Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Sorted by date Results 1 - 25 of 725
By JASON JUNO [email protected] HURLEY — Hurley’s success against Range rivals continued into the 2025 portion of their schedule. The Northstars beat Bessemer 60-44 victory Friday night after wrapping up 2024 with a victory at Ironwood. They can pull off a sweep of area teams with a win against Wakefield-Marenisco on Feb. 6. Hurley won their fourth straight game after starting the year 1-2. “We want to keep stacking good days on top of each other and I thought this was a pretty good day,” Hurley coach Mike Swartz said. “I thought i...
By JASON JUNO [email protected] BESSEMER — Coming into 2025, Wakefield-Marenisco wasn’t the team with a scoring problem. Bessemer was the one who failed to hit the 40-point mark twice, while the Cardinals hadn’t scored under 44 points in a game. The Speedboys turned the tables on the Cardinals, holding them to a season-low scoring output in a 45-37 victory Thursday night. “We couldn’t score, we couldn’t make a shot,” W-M coach Pat Libertoski said. “We must have missed 10 wide-open 3s. What are you going to do? Bottom line is you can...
By JASON JUNO [email protected] WAKEFIELD — Wakefield-Marenisco won’t need their bus anymore come February. The Cardinals end the season with seven straight home games followed by the district tournament in their gym. All of those late home games don’t come without a lot of travel early on. After six straight on the road, the Cardinals played their home opener, Friday night, Jan. 3, before going on the road for another three-game stretch. Lake Linden-Hubbell spoiled their first home game with a 68-53 victory. The Lakes are ranked third...
By JASON JUNO [email protected] IRONWOOD — The Ewen-Trout Creek girls are second in the first Upper Peninsula basketball poll of the season. The Panthers, ranked behind St. Ignace in the Division 4 poll, started the season at 7-1 with their only loss coming at the top-ranked big school, Negaunee. E-TC has a pair of top-five matchups coming up this month with a trip to No. 3 Lake Linden-Hubbell Thursday and a home game against No. 5 L’Anse on Jan. 21. Perennial power St. Ignace got more first-place votes, four, than E-TC, which had two...
By JASON JUNO [email protected] NEGAUNEE - As far as girls basketball goes in the Upper Peninsula, it doesn't get much better than Negaunee. The Miners are a mainstay in the big school top five and they made it to the state semifinal last season - in Division 2, the second biggest of the four groupings in Michigan. Ewen-Trout Creek, with 58 students in their high school compared to Negaunee's 433, wasn't deterred by any of that. The Panthers went into Lakeview Gym Friday night and made...
By JASON JUNO [email protected] MERCER, Wis. - When basketball games end, most kids in most places grab a basketball and shoot. In Mercer, many grab a volleyball and pass. "It's always one of those things that makes me smile," Mercer coach Robyn Schoeneman said. "They developed a love of the game, and I really do, I hope that continues." That's part of what Schoeneman leaves behind as she retires. She also goes with a legacy that includes still-running streaks of nine straight regional c...
By JASON JUNO [email protected] IRONWOOD - After waiting for the rain to stop on Saturday, the finals went off without a hitch on Sunday for the Pro Vintage Racing event at the Ironwood Snowmobile Olympus. A big race on Sunday was the Formula 500, where every driver rides a Polaris 500 carburetor model from 1989-92. Derek Meyer built a big lead after the first restart following a caution flag. But his advantage went away with another wreck on the last lap. Brad Kolecheck of Medford,...
By JASON JUNO [email protected] IRONWOOD — Christmas came early for Hurley. The week before the big holiday, the Northstars won all three of their games, and perhaps more importantly, found a style to run with, literally. After a tough loss to Drummond the week before, the Northstars have found what works. Their pressure and faster pace of play overall helped wear down hot-shooting Ironwood for a 51-44 come-from-behind win over their archrivals. That’s after it helped them past a popular choice to contend in the Northern Lights Conferen...
