Lakes rise in late rally over Miners

BESSEMER – For the Gogebic Miners, this one really hurts.

When Paul Buerger went off tackle, kicked it outside and scored from the six-yard line with the conversion added, the Miners went up 20-12 with 9:56 left in the game. But Lake Linden is a tough team to crack and the Lakes rallied to score two touchdowns and pull out a 28-20 conference victory at Massie Field in a rare Saturday night game.

Things seemed to be going Gogebic's way the longer the game went on. On the play before Buerger's TD, it was fourth down and six-yards to go and the Miners ran a pass play they had not run all year. It's called "Gronkowski" after New England's tight end. Lineman Wyatt Barto was inserted into the tight end spot and running back Caleb Greenough was split out wide. Quarterback Kevin Lane zipped a 13-yard seam pass to Barto for a first down. It was a gutsy call and Buerger scored on the next play.

On the ensuing kickoff, Lake Linden's Josh Pointer ran up to catch the ball, but it hit his leg and shot forward. Somehow, the ball came straight back at him and he recovered it under the pile. Then a penalty pushed the Lakes back another five yards.

But like an Army on a march, Lake Linden went on a 12-play, 75-yard drive. 11 of the plays were runs but the final one was a pin-point TD pass from Arthur Lyons to tight end Lucas Klein for a 17-yard score. With the two-point conversion, Lake Linden tied the game at 20-20 at the 4:05 mark.

"If we don't score on that drive, things could have got ugly," Lake Linden coach Andy Crouch said. "But we stepped up to the challenge. There was some very good football being played out here tonight. Guts and determination win a lot of football games. Our No. 22 (Nic Walli) is one of the toughest guys out there."

With more than four minutes on the clock and all their timeouts remaining, Gogebic still had a chance to score and send their fans home happy.

On Gogebic's first offensive play after the kickoff, Buerger gained five yards but lost the football and the Lakes recovered it on the Miner 25-yard line. Five plays later, Blake Dupuis ran a 10-yard trap play up the middle and scored the winning TD with 1:36 left.

When the two-point conversion was added, Lake Linden had its first and final lead at 28-20.

"That fumble took the wind out of their sails and our kids saw the light at the end of the tunnel," Crouch said.

Gogebic coach Mark Mazzon said it would be unfair to blame one mistake or turnover for the loss.

"You can't win when you have so many mistakes on offense and defense like we did," Mazzon said. "We moved the ball all night, but Lake Linden is a good team, and you can't beat them when you make so many mistakes."

Mazzon made a good point as total yards were almost equal and the Miners out-rushed the Lakes by almost 100-yards.

In the first quarter, the Miners moved downfield on a nine-play, 70-yard drive without passing, because they didn't need to pass. Their big offensive line was opening nice holes and it looked like Gogebic would control both sides of the line of scrimmage.

Sophomore Shane Cole, who has been a pleasant surprise so far, was the first to score on a four-yard run with 3:22 left in the first quarter. The conversion run failed, giving the Miners a 6-0 advantage.

Sophomore Brendan Middleton knotted the game and scored Lake Linden's first touchdown with a 26-yard scamper with 6:49 left in the second quarter. Lance Berwald batted down the conversion pass.

At the 5:59 mark, Cole made reservations for six as he broke through the off-tackle hole, made two shifty moves and was off to the races on a 66-yard TD run. The Miners went ahead 12-6 when the conversion failed.

The teams went into half-time tied at 12-12 when quarterback Arthur Lyons rifled a 51-yard scoring pass down the middle to Lucas Klein, who gave Gogebic problems all night.

Cole led all rushers with 150-yards on 14 carries and Buerger ran hard for 92-yards on 18 rushes. He has 516-yards after four games.

Middleton broke the century mark with 114-yards on 17 rushes.

Lyons went 5-8 for 138 yards for the Lakes, while Lane was 3-7 for 25 yards.

Justin Wheeler, Nick Orlich and Paul Buerger led Gogebic's defense in tackles.

The loss was a tough one, because a 4-0 start would have meant so much to the Miners. It would have been the first time a Gogebic team, a Bessemer or Wakefield team or the co-op teams began the season so well since 1985, when Bessemer reached the state finals and finished with an impressive 12-1 record.

A win would have proved that Gogebic can defeat real good teams, put the Miners one step closer to qualifying for the playoffs and gave them a jump-start in the Great Western Conference.

But there is still a lot of football to be played and a strong Hurley team comes to Massie Field for a Great Western Conference battle next Friday at 7 p.m. It should be a great match-up.

Lake Linden (3-1) travels to the Superior Dome in Marquette next Saturday to take on MC Glen Lake.

Lake Linden 0 12 0 16 - 28

Gogebic 6 6 0 8 - 20

First Quarter

Gog – Shane Cole 4 run (run failed), 3:22

Second Quarter

LL – Brendan Middleton 26 run (pass failed), 6:49

Gog – Shane Cole 66 run (run failed), 5:59

LL-Lucas Klein 51 pass from Arthur Lyons (run failed), 3:06

Third Quarter

No scoring

Fourth Quarter

Gog –Paul Buerger 6 run (Buerger run), 9:56

LL-Lucas Klein 17 pass from Arthur Lyons (Nic Walli pass from Arthur Lyons) 4:05

LL – Blake Dupuis 10 run (Dupuis run), 1:36

Team Stats

LL Gog

First Downs 11 11

Rushes-yards 48-195 51-291

Comp-Att-Int 5-8-0 3-7-0

Passing yards 136 25

Total yards 331 316

Fumbles/lost 3-0 5-3

Penalties-yards 3-15 4-25

Individual Statistics

Rushing - Lake Linden, Brendan Middleton 17-114, Nick Walli 18-71, Blake Dupius 5-15, Tyler Roose 2-11, Arthur Lyons 2-minus 11. Gogebic, Shane Cole 14-150, Paul Buerger 18-92, Caleb Greenough 12-47, Kevin Lane 2-2.

Passing - Lake Linden, Arthur Lyons 5-8-0-136. Gogebic, Kevin Lane 3-7-0-25

Receiving - Lake Linden, Lucas Klein 3-101, Dayne Mattson 2-35. Gogebic, Wyatt Barto 2-18, Shane Cole 1-7.