Dowd runs for 312, L'Anse beats Miners

BESSEMER - L'Anse coach Mark Leaf tried to alert football fans as to what a good football player Purple Hornet tailback Jonah Dowd was in the pigskin preview The Daily Globe does each week.

But Dowd put on a performance rarely seen in these parts as L'Anse thumped Gogebic 34-6 in West-PAC action at Massie Field on Friday night.

"We played a complete game tonight," Leaf said. "You worry about the long bus trip from L'Anse to Bessemer, but getting off to that fast start was really important for us. Jonah (Dowd) really turned it on for us and he just keeps getting better and better and our line was very good, outstanding. We got great effort from our team and it was a great win. I like the energy we played with and it's nice to get a win on the road-it's tough to do.

"Gogebic is a young team and they didn't quit. They stuck with it and moved the ball on us, especially in the first half."

Now back to Dowd. The Purple Hornets took the opening kickoff and on the second play from scrimmage, Dowd took a handoff, sprinted through a big hole in the middle and was off to the races down the right side. Although he's only 5-11 and 165 pounds, he broke two tackles on his way to a 75 score. The extra point kick was wide, but L'Anse had a 6-0 lead 59 seconds into the game.

The Miners took over on their own 31 yard line and went on a superb ball-controlling 17 play drive that featured the hard running of Sethe Cole, Jamie Jett, Parker Wilson, Cody Schwartz and Peyton Solberg. The drive reached the L'Anse three yard line, but Gogebic couldn't get it in the end zone on a crucial 4th and 3 play.

Two plays later, Dowd went off-tackle, broke the line-of-scrimmage and turned on the jets again going 92 yards to the north end zone. With the extra point kick by Reese Waara, the Purple Hornets went up 13-0 in the first quarter.

Dowd would finish the game with 312 yards and score on three long TD's.

Reese Waara plunged into the end zone from one yard out on a quarterback sneak with 4:23 left in the second quarter and Alec Rajala went in untouched from a yard out at the 1:40 mark of the quarter.

L'Anse lead expanded to 27-0.

Gogebic sophomore Sethe Cole bulled his way into the end zone with 0.0 left on the clock in the second quarter and the Miners made it 27-6 at the half.

Coach Mark Mazzon was helping attend to an injured player shortly after the game, so assistant coach Richard Matrella filled in for a part of the post-game interview.

"Typically, football games are won by taking advantage of opportunities," Matrella said. "We moved the ball all those plays and they wind up with 14 points. The next thing you know its 27-6. It was definitely a hard-fought game to the end and another learning experience for our guys."

Mazzon returned to finish up the interview.

"L'Anse is a decent team," he said. "They executed well because of our mishaps. They have a big line offensively and are good on defense. Our biggest problems were we couldn't get in the end zone and we didn't tackle well. Same story as last week.

"For us, Parker (Wilson) really stepped it up today with the run and pass. Sethe Cole, Jett and Peyton Solberg ran the ball well."

Dowd finished off the scoring with another 54 yard jaunt with 2:01 left in the game.

The Purple Hornets had the flash and dash and rushed for 419 yards, while the Miners totaled 217 yards. Gogebic's ball control offense yielded 20 first downs.

Wilson and sophomore Matt Montie led the Miners with eight tackles each.

L'Anse (2-1) takes on Munising in another conference game next Friday.

The Miners (0-3) will take the long trip to Bark River Harris on Friday with a 6 p.m. CDT kickoff.

L'Anse 14 13 0 7 - 34

Gogebic 0 0 6 0 - 6

First Quarter

L'Anse - Jonah Dowd 75 run (kick failed), 11:01

L'Anse - Jonah Dowd 92 run (Reese Waara kick), 2:56

Second Quarter

L'Anse - Reese Waara 1 run (kick failed), 4:23

L'Anse - Alec Rajala 1 run (Waara kick), 1:40

Gog. - Sethe Cole 1 run )pass failed), 0.0

Third Quarter

No scoring

Fourth Quarter

L'Anse - Jonah Dowd 54 run (Waara kick)

L'Anse Gog

First downs 10 20

Rushes-yards 35-419 52-217

Comp-Att-Int 2-2-0 8-9-0

Passing yards 33 36

Total yards 452 253

Penalties-yards 7-45 2-15

Fumbles-lost 2-1 1-0

Individual Statistics

Rushing - L'Anse, Jonah Dowd 16-312, Reese Waara 5-31, Alec Rajala 11-48, Alec Sanregret 2-21, Tanner Lane 1-7. Gogebic, Jamie Jett 12-46, Parker Wilson 14-43, Sethe Cole 17-61, Peyton Solberg 8-15, Cody Schwartz 1-6..

Passing - L'Anse, Reese Waara 2-2-33, Gogebic, Parker Wilson 8-9-36

Receiving - L'Anse, Tanner Lane 1-17, Terry Reed 1-16, Gogebic, Collin Broemer 3-36, David Benson 2-18, Peyton Solberg 1-2.