BESSEMER — Now that’s more like it.

Fighting off a Houghton comeback bid, the newly-formed Gogebic Miners with teams from Ironwood, Bessemer and Wakefield-Marenisco won their first game ever 42-30 in a West-PAC shoot-out at Massie Field on Friday night.

“We got one this week,” Gogebic coach Mark Mazzon said. “I’m just so happy for the kids. They started something new and it was a tough decision for some of them. They worked hard in the summer and in August and put it together tonight, although we still had some breakdowns.

“Our players stepped up and played hard to win. We battled on both sides of the ball and we’re starting to believe. When Houghton started to come back, we put points on the board after the half, which we hadn’t done.”

Houghton coach Frank Bonacorsi said he “couldn’t be more proud” of his team that is now 0-3 but gave a good accounting of themselves, especially on offensive.

“We still lost, but I thought our kids did an excellent job,” Bonacorsi said. “We saw their Hancock game and thought we could come back on them one touchdown at a time. They came out and got us early. They had great scouting on us and their preparation was great. Their offense was well-prepared and they got us in the C gap (off tackle). And they’ve got speed and aggressiveness on defense. They did a great job tonight.”

The Miners came out running and moved downfield quickly with Jake Suzik and Brayden Tomes slashing through the off tackle holes on both the left and right sides. It only took Gogebic one minute and 54 seconds to score as Tomes went in from the one yard line. Tomes 2-point conversion run made it 8-0.

Houghton showed its offense can move the ball behind tailback Jake Rajala and all-purpose quarterback George Butvilas. The Gremlins mixed the run and pass well until Butvilas found Merlin Steffensen in the end zone with a tight end pop pass from four yards out and tied the game at 8-8 with :53 left in the quarter.

In the second quarter, the Miners really began to crank up the offense. Bailey Ribich finished off a 60 yard scoring drive by rumbling to pay-dirt from 16 yards out and Gogebic opened up a 14-8 advantage at the 11:31 mark.

Houghton matriculated downfield and looked to be in good shape to score when Butvilas found Elliot Majlessi at the Gogebic five yard line, but he coughed up the football and the Miners recovered.

Then on the next play, Ribich burst up the middle and out-sprinted Houghton’s secondary on a 95 yard TD scamper.

Mazzon said the fumble the fumble recovery and the touchdown run were the turning points in game for the black, green and white.

“I give it to the line,” Ribich said.”It’s all about blocking. I just gave one player a juke move and ran. I didn’t really know there was a guy chasing me. Jake Suzik said to me, ‘Keep going.’

“Hopefully, this is the start of something good. We have to stay motivated and we’ve been doing more conditioning in practice.”

Mazzon said that Ribich made “a huge play.”

Gogebic finished off a 20 point second quarter when Parker Wilson found Suzik in the corner of the north end zone with 31 seconds before the half.

Gogebic had a commanding 28-8 half-time lead, but every Miner fan knew their team had played well against Hurley and Hancock but faltered in the second half and lost both games.

When Butvilas plunged in from the four yard line on a quarterback sneak with 5:38 in the third quarter,

Houghton pulled within 28-14.

But Gogebic seemed determined not to let the Gremlins back in the game. After a Suzik and Ribich run, Wilson hooked up with Tomes on a 59 yard crossing pattern that went the distance. The conversion run failed, but the Miners were back on top 34-14 with 4:09 remaining.

Another tense Miner moment came after Butvilas scored on a nine yard quarterback rollout that pulled the Gremlins within 34-22 with 39.3 seconds left in the quarter.

Houghton quickly attempted an onside kick and came up with ball.

On the third play of Houghton’s drive Butvilas’ pass was batted high in the air and Ribich made the interception to stop the Gremlins.

But in the fourth quarter, Houghton was on a 65 yard march and this time scored on a 29 yard pass from Butvilas to Steffensen. The gap closed to 34-30 with 4:19 remaining.

The Gremlins attempted another on-side kick, but Gogebic’s Ian Averitt was there to pounce on it.

The Miners capped off the scoring when Wilson went in untouched on a quarterback bootleg and then hit Jared Janczak on the conversion pass to end the scoring at 42-30.

The Miners (1-2) will play West Iron County in Ironwood in another conference game next Friday at 6:30 p.m. Houghton goes to Calumet on the same day.

Houghton 8 0 14 8 – 30

Gogebic 8 20 6 8 – 42

First Quarter

Gog – Tomes run (Tomes run), 10:06.

Hou – Steffensen 4 pas from Butvilas Rajala run), (:53)

Second Quarter

Gog – Ribich 16 run (pass failed), (11:31)

Gog – Ribich 95 run (Suzik run), (2:47)

Gog – Suzik 20 pass from Wilson, (run failed), (:31)

Third Quarter

Hou – Butvilas 5 run (run failed), 5:38

Gog – Tomes 59 pass from Wilson (run failed), 4:09

Hou – Butvilas 5 run (Butvilas run), :39.3

Fourth Quarter

Hou – Steffenson 29 pass from Butvilas (Butvilas run), 4:19

Gog – Wilson 9 run ( Janczak pass from Wilson), 1:10

Houghton Gogebic

First downs 13 12

Rushes-yards 35-190 33-195

Comp-Att-Int 14-26-1 5-8-0

Passing yards 137 82

Total yards 327 277

Fumbles-lost 1-1 2-1

Penalties-yards 10-67 3-35

Individual Statistics

Rushing – Houghton, Jake Rajala 20-157, George Butivilas 10-27, Jack Ashburn 1-minus 1, (#32) 4-7. Gogebic, Bailey Ribich 12-175, Jacob Suzik 9-27, Brayden Tomes 8-72, Cody Schwartz 1-minus 4, Parker Wilson 3-25.

Passing – Houghton, George Butivilas 14-26-1-137 , Gogebic – Parker Wilson 3-6-0-62 .

Receiving – Houghton, Elliot Majlessi 7-65, Jack Ashburn 2-21, Merlin Steffensen 3-46, Andrew Garland 2-24, Jake Rajala1-1. Gogebic, Jake Suzik 1-20, Ian Averitt 1-1, Brayden Tomes 2-63.