injuries. For these guys to pull off this victory, it’s everything.

“For those seniors, they’ve been through a lot. They’ve had friends transfer on them and they haven’t won anything in their whole lives. Now to be part of this, two times in three years, that’s special.

“I told the guys (before the season) that it was going to be tough, and if you look at the schedule, they were all winnable games. They just needed to put in the work and that’s what they’ve been doing. They’ve been putting in the work with me and that’s what it’s all about.”

While there was jubilation on one end of the field, tears were shed at the other end. The Mustangs (4-5) needed a victory to keep their playoff hopes alive, but they couldn’t hold on late in the fourth quarter and were eliminated from playoff contention.

After consoling his team and hugging his distraught seniors, Munising head coach Jeff Seaberg said that the game simply came down to some misfortunes.

“It was a hard-fought ball game on both sides and we just had a few unfortunate things,” he said. “They ran the ball well on us in the beginning and we couldn’t tackle their tailback. That was the big difference early on.

“That gave them some momentum and we just had a few bad breaks down the stretch.”

When asked what he told his players as they hung their heads in silence in the postgame huddle, Seaberg said it was about perseverance.

“I told them that this is tough,” the coach said. “You’re playing to get into the playoffs and these are tough lessons and you hope you take that through your life. You just have to get up and fight again.

“They’re resilient kids and they’ve shown that throughout the season, how they’ve played sometimes when the chips are down. That’s what’s most important.”

The Mustangs held a slim 16-14 lead as the minutes ticked down in the fourth, but after struggling for quite awhile, the Modeltowners offense started to put a drive together.

Gwinn converted on fourth down to bring the ball up to the Munising 20-yard line, and five plays later, Modeltowners tight end Tucker Taylor caught a short pass from quarterback Austin Forbes and trotted in the end zone for a 12-yard score with 4:33 left.

The most impressive thing about the scoring play was that Forbes went down earlier in the game, grasping his leg. He was already battling a torn ACL heading into the game, but he fought his way back onto the field and led what turned out to be the winning drive.

“It’s probably the worst pain ever, but you kind of just have to walk it off and go back in,” he said. “We didn’t have anyone else off the bench. I’m just trying to focus on my team and not myself.”

Munising had two possessions after that as the Mustangs tried to move the ball into Gwinn territory. However, with the ball at midfield, quarterback Josh Huotari was picked off to end the first possession.

With 2:24 left, Munising had one last shot to try for the winning score, but on fourth down, what appeared to be a diving catch was ruled incomplete and Gwinn ran out the clock.

The Modeltowners struck first on their opening possession as Starnes found an opening down the left sideline and trotted into the end zone for a 25-yard touchdown. Forbes picked up the 2-point conversion and Gwinn led 8-0.

After going three-and-out on its first possession, Munising caught a break when Taylor couldn’t field a bouncing punt and the Mustangs recovered the muff. After Huotari completed a pass to Clayton Smith on fourth down, he connected with Anthony Mattson for another first down. Two plays later, Huotari scored from four yards out and found Smith in the end zone for the 2-point conversion.

Gwinn answered back, though, on its next possession as Starnes busted loose for a 39-yard run and just a few plays later, he worked his way downfield for a 31-yard TD. The Modeltowners couldn’t get the conversion, though, but still led 14-8 heading into the second.

Munising punched back after taking advantage of another Gwinn mistake. After failing on fourth down, the Mustangs turned the ball over to the Modeltowners and with the ball on the Munising 25, Starnes coughed up the ball to the Mustangs.

Just five plays later, Munising took the lead again as Huotari found a wide-open Jesse Matson streaking down the right sideline with a 67-yard scoring pass. The Mustangs had two chances to pad their 2-point advantage before halftime, but couldn’t get into the end zone with the ball in Gwinn territory.

Ryan Stieg can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 252. His email address is rstieg@miningjournal.net.