By JASON JUNO [email protected] Jake Witt started 2024 as an Indianapolis Colt. He’s entering 2025 in his new job in Watersmeet, as the Health and Wellness Coach at the Lac Vieux Desert Health Center. The offensive tackle from Bruce Crossing played in all three preseason games in August, including seeing more extensive action in the second contest. He didn’t make the Colts’ 53-man roster, though, for the regular season. What he did have were multiple practice squad offers, but without the guarantee of a roster spot, he decided to end h...
By JASON JUNO [email protected] BESSEMER — Wakefield-Marenisco and Bessemer both ended the 2024 portion of their schedule on a good note. The Cardinals won their second straight game, a 72-45 victory over the Speedgirls Thursday night, and got back to .500 in time for the holiday break. “I was hoping for 4-2 at this point,” W-M coach Alex Metas said. “We stumbled in the Ironwood game, so we’re going to have to settle for 3-3 and just continue to work harder to be able to make up some ground, what we lost with the loss in the first gam...
By JASON JUNO [email protected] BESSEMER — Rivals Ewen-Trout Creek and Bessemer can usually be counted on for some pretty entertaining matchups, whether it’s in the district tournament, or for positioning in the league. Tuesday night was not one of those games. The Panthers were nevertheless happy to take the 43-33 low-scoring win. “Anytime you can win on the road when you’re not scoring it worth a darn is good,” E-TC coach Brad Besonen said. Both teams are battling injuries. Bessemer missed Leland Hollenbeck, who should return af...
By JASON JUNO [email protected] HURLEY — The Northstars didn’t have much luck slowing down Quintin Bresette the last time Bayfield came to Hurley. He scored 29 of their 53 points to lead the Trollers to a big win here. “That was the big thing we talked about, let’s let someone else beat us other than (No.) 2,” Hurley coach Mike Swartz said. That was last season. The last game Hurley played didn’t set very well with them either. They went to Drummond last week and lost 55-49 where they missed a lot of shots and played sloppy overall. Th...
By JASON JUNO [email protected] IRONWOOD — These are the types of games Ironwood is going to be in — night in and night out, coach Adam Mackey expects. They’ve played three of them so far. Two of them were decided in the final seconds and the third in the fourth quarter. So far, the Red Devils have pulled all of them out for a 3-0 start, with the latest being a 53-50 victory over Bessemer Monday night. “I think every single night it’s going to come down to the last four, five minutes of the game,” Mackey said. “I expect the same thin...
By JASON JUNO [email protected] EWEN — One week into the season and Ewen-Trout Creek already appears to be living up to the preseason hype. First, they went to Norway and won 61-35 over the Knights while holding All-U.P. First Team selection Lauren Adams to just four points. Then, they hosted Ironwood and fended off one of their biggest challengers in the Copper Mountain Conference for a 58-35 victory Friday night. They smothered the Red Devils’ top two scorers, who combined for eight points. “Ewen is probably one of the top teams...
By JASON JUNO [email protected] IRONWOOD — Bessemer has some pretty strong options inside with bigs Audrey Stone and Maddie Guglielmotto. Ironwood made sure they didn’t get the ball very often as they blitzed the Speedgirls for a 56-13 victory Tuesday night. “That was definitely the game plan going in, to limit scoring opportunities for the bigs inside,” Ironwood coach Jesse Mackey said. “I thought our girls had great position all night and our guards brought a lot of pressure to their guards. They couldn’t even get the pass in.” B...
By JASON JUNO [email protected] IRONWOOD — Gogebic started the weekend with an 86-79 victory over Alpena Friday night, but they fell 87-63 to Rochester on Saturday. Rochester held Gogebic to their second worst offensive output of the season. The Samsons were 24 of 63 (38.1%) from the floor compared to Rochester, which was better than 50% at 34 of 63 (54%). “Just physicality, they got it down low and took it to us down low and that was the difference,” Gogebic coach Dennis Mackey said. “They had inside play; we didn’t, they had more...
By JASON JUNO [email protected] IRONWOOD — Gogebic picked up its first win of the season Friday night, but co-coach Denver Sharrow liked the way the Samsons played on Saturday better. Unfortunately for them, the No. 1 team in the country was in Ironwood. GCC beat Alpena CC 75-59 Friday night and fell 91-49 to Rochester CTC Saturday. Gogebic trailed 27-24 after a quarter in Saturday’s defeat. They struggled to score in the middle quarters, totaling just a dozen points against a Rochester program that won the NJCAA Division III nat...
