Midgets breeze past W/B/SS, improve to 7-1

HURLEY — Hurley steamrolled past an outmanned Washburn/Bayfield/South Shore 49-6 Friday night at Veterans Memorial Field.

Consider the first quarter.

The Midgets had an opening kickoff return for a touchdown called back due to penalty. W/B/SS didn’t enjoy it long as Mark Saari ran 90 yards for a touchdown on the first play. He rushed for 172 of his 217 yards in the first quarter as the Midgets piled up 29 points in the frame.

Saari rushed for four first-half touchdowns and it became his third rushing game this year with more than 200 yards.

The rest of the game didn’t go much better for W/B/SS.

The Midgets outrushed W/B/SS 408-36 in total. Hurley quarterback James Sukanen was a perfect 4 for 4 for 74 yards and a touchdown while Hurley held opposing QB Robert Wilkins to 6 of 16 for 73 yards.

“I thought we played really well tonight,” Hurley coach Scott Erickson said. “We were very sharp ball faking. Line blocking, defense, pass defense was really good tonight. We stuck some kids, which we hadn’t been doing. We were kind of arm tackling, but we really put some shoulder pads in tonight and I was really pleased how the kids played.”

Hurley led 43-0 at halftime.

“We really kept the throttle down and did some nice things out there. Really, really pleased with how we played,” Erickson said.

Washburn kicked off to start the game and Roman Lupino ran 82 yards for a touchdown that was called back due to a block-in-the-back penalty. Hurley started at its own 10 and Saari broke 90 yards for a touchdown and a 6-0 Hurley lead.

Chris Edyvean recovered a Wilkins fumble two plays into W/B/SS’ ensuing drive. On Saari’s second carry of the day, he went 60 yards for another touchdown. That made it two carries on the day to that point for 150 yards, a respectable 75 yard per carry average.

Lupnio ran in the conversion for a 14-0 Hurley advantage.

On their next possession, the Midgets went to the air.

Sukanen hit Jared Wendt for 43 yards and two plays later, he found Chris Edyvean for a seven-yard touchdown pass. Saari’s two-point conversion made it 22-0 Hurley.

Before the first quarter was over, Hurley went 54 yards in eight plays as Lupino scored from a yard out with six seconds left. Jordan Moore’s extra point made it 29-0.

Hurley kept rolling in the second quarter.

After W/B/SS went three and out, Hurley went on another eight play drive, this one 63 yards. Saari wrapped it up with a five-yard TD. Moore’s kick made it 36-0.

On the third play of the next drive, Wilkins threw an interception to Wendt, who returned it 22 yards to the W/B/SS 48.

Saari broke free for a 36-yard touchdown run and Moore’s kick made it 43-0.

The Midgets went to many of the younger players after that.

W/B/SS scored in the third quarter when Wilkins hit Sam Carrier on a five-yard pass.

Hurley added one more score in the fourth quarter. Michael Brannigan rushed three yards and the extra point failed.

“I think they did pretty well,” Erickson said of the young players who got a chance to play a lot Friday night after Hurley opened up such a big lead. “They gave up one pass play, but I think they held their own. I’m sure of this, our young kids are going to grow over the next two weeks and through the playoff practices. That’s a big thing for next year is to continue to bring along those young kids and make them grow as players at varsity speed.”

Hurley (7-1) wraps up the regular season next week at home against Ontonagon in a Great Western Conference matchup.

W/B/SS 0 0 6 0 — 6

Hurley 29 14 0 6 — 49

First Quarter

Hur — Mark Saari 90 run (run failed), 11:29

Hur — Saari 60 run (Roman Lupino run), 9:38

Hur — Chris Edyvean 7 pass from James Sukanen (Saari run), 4:31

Hur — Lupino 1 run (Jordan Moore kick), :06

Second Quarter

Hur — Saari 5 run (Moore kick), 6:18

Hur — Saari 36 run (Moore kick), 4:02

Third Quarter

W/B/SS — Sam Carrier 5 pass from Robert Wilkins (pass failed), 2:40

Fourth Quarter

Hur — Michael Brannigan 3 run (kick failed), 8:31

W/B/SS Hur

First downs 5 14

Rushes-yards 19-36 36-408

Comp-Att-Int 6-17-1 4-4-0

Passing 73 74

Total yards 109 482

Penalties-yards 2-20 4-30

Fumbles-lost 2-2 1-0

Individual statistics

Rushing — W/B/SS, Robert Wilkins 12-25, Kevin Leonard 2-minus 1, Trisen Cadotte 2-8, Andrew Johnson 3-4. Hurley, Mark Saari 6-217, Mitchell Maki 5-46, Roman Lupino 9-32, Nick Fink 3-30, Tandrell Foster 2-29, Devin Czerneski 1-12, Jake Tenlen 2-9, James Sukanen 2-8, Cole Huotari 1-5.

Passing — W/B/SS, Robert Wilkins 6-16-1-73, Zeke Nieder 0-1-0-0. Hurley, James Sukanen 4-4-74-0.

Receiving — W/B/SS, Sam Carrier 2-40, Andrew Johnson 2-11, Kevin Leonard 1-8, Trisen Cadotte 1-7. Hurley, Jared Wendt 2-57, Roman Lupino 1-10, Chris Edyvean 1-7.