Iron Mountain running back Brandon Walstrom rushes against Houghton for a touchdown on Friday, Sept. 9, 2022, in Iron Mountain, Mich. (Terry Raiche/Courtesy Photo)

IRON MOUNTAIN — Given his multitude of weapons, Iron Mountain coach Robin Marttila is not one to try to establish the run first or the pass first. He’d rather his team stay balanced on offense and get all of his playmakers involved.

That approached worked extremely well in the first half against Houghton on Friday as three different Mountaineers scored touchdowns and seven got their chance with the football in Iron Mountain’s 28-6 West Pac Conference victory over the Gremlins at Mountaineer Stadium.

Junior Bradon Walstrom rushed for two touchdowns and senior fullback Bradon Farragh ran for one in the opening half of a game in which all of the scoring came in the first 24 minutes.

The Colavecchi connection of quarterback Joe and tight end Matthew accounted for the other score, a 24-yard strike that opened the scoring on Iron Mountain’s third play from scrimmage.

“In terms of that game plan, I’d like to think we want to run the ball effectively, we want to pass when we want to not when we need to,” Marttila said. “We want to have multiple running backs and multiple receivers touch the ball.”

Iron Mountain (2-1) totaled 242 yards in the first half, including 20 rushes for 151 yards and five completions by Joe Colavecchi for 91 yards. In all, the Mountaineers outgained Houghton (2-1) 405 to 177.

Farragh led IM with 106 yards rushing, while junior running back Luke Wolfe rushed for 61 yards on five carries and caught three passes for another 54 yards.

“It’s hard for teams to get ready for us,” Farragh said. “We’ve got ground-and-pound, we’ve got speed, we’ve got a guy who can throw the ball good. So, it’s kind of hard for teams to get ready for us because we’ve got so many weapons.”

Iron Mountain’s offensive line of senior center Riley Gauthier, junior guard Connor Owens, sophomore guard Alec Haferkorn, senior tackle Marcus Verrette and junior tackle Fulton Stroud, with help from ends Oskar Kangas and Matthew Colavecchi, dominated the line of scrimmage in the opening half when the Mountaineers scored four touchdowns in their five possessions.

Just ask Houghton coach Micah Stipech.

“They won the battle on the line,” he said. “It was more than Xs and Os; it was their players knocking our players off the ball.”

The Mountaineer offense clicked right from the start. After holding the Gremlins to a three-and-out to start the game, Iron Mountain took just three plays to ring up its first touchdown when Joe Colavecchi found Matthew wide open in the right side of the endzone.

With 3:34 left in the first quarter, the Mountaineers took over on their own 30. Five plays into the drive, Joe Colavecchi connected with Wolfe to a 35-yard gain down to the Gremlin 24. Four plays later, Walstrom scored his first touchdown on a 9-yard run.

Farragh added the second of his four extra-point kicks and the hosts led 14-0 after one quarter.

“We played great, our line played great,” Farragh said. “They blocked for us, they gave the quarterback enough time to throw the ball, our running backs had plenty of yards and we have to thank the linemen.”

Meanwhile, the Gremlins scuffled offensively, despite some talented players like senior quarterback Camden Markham, junior running back Kyle Primeau and senior wide receiver Gab Carlson.

Houghton did not notch a first down until their third drive and the Gremlins went scoreless while the Mountaineers built a three-touchdown lead after Walstrom registered his second touchdown on a 2-yard run.

“Defensively, we got the job done,” Marttila said. “To hold those guys to six points, we’re very happy with that.”

The Gremlins did get on the board with 5:06 left before halftime on a 20-yard pass from Markham to Mikko Salmi. However, Iron Mountain marched the ball right back down the field and increased their lead to 28-6 on a 3-yard run up the middle by Farragh.

Walstrom had 29 yards on the drive and Farragh had 28.

“That three-headed monster is tough to deal with,” Marttila said, referring to Farragh, Walstrom and Wolfe.

On the other sideline, Stipech took the blame for his team’s poor start.

“We didn’t come ready to play and that’s on me as a coach,” he said. “They had a great gameplan, they knew what to expect from us. But it did come down to in the first half, we weren’t ready to play. We weren’t ready to tackle.”

The Gremlins put together the best drive of the half when they advanced to the Mountaineer 9-yard line before Stroud recovered a fumble to end the threat.

IM hosts L’Anse (2-1) for Homecoming on Friday. Houghton hosts Bark River-Harris on Saturday.