L’Anse’s Dysean Allen (30) is tackled by Lake Linden-Hubbell’s Isaac Codere (77) and Jesse Hill (30) on Friday, Sept. 27, 2019, in L’Anse, Mich. (Eddie O’Neill/The Daily Mining Gazette)

L’ANSE — Both the L’Anse Purple Hornets and the Lake Linden-Hubbell Lakes entered Friday night’s matchup on the grid iron at 3-1. The two teams stayed tied even into the fourth quarter of the game. It was a defensive battle wher a couple of breakout plays made the difference for L’Anse and earned them a 14-0 victory.

“At halftime, I told the guys to get out there and control the tempo and win this game,” a Purple Hornets’ head coach Mark Leaf. “I think the key was that we didn’t allow Lake Linden to control the ball in that second half.”

It stayed at zeroes even after the third quarter. As a team, LL-H led the offense with 287 total yards compared to 226 for L’Anse.

The Lakes had their best opportunity to score after taking over from the kickoff. They started on their own 7-yard line and pushed it up 83 yard but couldn’t push it pass the goal line. On fourth and 6 at the Purple Hornets 10-yard line, the Lakes went for a pass play but fell short and the Purple Hornets took over

“L’Anse played a great game and we couldn’t get the ball into the end zone, “ said Lakes head coach Andy Crouch. “We made some mistakes in the red zone and that cost us the game. You cannot win games when you don’t score points.”

With less than two minutes into the fourth quarter, the Purple Hornets Jonah Dowd broke the stale mate with back-to-back runs by senior running back Jonah Dowd. He first found a hole at around midfield and took off for a 40-yard jaunt which put the Purple Hornets within reach of the end zone. Their quarterback Presley Rasanen went to him on the next play and Dowd scampered in for a touch down. A play later he dashed in for a two-point conversion.

Dowd led the game with 24 carries for 196 yards. For LL-H, Caleb Klein was their leader with 18 carries for 93 yards.

“Dowd had a great game as he found the holes and our offense was able to grind it out and win the game against a very good Lake Linden team,” added Leaf.

With less than two minutes to play, the Purple Hornets put the proverbial nail in the coffin when they mounted another offensive front that ended with another touchdown by Dowd. This time he failed to get in on the two-point conversion.

“L’Anse deserved to win,” Crouch said. “They made some good played when they were needed. We’ll go to work on Monday and get ready for West Iron.”

Leaf added that it was a big win for his team.

“It was a great win for out kids,” he said. “I am very proud of them and the effort they put into tonight’s game.

LL-H 0 0 0 0 — 0

L’Anse 0 0 0 14 — 14