Miners persevere for opening win

By JASON JUNO

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Ironwood - The wheels weren't off yet. But they sure were wobbling.

The Gogebic Miners' two-touchdown lead totally evaporated in the last 21 seconds of the first half. They went from dominating their season opener with North Dickinson to a tie game at halftime where the Nordics had all the momentum.

As luck would have it, North Dickinson got the ball first in the second half and they drove all the way inside the Gogebic 10.

The Miners came up with a big stop, and despite the lousy field position to start - at their own 5 - they scored a touchdown on the ensuing possession.

They pulled away in the fourth quarter for a 44-26 win. The final score made it look easy. But it's not hard to imagine it going the other way had they not come up with that stop out of halftime.

"It was an uphill battle," Gogebic coach Nick Heikkila said of their halftime message with the score unbelievably tied at 20. "We told the boys, 'We got a mountain to climb so come our ready.' They came out and they showed out."

The Miners were overcoming adversity from the start. Less than five minutes into the game, Cayden Harju went down with a knee injury that looked like it could be serious. The Miners were still able to score on that possession, as Gabe Harju ran for a touchdown and a 6-0 lead.

The Nordics tied it early in the second quarter, but the Miners then appeared to be the team to grab momentum late in the half.

Bode Lynott threw 41 yards to Ben Kaurala and that put the Miners in the red zone at the ND 20. Lynott then found Kaurala for a 16-yard touchdown and a 12-6 lead with 1:43 to go in the half.

Just 19 seconds later, Patrick Perron intercepted a Nordics' pass and ran it in for the touchdown. Lynott's conversion run made it 20-6 Gogebic with 1:24 to go.

The half couldn't end soon enough for them, though.

Brady Jungwirth hit Spencer Kramer for a 15-yard touchdown pass to pull within 20-12 with 21.5 seconds to go in the half.

That would have been a manageable end to the half for Gogebic. But Trenton Kramer recovered the kickoff, ND benefited from two pass interference calls, they scored on a 19-yard pass from Jungwirth to a wide-open Trenton Kramer in the end zone and converted on the two-point try to make it a 20-20 game at the half.

Then, of course, North Dickinson got the ball first and put a good drive together. But Gogebic came up with the stop they needed at their own 5 yard line. They then drove 95 yards with a lot of solid runs by Gabe Harju and a one-yard touchdown run by Lynott. He also ran in the conversion and Gogebic led 28-20.

"Eight-man's big on momentum," Heikkila said. "We faced a lot of adversity with them coming back before half and then driving the field on us. We keep on pushing the resiliency with the kids and they definitely kept true to it."

It helps to have a group of experienced seniors at key spots. One of them, Lynott, said they came out of halftime just thinking it was a 0-0 game again with a plan to play their game.

"We have real good leaders, that's the big thing," Heikkila said. "They'd give anything for one another, which is awesome. We really preach being selfless and working for one another. I think that's the big thing. The culture over here, we're a big brotherhood and we're going to work for each other."

ND didn't go away, with their solid passing attack giving them another score. The Miners stopped the conversion try and held onto a 28-26 lead.

Gogebic pulled away from there, with Owen Miljevich's 15-yard touchdown making it 36-26 early in the fourth and Harju's 10-yard rush making it 44-26 with 4:36 to go.

North Dickinson didn't play varsity football last year, only JV. They gave Gogebic a good game, though, in part because of Jungwirth at quarterback and two solid receivers in Trenton Kramer and Spencer Kraemer who kept making plays and they combined for four TDs.

"We played with them, I knew they were going to be tough," North Dickinson coach Mike Christian said. "They're big, they're really big. It was not a terrible return, but too many injuries for us."

Harju led the Miners with 100 yards on 20 carries, Lynott had 96 yards on 19 carries and Miljevich had 64 yards on six carries. Miljevich also intercepted a pass in the second half and Perron recovered a Gogebic fumble to keep a drive alive while they were up by just two points.

"We know what we have with Gabe," Heikkila said. "He's a tough, hard-nosed football player, that's for sure. He's smart and he sees the play develop and finds a lane and goes. Very good balance, too."

Miljevich had a nice game on both sides of the ball.

"Definitely with his pick and just being all over the field, batting down passes. He's got speed, he's a great athlete, it definitely took a little bit of the brunt off of Gabe," Heikkila said.

Gogebic (1-0) now prepares for a tough stretch with trips to Norway this week, Friday at 6 p.m., and next week at Munising. Norway blanked Stephenson 48-0 in its season opener.

"We're up to the challenge," Heikkila said. "These seniors have goals. They want to see playoffs happen and we're going to make those goals happen."

The Knights lost All-U.P. Dream Team selections Ian Popp, also the Defensive Player of the Year, Alex Ortman and Wyatt Spade along with First Team choice Hayden Armundson.

But they do have First Team quarterback Cole Baij and a good start to the season.

"They're a disciplined team, they're well-coached, they're a physical team if they're anything like last year's," Heikkila said. "They definitely have some speed, the quarterback can throw a nice ball. I believe his younger brother is playing wide receiver/running back for them, he's got some wheels. If we're tight, I expect them to have a five-man offensive line with three stand-up linebackers to try to stuff up our power running."

ND 0 20 6 0 - 26

Gogebic 6 14 8 16 - 44

First Quarter

Gog - Gabe Harju 7 run (pass failed), 4:14

Second Quarter

ND - Spencer Kramer 2 pass from Brady Jungwirth (run failed), 4:53

Gog - Ben Kaurala 16 pass from Bode Lynott (pass failed), 1:43

Gog - Patrick Perron 40 interception return (Lynott run), 1:24

ND - Spencer Kramer 15 pass from Jungwirth (pass failed), :21.5

ND - Trenton Kramer 19 pass from Jungwirth (Jungwirth run), :00

Third Quarter

Gog - Lynott 1 run (Lynott run), 2:36

ND - Spencer Kramer 20 pass from Jungwirth (run failed), :39.2

Fourth Quarter

Gog - Owen Miljevich 15 run (Lynott run), 9:25

Gog - Harju 10 run (Lynott run), 4:36

ND Gog

First downs 11 15

Rushes-yards 22-116 48-191

Comp-Att-Int 15-19-2 3-4-0

Passing 175 68

Total yards 291 261

Penalties-yards 2-11 6-71

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING - ND, Brady Jungwirth 7-63, Tyler Fleming 6-37, Jason Graham 5-9, Colten Roberts 3-6, Nathan Conery 1-1. Gogebic, Gabe Harju 20-100, Bode Lynott 19-96, Owen Miljevich 6-64, Cayden Harju 3-31.

PASSING - ND, Brady Jungwirth 15-19-175-2. Gogebic, Bode Lynott, 3-4-68-0.

RECEIVING - ND, Spencer Kramer 7-109, Trenton Kramer 5-47, Nathan Conery 1-8, Tyler Fleming 1-7, Miles Lindholm 1-4. Gogebic, Ben Kaurala, 2-60, Gabe Harju 1-8.