Midgets take control of Lakes in second half of GWC battle

HURLEY - It was a frustrating night for Hurley Friday with two touchdowns called back due to penalties.

But it was an even more frustrating night for Lake Linden.

The Midgets overcame all the hardships and outscored the Lakes 22-0 in the second half for a 28-6 Great Western Conference victory.

"I'm most proud of the way the kids handled the second half after everything went bad in the first half," Hurley coach Scott Erickson said. "Things weren't looking good and they rallied up at halftime and we wore them down in the second half."

Lake Linden moved the ball most of the game, but the Lakes only reached the red zone once: Its final drive of the game.

"We did not do a good job of sustaining our blocks," Lake Linden coach Andy Crouch said. "Consequently, we played defense too much. You can't give these guys the ball that much. They're too good.I feel they had to earn it, but we have a long way to go."

It certainly wasn't easy for Hurley. The game was tied 6-6 at the half and Hurley's luck sure didn't look like it was changing in the third quarter.

Hurley forced a punt and Jake Tenlen returned it 75 yards for a touchdown. A block in the back call brought Hurley back to its own 31.

The Midgets, though, only took five plays to finally turn things around.

Devin Czerneski capped the drive with a four-yard touchdown run. Mitchell Maki's two-point conversion run made it 14-6 Hurley.

"That was a good drive because if they would have stopped us there, that would have been a real punch in the gut," Erickson said.

Tenlen was optimistic, even after his TD was called back.

"I knew the way we were coming out that we were going to score on that drive," he said. "Scoring on that drive was key."

Andy Crouch acknowledged the significance of Hurley scoring on that drive after more misfortune struck.

"That kind of took the wind out of our sails," he said. "But we have to handle that. Our schedule is the way it is (seven of the nine teams were in the playoffs last year). We have to handle situations like that if we want to be a good team."

Hurley recovered a fumble on Lake Linden's next possession but couldn't take advantage. The Lakes took a chunk of time off the clock after that, but Hurley once again forced a punt.

That's when the Midgets put it out of reach.

It only took Hurley four plays to go 66 yards. On second down, the quarterback, Tenlen, hid the ball on his hip and ran 31 yards untouched for six points to give Hurley a 20-6 lead.

Everyone who plays Hurley knows that play is coming by now. They just don't know when. Nor can they stop it.

"The thing that really helps is the running back acts like he has the ball and just dives up in there just bullrushing everybody. They think he has the ball," Tenlen said. "I just try to keep it on my hip the best I can and hopefully they don't see it."

Maki ended Lake Linden's next drive with an interception and Hurley scored one more time, on a seven-yard run by Nick Fink. The conversion made it 28-6.

Hurley's lone first half touchdown was a five-yard run by Maki. That came on the drive after Lake Linden opened scoring on a 77-yard bomb from Arthur Lyons to a wide open Brendan Middleton.

"I was really proud defensively how we handled not giving up real points," Erickson said. "Sometimes we let them drive the ball a little more than we wanted to, but they're a good football team. They come off the ball hard. We had a little more gas in the tank than they did."

The Midgets nearly had another score in the first half. But Maki's 65-yard TD screen pass from James Sukanen was called back due to penalty, one of seven Hurley committed on the night.

Maki led Hurley with 142 rushing yards on 17 carries. Czerneski had 89 yards on 13 rushes. Hurley outgained Lake Linden 287-150 on the ground.

Hurley (3-0) goes to Crystal Falls Forest Park Friday in a GWC heavyweight battle.

Lake Linden (1-1) hosts L'Anse next Saturday.

"If we can compete with these guys (Hurley), I think we can compete with anybody," Crouch said.

Hurley 0 6 8 14 - 28

Lake Linden 6 0 0 0 - 6

First Quarter

LLH - Brendan Middleton 77 pass from Arthur Lyons (run failed), :23

Second Quarter

Hur - Mitchell Maki 5 run (pass failed), 7:27

Third Quarter

Hur - Devin Czerneski 5 run (Maki run), 5:47

Fourth Quarter

Hur - Jake Tenlen 31 run (kick failed), 8:02

Hur - Nick Fink 7 run (Tandrell Foster pass from Tenlen), 4:06

LLH Hur

First downs 12 12

Rushes-yards 42-150 41-287

Comp-Att-Int 3-10-1 1-2-0

Passing 84 37

Total yards 235 325

Penalties 3-24 7-65

Fumbles-lost 1-1 1-0

Individual statistics

Rushing - Lake Linden Nic Walli 13-56, Tyler Roose 9-48, Blake Dupuis 8-31, Andrew Hammes 2-5, Brendan Middleton 2-3, Arthur Lyons 7-minus 16, Josh Pointer 3-23. Hurley, Mitchell Maki, 17-142, Devin Czerneski 13-89, Cole Huotari 2-4, Jake Tenlen 3-16, James Sukanen, 3-minus 13, Nick Fink 3-49.

Passsing - Lake Linden, Arthur Lyons, 3-10-85-1. Hurley, James Sukanen, 2-3-38-0.

Receiving - Lake Linden, Brendan Middleton 2-78, Dayne Matson 1-7. Hurley, Jake Tenlen 1-37, Mitchell Maki 1-1.