Lake Linden-Hubbell’s Brandon LaVigne (5) rushes against Forest Park on Saturday, Oct. 31, 2020, in Crystal Falls, Mich. (Matt McCarthy/Iron Mountain Daily News)

CRYSTAL FALLS — Behind a strong rushing attack and a stout defensive effort, Lake Linden-Hubbell overwhelmed Forest Park 48-8 on Saturday at Dick Mettlach Field.

The Lakes’ Brandon LaVigne rushed for 225 yards and four touchdowns on 12 carries.

The Lakes will move on to next week and will visit the unbeaten North Central Jets. A date and time was not announced before press time. North Central has two wins against the Lakes, an Oct. 17 win following an Oct. 10 forfeit win.

North Central beat Engadine 74-6 in the other first-round game.

The MHSAA eight-player Division 2 playoff contest marked the Trojans’ 24th straight playoff appearance, the longest active streak in Michigan. The Trojans, who fielded 13 players for the game, were battered and beaten all game by Lake Linden’s aggressive defense.

LaVigne amassed 111 rushing yards on two first quarter touchdown runs and the Lakes never looked back, after leading 14-0 at the end of the first quarter.

Lake Linden first-year head coach Brett Gervais knew the Trojans were banged up coming into the game, but recognized they wouldn’t quit.

“That’s how it is here, it’s in their blood, toughness” Gervais said of the Trojans. “Crystal Falls is no quit and all heart, they’ve always been like that, back when I played against them. I give them all the credit in the world, they gave it their all.”

The Lakes ran 38 plays from scrimmage, totaling 467 yards of offense, all rushing. LL-H never attempted a pass.

“The conditions here today were ideal for us, we were able to keep our footing, unlike last week,” Grevais said.

The Lakes won 6-2 in a constant rain in Munising in their last regular season game.

“We practiced our base plays all week, and that’s what we were able to stick with today,” Gervais said. “We didn’t have to put any twists into our offense, which was nice. The offensive line did their jobs today, they played great.”

With the loss, the season is over for the Trojans and first-year head coach Brian Fabbri.

“I can’t be more proud of the kids, they knew they were banged up and that today would be physical,” Fabbri said. “They’d look around and see that if they don’t play, there’s not to many others to take their place. So they sucked it up and played through it.”

Forest Park struggled with player shortages all season.

“We can’t even run an eight-on-eight scrimmage in practice with the numbers we have,” Fabbri said.

Gabe Scarlassara, Tommy Showers, Hunter Reed and Mason Rintala played their last football game for the Trojans on Saturday.

“We’re going to miss our seniors, they gave a lot of themselves,” Fabbri said. “But we have a good nucleus coming back. A lot of young guys who stepped in and played because they had to, but they did great.”

Fabbri, previously a Forest Park JV and youth coach, took over the varsity program after Dave Graff resigned in early October.

LL-Hubbell 14 12 14 8 — 48

Forest Park 0 0 0 8 — 8

First Quarter

LL-H — LaVigne 43 run (LaVigne run), 6:50

LL-H — LaVigne 68 run (run failed), 2:39

Second Quarter

LL-H — LaVigne 11 run (run failed), 7:47

LL-H — Klein 68 run (run failed), 5:24

Third Quarter

LL-H — LaVigne 57 run (Klein run), 11:39

LL-H — Klein 31 run (run failed), 8:42

Fourth Quarter

LL-H — Marcotte 10 run (Shank run), 9:58

FP — Showers 15 pass from Scarlassara (Rintala run), 5:39