Midgets sink in Lake Linden 35-6

LAKE LINDEN - The second quarter couldn't have gone much worse. But really, the whole day was one to forget for Hurley.

Lake Linden-Hubbell dominated Hurley for a 35-6 Great Western Conference victory on a steamy Saturday afternoon.

"Bottom line is they outplayed us today, big time," Hurley coach Scott Erickson said.

The Lakes took control early, scoring 11 first-quarter points off two long and impressive scoring drives where their offensive line took control. But that deficit appeared manageable for the Midgets' high-powered offense.

Then the second quarter happened.

Lake Linden had five plays on offense, yet outscored Hurley 16-0, on a pick-six and the dagger, a touchdown pass with 1.5 seconds left in the half that made it 27-0. Hurley ran 24 plays in the quarter and got well within Lakes' territory twice but came up empty both times.

The Midgets' five-game winning streak over Lake Linden ended as the Lakes made a pretty good case early in the season for the top spot in the Upper Peninsula Division 8 football poll, which debuts after next week's games.

The Midgets, who were favored to win the GWC, were ranked No. 8 in the Wisconsin Small School poll last week, but they're almost certain to drop out of that when the poll is released today.

"If you would have asked me if it was going to be 35-6, I would have guessed it would have been the other way," Lake Linden coach Andy Crouch said. "I'm just so proud of our kids and what they did here today."

All in all, the Lakes outgained Hurley 365-183, including 274-183 on the ground. Lake Linden scored on every drive except for one in the fourth quarter when it led 35-0. The Midgets' passing game was never able to take attention from the run game to help finish drives, but the Lakes offense had few, if any, issues all day.

"They blocked really well and they were lower than us offensively," Erickson said. "We got outplayed, period. It's not that our guys didn't try, it's that they got outplayed. Lake Linden made a lot of plays and took advantage of opportunities when they had them. When we had opportunities to make plays, we didn't get it done."

Crouch said, "We put a major, major emphasis on our offensive line in fall camp, moving the chains. I think our backs are tough runners who can get us positive yards. Our offensive line rose to the challenge today against a heck of a Hurley defense."

The Lakes got on the board with a 14-play, 74-yard drive that was capped by a five-yard run by Blake Dupuis, who led everyone with 154 yards on 20 carries. The conversion made it 8-0 Lakes.

Lake Linden forced a very rare three-and-out by Hurley and then marched down to the Midgets' 9. Dupuis kicked a field goal for an 11-0 advantage.

The Midgetspicked up three first downs on the ensuing drive, going 31 yards to the Lake Linden 34. All but one play of the drive came in the second quarter.

Once on the 34, Lake Linden stuffed Hurley for no gain on first and second down and a pass was incomplete on third down. Facing fourth and 10, James Sukanen's pass went off Devin Czerneski and Lake Linden's Brendan Middleton went 59 yards for a touchdown with 7:32 left in the half. The conversion run was good and Hurley trailed 19-0.

The next drive was typical Hurley as it used 11 plays to march down to the Lakes' 28. But Lake Linden stopped Hurley for no gain on second down and nine. Passes on third and fourth downs fell incomplete and the Midgets' goal of pulling within two possessions before the half faded.

And it got worse before halftime.

On third down from the Hurley 41, with Hurley's Erik Barker around his waist and Chris Rye closing, quarterback Arthur Lyons got a short pass off to Lucas Klein, who broke two tackles on his way to the end zone. Blake Dupuis' two-point conversion run made it 27-0 Lake Linden.

The throw was actually supposed to go to the other side of the field.

"Arthur scrambled and just made nothing into something and Lucas was able to break a tackle, another incredible effort by him," Crouch said.

Everything went Lake Linden's way in the second quarter. Everything.

"We caught some breaks," Crouch said. "But I think our kids created their own luck with what they invested."

What if Hurley was able to finish its drive while trailing 11-0 instead of throwing an interception that Lake Linden returned for a touchdown? What if Hurley could have recovered from that and scored before the half, instead of giving up another unlikely score?

"There's a lot of those out there today," Erickson said. "There's a lot of things, if we could have just shifted some stuff, but the bottom line is, they were beating us on the line of scrimmage and their backs were better than our backs. We couldn't connect on any passing attempts and they were connecting on theirs. That's football and some days you don't really have it and today was one of those days."

The Lakes got the ball first in the second half and made it running clock with a 10-play 79-yard drive. The 35-0 lead stuck into the fourth quarter because while Hurley drove all the way to the Lakes' 21, it once again couldn't score.

The Midgets finally got in the end zone with 1:53 to go, on a 14-yard run by Ronnie Nickel.

Mitchell Maki led Hurley with 67 rushing yards, Czerneski had 60 and Nickel 58.

Hurley (2-1) needs to forgot about this one in a hurry; Crystal Falls Forest Park comes to town Friday night for another tough game. Lake Linden (2-0) plays downstate Baldwin at the Superior Dome in Marquette Friday.

Hurley 0 0 0 6 - 6

LL-H 11 16 8 0 - 35

First Quarter

LLH - Blake Dupuis 5 run (Arthur Lyons run), 5:31

LLH - Dupuis 26 FG, :24

Second Quarter

LLH - Brendan Middleton 59 interception return (Dupuis run), 7:32

LLH - Lucas Klein 41 pass from Lyons (Dupuis run), :1.5

Third Quarter

LLH - Steven Suhonen 8 pass from Lyons (Dupuis run), 7:30

Fourth Quarter

Hur - Ronnie Nickel 14 run (pass failed), 1:53

Hur LLH

First downs 10 13

Rushes-yards 41-183 39-274

Comp-Att-Int 1-8-1 5-6-0

Passing 0 91

Total yards 183 365

Penalties-yards 1-10 4-20

Fumbles-lost 0-0 2-0

Individual statistics

Rushing, Hurley, Mitchell Maki 11-67, Devin Czerneski 14-60, Ronnie Nickel 10-58, James Sukanen 3-minus 2, Kris Bluse 3-0. Lake Linden, Blake Dupuis 20-154, Brendan Middleton 8-45, Arthur Lyons 5-12, Steven Suhonen 2-9, Ian Beaudoin 1-27.

Passing - Hurley, James Sukanen, 1-8-0-1. Lake Linden, Arthur Lyons 5-6-91-0.

Receiving - Hurley, Kris Bluse 1-0. Lake Linden, Lucas Klein 3-75, Blake Dupuis 1-8, Steven Suhonen 1-8.