Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
By JASON JUNO
Bessemer — The Gogebic Miners dispatched Lake Linden-Hubbell for the first time as an 8-player team, 29-12 Friday night.
Gogebic last beat the Lakes in 2012, in a 39-12 win when both teams were 11-player teams.
“It’s been a minute since Bessemer, Wakefield has beat Lake Linden, so definitely a big win for us,” Gogebic coach Nick Heikkila said.
Miners’ quarterback Bode Lynott accounted for four touchdowns. He threw two long passes to Patrick Perron, a 67-yard pass to start the scoring midway through the first quarter and a 58-yarder as time expired in the third quarter to wrap up the scoring.
He also rushed for two scores, a 45-yard run that put the Miners in front 13-6 after a quarter, and a one-yard run with two seconds left in the first half to put Gogebic ahead 20-12.
The Miners outscored LL-H 9-0 in the second half with a Leland Hollenbeck field goal and the 58-yard pass from Lynott to Perron to seal the game.
Gogebic outrushed LL-H 200-90 and outgained the Lakes 328-226.
“Our line held really well,” Heikkila said. “Our success was built through them. We had a good game plan going up against them, that’s for sure. The kids were ready for them, they wanted the win.”
Lynott had another big game for the Miners.
“Bode had a good night,” Heikkila said. “He’s been there. He’s been around the block, he’s been a part of the offense for quite some time. He’s a studious athlete, he’s watching film, seeing where people go for specific motions. He puts in the work.”
Perron was his preferred target Friday night. Heikkila said he’s got the best hands on the team.
“He’s been around the block a few times, he’s been on this team four years starting,” Heikkila said.
The Miners improved to 4-3 after winning three of their last four. They need to win last two games to keep their playoff hopes alive and it starts this week with a trip to North Central, ranked third in the Upper Peninsula poll.
“We’re going to take the long trip over to Powers and try to take it to them,” Heikkila said. “Those goals are still out there. If we win out, those goals are a lot more of a reality, I think.”
The Jets (6-1) won six straight after dropping the opener to No. 2 Pickford 40-12. They hadn’t given up more than eight points in a game again until last week’s 78-43 win on the road against Ontonagon.
North Central isn’t the team that won three straight state championships from 2020 to 2022. But they’re still pretty good.
Heikkila isn’t worried his team will be intimidated by the tradition of the Jets.
“We watched a lot of film with the rain, the kids, they know that they’re beatable,” Heikkila said. “And they know what we did to Ontonagon (a 56-21 win), and for them to do that to North Central, we’ve got some confidence going into the game that we should be able to move the ball on offense. Our defense has been playing pretty stout for us, so we’re looking for them to have a pretty good game as well.”
Pickford beat them with a power running game, something the Miners have done well with as well. Their hope is to keep the ball for a long time on offense, scoring and keeping the Jets’ strong offense off the field.
“That’s the hope, that we can get the power running on a roll for us so that we can score some points and make some good things happen and score some points and hold them at bay and keep them on defense,” Heikkila said.
One key will be to slow North Central senior Lane Gorzinski, who has rushed for nearly 1,300 yards and 20 touchdowns.
“He’s a stud,” Heikkila said.
By playoff points, the Miners are currently ranked 19th in Division 1 with 16 teams making the playoffs. They need to beat North Central and Ironwood in the finale to have a chance at the postseason.
“The rest of these are win or go home for us is our mindset,” Heikkila said.
LL-H 6 6 0 0 — 12
Gogebic 13 7 9 0 — 29
First Quarter
Gog — Patrick Perron 67 pass from Bode Lynott (Leland Hollenbeck kick), 6:40
LL-H — Tyler Axford 49 pass from Brady Axford (failed), 4:29
Gog — Lynott 45 run (failed), 3:25
Second Quarter
LL-H — Nate St. Onge 10 run (failed), 5:54
Gog — Lynott 1 run (Hollenbeck kick), :02
Third Quarter
Gog — Hollenbeck 20 field goal, 2:52
Gog — Perron 58 pass from Lynott (failed), :00
Fourth Quarter
No scoring
LL-H Gogebic
First downs 7 9
Rushes-yards 23-90 45-200
Comp-Att-Int 5-13-0 3-6-0
Passing 136 128
Total yards 226 328
Penalties-yards 10-50 2-10
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — LL-H, Brady Axford 11-54, Nate St. Onge 12-36. Gogebic, Bode Lynott 22-97, Leland Hollenbeck 12-58, Mark Switzer 9-27, Jayden Verrett 2-18.
PASSING — LL-H, Brady Axford 5-13-136-0. Gogebic, Bode Lynott, 3-6-128-0.
RECEIVING — LL-H, Nate St. Onge 2-30, Tyler Axford, 2-78, Daniel Mikus 1-28. Gogebic, Patrick Perron, 2-125, Leland Hollenbeck 1-3.
