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Negaunee whitewashes Hancock, 47-0

Hancock’s Todd Anderson (11) rushes against Negaunee on Friday, Sept. 10, 2021, in Hancock, Mich. (Eddie O’Neill/The Daily Mining Gazette)

HANCOCK — To put it bluntly, the Negaunee Miners scored often and easily in their 47-0 rout of the Hancock Bulldogs on Friday night.

The Miners utterly dominated the run game, exploiting holes in the Bulldogs’ defensive line.

The scoring started early. After receiving the kickoff, the Miners (2-1) mounted a 67-yard drive that resulted in a goal line run by Nico Lukkarinen at the 11:35 mark. Those first 25 seconds were an ominous sign of things to come for Hancock.

After closing down the Bulldogs (0-3) twice, the Miners took over with less than five minutes left in the first. Lukkarinen punched it into the end zone again for another six. It was 14-0 after the first quarter.

“I am just proud of these guys in how they came out and executed,” said the Miners’ head coach Paul Jacobson.

They continued their strong execution in the second by tacking on another 20 points. This time it was wide receiver Philip Nelson getting into the action with an eight-yard pass from Miners’ quarterback Gerald Johnson. Also in on the first-half action was Easton Palomaki who brought in a long TD catch from Johnson and had an equally impressive run.

As the two teams went their separate ways at half, the Miners led 34-0.

To say the least, Hancock’s head coach Ramon Sague was quite frustrated in his Bulldogs opening performance.

“We knew they were good and physical but we did not expect to not be able to withstand that kind of pressure,” Sague said. “They just took it to us physically on both sides of the ball. We were not able to block at all. I was disappointed.”

Sague said he was hoping his Bulldogs could at least get on the scoreboard with a TD in the third or fourth quarter, but it wasn’t happening.

“We played very tentative today, he said. “Our linebackers were not flying around like they should have been.”

The Miners closed out their scoring drive with a 13-point third quarter to make it 47-0.

“This was a complete game win,” Jacobson said. “We executed real well offensively and defensively. We’ve had some mistakes the last couple of games, but tonight we played solid defense and without mistakes.”

NHS 14 20 13 0 — 47

HCHS 0 0 0 0 — 0

First Quarter

NHS — Lukkarinen 1 run (kick) 11:35

NHS — Lukkarinen 8 run (kick 3:51

Second Quarter

NHS — Nelson 8 pass from Johnson (kick good) 8:29

NHS — Palomaki 51 pass from Johnson (kick good) 6:05

NHS — Palomaki 20 run (kick no good) 2:39

Third Quarter

NHS — Lukkarinen 8 run ( kick good) 6:15

NHS — Roose 4 run (kick no good) 3:21

Calumet beats Westwood, 28-14

ISHPEMING — Calumet scored a pair of touchdowns each in the second and third quarters to squeeze past Westwood on Friday.

The Copper Kings had 290 yards of offense. Quarterback Paul Sturos rushed for a touchdown and 125 yards on 12 attempts to lead Calumet. Dryden Nelson rushed 16 times for 103 yards and two touchdowns.

Sturos completed 1 of 2 passes for 39 yards and a touchdown. Nelson caught the pass for the score late in the second quarter.

Westwood had 239 offensive yards.

Norway holds off LL-H, 30-8

LAKE LINDEN ­– Norway scored 24 points in the fourth quarter to cruise past Lake Linden-Hubbell on Saturday.

The Knights scored twice in less than three minutes before adding a late score to pad the lead.

The Lakes’ only score came on a 3-yard run by Ben Tampas in the first quarter.

Norway had 269 offensive yards to LL-H’s 164. The Lakes were 4 of 11 on third-down conversions, and 1 of 5 on fourth-down attempts.

Tampas led Lakes’ rushing with 80 yards on 19 carries. Mason Holzberger had 19 yards on six carries.

Gabe Hautamaki led Norway rushing with 64 yards and a touchdown on nine carries. Michael Peterson had 55 yards and a touchdown on five carries.

Lakes quarterback Danny Marcotte completed 3 of 8 passes for 63 yards. Mason Codere was 0 for 1. James Milkey, Sammy Roberts and Holzberger each caught a pass for the Lakes.

Norway quarterback Nathanial Namny completed 15 of 26 passes for 161 yards and two touchdowns. Knights receiver Aiden Richards caught three passes for 62 yards and a touchdown.

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