Miners win big over Gladiators

By JASON JUNO

sports@yourdailyglobe.com

Ewen — Gogebic rushed for 124 yards, scored three touchdowns, intercepted Ontonagon twice and stopped them another two times on downs.

Then the first quarter ended.

The Miners did it again in the second quarter, putting up another 21 points before Ontonagon got in the end zone for the first time. They rode that fast start that saw them lead 42-0 to a 56-21 Great Lakes Eight West win Friday night at Ewen-Trout Creek.

The Miners kept Ontonagon’s big-play offense in check and countered with a rushing attack that outgained the Gladiators 304-34 overall.

“It feels good,” said Gogebic quarterback Bode Lynott, who rushed for six touchdowns and threw for another. “Our offensive line played great and then our defense held them.”

It was Gogebic’s third win of the season and certainly their most impressive victory so far with the way they dominated a team that was ranked in the U.P. just a couple of weeks ago. They were motivated to come out on top of this matchup.

“It was a good one for us, build confidence — that shows we can play with the big dogs,” Gogebic coach Nick Heikkila said.

Gogebic never gave the high-flying Gladiators any life.

Aiden Partanen intercepted a pass on a fake punt on Ontonagon’s first drive of the game.

Gogebic took advantage of the good field position, starting on the Ontonagon 24, and overcame a holding penalty during the drive. On fourth and goal from the 5, Bode Lynott scored the first of his six running touchdowns, and Leland Hollenbeck made the extra point, like he did all night, for a 7-0 Miners’ lead.

On the first play of the ensuing drive, Jayden Verrett picked off a pass and returned it all the way to the 1 yard line.

“I seen his eyes shift towards the middle of the field and I ran towards the field and got it,” Verrett said. “It was pretty big, definitely needed it.”

Lynott scored on a QB dive, and the Miners led 14-0.

“Jayden’s a solid athlete, that’s for sure. He’s definitely shown up on defense in coverage,” Heikkila said. “I was hoping he would get into that end zone. He put the work in, shook off a couple guys and got us in scoring position.”

The Miners forced a turnover on downs on Ontonagon’s next possession, taking over at their own 38. It took just six plays to cover that distance with the drive capped by a 25-yard touchdown run by Lynott.

With Gogebic up 21-0, Ontonagon went three-and-out on the next possession as the first quarter wound down.

But the Miners just kept rolling. They used 12 plays to go 62 yards with Lynott running in a touchdown from a yard out on fourth down. Twenty-eight to nothing.

The Gladiators picked up a couple of first downs on the next drive, but Hollenbeck picked off a third-down pass and ran to the end zone. It was 35-0 with 6:21 to go in the half.

“We came out flat and three interceptions off the rip is pretty tough to do,” Ontonagon coach Kadin Mustafa said. “I do not blame my defense one bit for those first three scores. Our offense put us in a bad spot there. I’ll take that one on me even, the plays I had drawn up weren’t working today. A lot of credit to the coaching staff from GoGo, they definitely watched their film and set up a pretty good defense against us.”

After another turnover on downs, Gogebic started at its own 34. Lynott found Cory Aspinwall for a 35-yard score with a minute on the first half clock for a 42-0 advantage.

Ontonagon got on the board before the half with Austin Gordon hitting Caden Besonen for a 43-yard score.

The damage was already done, though. Gogebic scored on every possession in the first half, and even one of Ontonagon’s.

The Gladiators, to their credit, came out fighting in the second half. They forced Gogebic’s first punt of the day and scored on the following possession with Gordon hitting Besonen for a 39-yard TD. It was 42-14.

They forced a turnover on downs and scored again on a scramble by Gordon, the 15-yard score and a PAT by Abi Pestka cutting the deficit to three touchdowns at 42-21.

“I was happy they didn’t quit on me,” Mustafa said. “They kept fighting even through that third quarter, had a good spark of life there.”

Gogebic responded to the adversity.

A 26-yard bruising run by Mark Switzer gave the Miners their second first down of the half.

“We wanted to do a little bit of a change there, especially with Matt, he’s a hungry player, he wants to play and when he’s on the field, he can make big plays happen both offensively and defensively,” Heikkila said. “That first run, he really showed out with a couple stiffarms and shaking a few guys.”

Facing fourth and five at the Ontonagon 19, Owen Miljevich ran five yards, confirmed by a measurement, for a huge first down.

They gained some additional yardage on a pair of unsportsmanlike conduct penalties by Ontonagon and got in the end zone on a five-yard run by Lynott. That gave Gogebic a 49-21 lead and ended any chances of a comeback.

Ontonagon went four-and-out and Gogebic punched one more TD in, on a 36-yard run by Lynott with 5:19 on the clock.

Lynott had a huge day, rushing for 156 yards on 15 carries with six touchdowns. He was 2 for 3 through the air for 57 yards and a score. The Miners also called his number in short-yardage situations near the goalline and he came through.