By JASON JUNO [email protected] IRONWOOD — Gogebic’s biggest crowds of the year are usually reserved for the postseason or other big late-season matchups. A chilly Tuesday night in November was the exception as fans turned out to the Samsons’ matchup with Bay College to be a part of the dedication ceremony for what is now officially named Coach Mackey Court. “It’s one of those things, a little overwhelming for me,” GCC men’s coach Dennis Mackey said. “But at the same time, a nice honor and very appreciative of getting the award, and...
By JASON JUNO [email protected] IRONWOOD — The younger team led all night, but the more experienced group made the plays in crunch time as Ironwood rallied past Wakefield-Marenisco for an improbable 50-48 season-opening win Monday night. The Cardinals led 48-39 after a Chase Lane 3 early in the fourth quarter, but they didn’t score again. W-M turned it over to Ironwood with 58.5 seconds left and the Devils’ returning All-U.P. player, Axton Ruotsala, pulled up for a long 2 to tie the game at 48. He then stole the inbound pass, givin...
By JASON JUNO [email protected] LANSING — The MHSAA is going all in on seeding for its boys and girls district basketball tournaments in the spring. The state had only dipped its toes into seeding for the last several years — it ranked only the top two teams with the goal of the best teams meeting in the district final. But that’s all it did. The higher seeded teams weren’t guaranteed to get the home games it seemingly earned and the 1 seeds didn’t always get to play the weaker teams leading up to the district final. Now all of the te...
By JASON JUNO [email protected] MINNEAPOLIS — Ella Pavlovich, whose grandparents are all from the Gogebic Range, was a member of the University of Minnesota’s Big Ten champion women’s track-and-field team during the spring. She finished 21st in the hammer at that meet with a mark of 173 feet, 6 inches. “It was an awesome experience because I don’t think it was expected,” Pavlovich said of the Big Ten championship. Her personal best throw of 176-0 was good for a win at the Janis Rider-Doug Bolstorff Invite. She finished runner-up a...
By JASON JUNO [email protected] MARQUETTE — Wakefield-Marenisco junior Noelle Grace earned a spot on the All-U.P. volleyball team for the second year in a row. After making the Division 4 First Team last year, Grace this year became one of 16 Dream Team selections in voting at last week’s second annual volleyball meeting of the Upper Peninsula Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association. Ironwood’s Audra Pawlak and Hanna Vaughn were selected to the Division 1-3 First Team with a trio of Ewen-Trout Creek players named to the Division 4 F...
By JASON JUNO [email protected] IRONWOOD — Gogebic won its home opener 75-62 over the Northland College JV team Thursday night. The Samsons started fast and led 43-24 at halftime. They needed that margin as Northland fought back to make it a closer game in the second half. Gogebic was playing the second night of a back-to-back after a nice win at Marshfield the night before, but it was a late trip. The Samsons, though, only played well in one half that game, the second, and they’ve generally had one good half in all of their games...
By JASON JUNO [email protected] MARQUETTE — Iron Mountain dominated the major 11-player awards given up out by the Upper Peninsula Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association at its 75th annual football meeting last week. The Mountaineers finished 11-1 and advanced to the Division 8 regional final where it lost 14-7 to Beal City, which is playing Riverview Gabriel Richard for a state championship Friday morning. Iron Mountain was named Small School Team of the Year, with the retiring Robin Martilla Coach of the Year. Running back A...
By JASON JUNO [email protected] MARQUETTE — Ontonagon’s dynamic duo of Austin Gordon and Caden Besonen was selected to the All-U.P. Dream Team at Monday’s 75th meeting of the Upper Peninsula Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association. Gogebic’s Wyatt Aspinwall and Leland Hollenbeck were All-U.P. First Team selections while several area athletes were either special or honorable mention. Gordon, selected at one of two hybrid spots, finished his senior season with 2,394 passing yards and 27 touchdowns. He also ran for 387 yards and nine s...
