EagleHerald/Stephen Oman Ontonagon's Jaden Weisigner tries to break a tackle in the Gladiator's MHSAA 8-man Division 1 playoff game at Stephenson Friday.

STEPHENSON — Monty Glover rushed for 186 yards and two touchdowns and Jesus Becerra backed him up with 124 and a touchdown of his own to lead the Stephenson Eagles to a victory over the Ontonagon Gladiators, 34-14, in an MHSAA eight-person Division 1 playoff game Friday night. 

“Last week we didn’t have the best blocking game and we set goals for ourselves this week,” Eagles coach Logan Carlson said. “And I’m pretty sure if we look on film they hit every single one. Very proud of the way they played.”

Stephenson kicked off to start the game and after the Eagles forced a turnover on downs at its own 7-yard line, the duo of Glover and Becerra took over. 

Becerra broke loose for a 46-yard run on third-and-3, and on the next play, Glover found the endzone on a 40-yard touchdown run. The conversion was no good and Stephenson led 6-0 with 6:28 remaining in the first quarter. 

Stephenson’s defense made another stand at its own 10-yard line with 7:50 to go in the half and 11 plays later, Glover got his second score of the game to put the Eagles up 12-0. 

On the next Gladiator possession, quarterback Dustin Howard linked up with his big receiver Jake Witt and Witt took the pass 40-yards for a touchdown before halftime to cut the deficit to 12-6 in favor of the Eagles. 

The touchdown before half shifted the momentum for a little bit as Stephenson came out and wasn’t able to get anything going early on in the third and Ontonagon tried to take advantage. 

The Gladiators drive started on its own 15-yard line and used a couple long runs from Jake Weisigner to set himself up for a 9-yard touchdown run on an option play. Ontonagon converted the 2-point attempt to take the lead 14-12 with 4:21 left in the third. 

Stephenson used an 11-play drive on its next possession to regain the lead 18-14 on a 3-yard touchdown run from Becerra. 

“I thought for a little while we kind of had the upper hand for a stretch,” Gladiators coach Ben Mayer said. “We worked our way back up, but that’s just how it goes in these kind of games.”

Ontonagon was looking to answer the Eagles touchdown on its next possession but some sleet started coming down and with a slippery ball, the Gladiators fumbled a pitch and Stephenson recovered for an 11-yard scoop-and-score by Brayden LaPointe to bring the lead to 26-14 just before the end of the third. 

After a Gladiators punt, Stephenson used a 17-play drive to go 72 yards and chew up more than eight minutes before turning it over on downs at Ontonagan’s 5-yard line. 

On Ontonagan’s second play of the drive, Howard fumbled the snap in the endzone and Bryce Hornick recovered for another Eagles defensive touchdown to seal the game with 3:10 to play. 

Stephenson is set to host Cedarville in round two of the playoffs next week.

“The way we competed in a close game makes me prouder than I’ve ever been,” Carlson said. “They got on us a little bit after halftime but we never stopped competing. Our defense stepped up, our offense stepped up.

“Just proud of the boys all around.”