“We got trust in him, he’s our big senior leader,” Heikkila said. “If there’s anybody on that field that wants it, it’s Bode. He wants it more than I would say anybody else out on that field and he’s going to give it everything he’s got to get that.”

Gordon connected with Besonen 11 times for 201 yards, showing flashes of what has made them one of the top tandems in the U.P. this season.

But it was that rushing difference — Gogebic held them to 34 yards and cleared the 300-yard mark themselves.

“We could power run,” Heikkila said. “That’s what we wanted to do.”

Some of the credit also goes to a strong defensive effort as well.

“We definitely knew what they wanted to do, trying to get deep and trying to get their fast guys in open space,” Heikkila said. “We obviously had to take care of Gordon when he was scrambling. Just making sure our guys stayed home, read their keys and do their job. That was the biggest thing.”

They celebrated what Verrett called a really big win afterwards.

“We need it a lot; it’ll get us to playoffs hopefully,” he said.

It hasn’t been an easy season for the Miners.

They’ve been able to overcome a lot of injuries to a lot of key people. Verrett had to go from playing out in space to being in a power back spot. Switzer went from the line to running back. They were happy to have Owen Miljevich in the backfield for the first time in three games.

“We’ve had to make some adjustments, but the kids, they’ve stepped up, they’ve embraced it, they’re playing one for another and that’s all a coach can ask for,” Heikkila said.

“Everyone’s just been stepping up and we’ve been making it work,” Lynott said.

They’ve even gotten a boost on special teams with Hollenbeck making all eight extra points this week after the Miners started using him there last week. Heikkila wishes he had made the move to him earlier.

“He’s automatic, he’s awesome,” he said. “If we’re in an instance where we have to, I think he can kick a pretty deep field goal as well.”

The Miners follow this up with likely their toughest opponent of the entire season as Crystal Falls Forest Park comes to Wakefield for a 1 p.m. game Saturday.

The Trojans are undefeated with a big 42-20 win over Norway under their belt. That’s the Knights’ only loss of the season. Forest Park just routed Lake Linden-Hubbell 59-6.

The first-place votes in the U.P. poll are split between Forest Park and Pickford with the Trojans taking the top spot after Week 3, Pickford grabbing it in Week 4 and Forest Park getting back this week.

This was the big win Gogebic needed going into that matchup.

“I thought they were going to be favorites for the conference this year. We’re looking forward to it,” Heikkila said. “They’re a tough running team, hard running team. They’re going to pound the ball down your throat as much as they can. When they see you creeping up and cheating, they’re going to throw it over the top to Giuliani and they do that real well. They definitely have some solid backs and their offensive line is very, very tough and stout. I’m expecting that to be a pretty big challenge, but with it being homecoming anything can happen.”

Ontonagon (3-2) goes to Ironwood (2-3) hoping to end its two-game skid that suddenly has put their playoff hopes up in the air. The Red Devils have been dealing with injuries at key positions, including to quarterback Nick Miskovich, and now to power running back Ethan Gallo.

The Gladiators will have to refocus quickly after a tough stretch.

“At this point, they don’t really have a choice,” Mustafa said. “They got to do it or go home.”

Gogebic 21 21 0 14 — 56

Ontonagon 0 8 13 0 — 21

First Quarter

Gog — Bode Lynott 5 run (Leland Hollenbeck kick), 8:19

Gog — Lynott 1 run (Hollenbeck kick), 7:54

Gog — Lynott 25 run (Hollenbeck kick), 2:41

Second Quarter

Gog — Lynott 1 run (Hollenbeck kick), 7:27

Gog — Hollenbeck interception return (Hollenbeck kick), 6:21

Gog — Cory Aspinwall 35 pass from Lynott (Hollenbeck kick), 1:00

Ont — Caden Besonen 43 pass from Austin Gordon (Kayle Kaarto run), :34

Third Quarter

Ont — Besonen 39 pass from Gordon (run failed), 6:58

Ont — Gordon 15 run (Abi Pestka kick), 3:29

Fourth Quarter

Gog — Lynott 5 run (Hollenbeck kick), 11:55

Gog — Lynott 36 run (Hollenbeck kick), 5:19

Gog Ont

First downs 12 10

Rushes-yards 47-304 17-34

Comp-Att-Int 2-3-0 17-34-3

Passing 57 276

Total yards 361 310

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — Gogebic, Bode Lynott 15-156, Owen Miljevich 13-70, Matt Switzer 7-44, Jayden Verrett 7-38, Cory Aspinwall 5-minus 4. Ontonagon, Caden Besonen 7-13, Austin Gordon 5-12, Kayle Kaarto 3-11, Brody Bobula 1-10, Rex Strong 1-minus 7.

PASSING — Gogebic, Bode Lynott 2-3-57-0. Ontonagon, Austin Gordon 17-34-276-3.

RECEIVING — Gogebic, Cory Aspinwall 1-35, Jayden Verrett 1-22. Ontonagon, Caden Besonen 11-201, Jack Nelson 2-22, Brody Bobula 1-35, Rex Strong 1-0.