Dominating decade: Midgets win 10th straight over Devils

HURLEY - Hurley's 10th straight victory over Ironwood Friday night was its biggest in the impressive run.

The Midgets defeated Ironwood 55-6, the 49-point margin of victory eclipsing the 42-point defeats last year and in 2012.

Hurley only needed six first downs thanks to short fields from 134 yards on five punt returns and a turnover. The Midgets scored on the first play of the drive twice and had three four-play drives. Every Midget drive started in Ironwood territory in the first half.

Hurley's Devin Czerneski carried the ball six times and scored on four of them. Ronnie Nickel rushed for two touchdowns and returned a punt for another.

The Midget defense is strong against the run once again and they held Ironwood to 94 yards on the ground. Hurley didn't let Ironwood get big plays with the reverses it tried and especially up the middle.

"I thought we were very disciplined defensively tonight," Hurley coach Scott Erickson said. "I liked how our guys talked and communicated defensively. They were ready to go and they played physical. We picked up some turnovers again tonight. Our special teams units were fantastic tonight, long kick returns, we only missed two extra points. I was very pleased all around with the performance of the kids tonight."

Ironwood scored its only touchdown in the fourth quarter when speedy quarterback Zach Combs found some open space. He went 38 yards with 1:47 left in the game.

"Our interior line didn't do as a good of a job as I thought we should of tonight," Ironwood coach Ryan Niemi said. "We didn't get any kind of push. On that play, we finally did, but we did it against their JV kids. We didn't do it against their varsity kids, so we have to fix that."

The young Red Devils are looking for a bounce-back year with a new coach in Niemi. But the schedule wasn't kind to them, giving them the polished Midgets to start the season.

Hurley's Mitchell Maki picked off a pass on Ironwood's first possession, giving the Midgets the ball at the Devils' 42.

Six plays later, Nickel ran 19 yards for a touchdown.

The Devils went three-and-out as Hurley's Jacob Saari got a firm hold of Combs' jersey before he could get out of the pocket on a planned run play.

After a punt, Hurley needed just one play to score, a 44-yard run by Czerneski.

The Midgets led 13-0 after the first quarter.

Isaac DeCarlo returned an Ironwood punt to the Devils' 36 before the first-quarter clock ran out. Czerneski completed a seven-play drive with a 10-yard touchdown run.

The teams traded punts, Hurley's only of the day, but the Devils went three-and-out when starting on their own 4.

Hurley started its next drive at the Ironwood 26 and Czerneski ran in from three yards out for a 27-0 lead after the Maki extra point.

Ironwood's fake punt didn't work on the next possession and Nickel ran 40 yards for a touchdown on the first play of the ensuing drive. That made it 34-0 Hurley going into the second half.

Czerneski's fourth touchdown, this time a 16-yard run, started the running clock and Hurley led 42-0 after the two-point conversion pass from James Sukanen to Nickel.

Hurley forced Ironwood to punt again and Nickel returned it 58 yards for a touchdown.

Backup quarterback Alex Czarnecki went 36 yards on a keeper and his TD made it 55-0.

That came on the night the Hurley players included pink in their uniforms and the coaching staff wore pink shirts in support of his sister, Brittany, who is recovering from a stroke. She graduated from Hurley in May.

Combs led Ironwood with 69 yards rushing. Czerneski's 75 yards paced Hurley as 12 backs got carries.

He was impossible to stop Friday night.

"It's one of those deals where they clog everybody in there. If we have good fakes and we hit the trap block, you can seam him," Erickson said.

Nickel rushed for 73 yards and had 82 yards on three returns. DeCarlo had 52 yards on two returns.

Hurley (2-0) faces its first stern test of the season next Saturday at Lake Linden-Hubbell.

"Very pleased to be 2-0 here and getting ready for Lake Linden," Erickson said.

Ironwood (0-1) goes to Hancock Thursday.

Ironwood 0 0 0 6 - 6

Hurley 13 21 15 6 - 55

First Quarter

Hur - Ronnie Nickel 17 run (Mitchell Maki kick), 8:10

Hur - Devin Czerneski 44 run (kick failed), 5:45

Second Quarter

Hur - Czerneski 10 run (Maki kick), 11:18

Hur - Czerneski 3 run (Maki kick), 4:28

Hur - Nickel 40 run (Maki kick), 1:39

Third Quarter

Hur - Czerneski 15 run (Nickel pass from James Sukanen), 10:11

Hur - Nickel 58 punt return (Maki kick), 7:16

Fourth Quarter

Hur - Alex Czarnecki 36 run (kick failed), 11:48

Iwd - Zach Combs 38 run (kick failed), 1:47

Iwd Hur

First downs 2 6

Rushes-yards 35-94 32-254

Comp-Att-Int 1-5-1 3-5-0

Passing 0 72

Total yards 94 326

Penalties-yards 0-0 3-25

Fumbles-lost 3-1 2-0

Individual statistics

Rushing - Ironwood, Zach Combs 15-69, Jon Clemens 10-23, Shane Buckley 8-5, Nicklas Merritt 2-minus 3. Hurley, Devin Czerneski 6-75, Ronnie Nickel 4-73, Alex Czarnecki 1-36, Mitchell Maki 6-24, Isaac DeCarlo 1-13, Scott Subert 4-11, Josh Quello 2-9, Brad Ihm 1-7, Dakota Haanen 2-5, Kris Bluse 1-3, Jordan Kokely 2-0, James Sukanen 2-minus 2.

Passing - Ironwood, Zach Combs, 1-5-0-1. Hurley, James Sukanen, 3-5-72-0.

Receiving - Ironwood, Shane Buckley 1-0. Hurley, Tandrell Foster 1-31, Kris Bluse 1-22, Erik Barker 1-19.