Gogebic drops Ontonagon in first try at 8-man

ONTONAGON – In their second encounter of the year, Gogebic and Ontonagon hooked up in an 8-man football game with the Miners coming out on top 45-20 on a windy, rainy Saturday afternoon.

“They got the job done a little better than we did,” Gladiator coach Ben Mayer said. “Gogebic did a nice job. They started out fast and they’ve got those fast running backs and an excellent group of athletes. They ran a similar type of offense to the one they’ve been running and they really executed well on offense. It was a double-wing and it took us until half-time to get adjusted to it. They were very hard to stop. It’s one thing to see what they’re doing and it’s another to stop them.”

Even though the game did not count on Gogebic’s win-loss record, Miner coach Mark Mazzon was happy with his team’s performance.

”Overall, we did very well,” Mazzon said. “All the kids got to play and they all played very well. Our younger kids were able to get some valuable varsity experience.”

The Miners jumped out to a 16-0 first quarter lead and then doubled their point production as they took a 32-6 advantage into halftime.

Mazzon said running back Caleb Greenough ran for 205-yards to go along with his three touchdowns and a two-point conversion. Senior Paul Buerger also scored on a 29-yard touchdown run.

Freshman Braydon Tomes made an impression by catching a 40-yard TD bomb from Tim Buerger and added a pair of two-point conversions. Shane Cole ran in a conversion and Danny France’s kicked an extra point.

Mazzon credited Denver Pikka for playing well on the defensive line and Tim Buerger did a good job at quarterback. He said Eric Haukamaki came up with a fumble recovery and an interception, while Isaiah Aili and Bailey Ribich both played well.

Mayer said Ontonagon’s offense played “pretty good,” even though tailback Taylor Beaudry was hurt on the game’s second play. He continued to play and ran the ball 23 times although he was he was slowed by the injury.

“We had some level of success running the ball but not for big gains,” Mayer said. “We had to grind it out, but we got rolling in the second half. When we tried to pass, it was tough because of the wind and rain.”

Alex Ashley scored two touchdowns and led Ontonagon’s rushing attack with 103-yards on 12 carries. Drew Morris also rushed for a TD and ran for 60-yards on the ground.

The Miners get back to 11-man football next Saturday when they travel to St. Ignace to play Comstock, which is located in Kalamazoo, Mich. Game time is 1 p.m. CDT.

Since the teams played 8-man football, the game counted on Ontonagon’s record and the Gladiators are now 2-3 overall. Ontonagon goes to Brimley next Saturday at 2 p.m. EDT.

Gogebic 16 16 13 0 — 45

Ontonagon 0 6 8 6 — 20

Individual Statistics

Rushing, Gogebic, N/A, Ontonagon, Alex Ashley 12-103, Taylor Beaudry 23-94, Drew Morris 11-60, Mitchell Borseth 3-minus 7.

Passing, Gogebic, N/A, Ontonagon, Drew Morris 2-7-1-17. Mitchell Borseth 1-4-1-3.

Receiving, Gogebic N/A, Ontonagon, Tanner Balcomb 2-17, James Domitrovich 1-3. — Pat Krause