The Lakes’ Sam Roberts (3) barrels up field with the ball while teammate Mason Holzberger (33) blocks the Miners’ Chase Montie (38) in a game Saturday at Warner Field in Lake Linden. (Eddie O’Neill/Daily Mining Gazette)

LAKE LINDEN — The Lake Linden-Hubbell Lakes scored early and often in their 50-0 thrashing of the Gogebic Miners (2-6) on Saturday at Warner Field in Lake Linden. On a wet and muddy grass field, the running game was key, and the Lakes (5-3) did a much better job of it than their opponents. They outran the Miners, 265-19, on an equal number of plays (33). According to the Lakes coach Brett Gervais, that was the game plan, and it worked.

“We’ve been trying to do some different things on the ground and the guys well in executing it,” he said. “Specifically, we’ve been trying to spread the ball out across the field through some different formations, and it played out well.”

The Lakes’ senior running back James Milkey got Lake Linden on the scoreboard first with a quick goal-line scamper close to midway through the first quarter.

It was the first of three touchdowns for Milkey – all in the first half. He led the Lakes with 72 total yards on the ground with 10 carries.

It was a 14-0 Lakes lead after the first quarter thanks to a 60-yard punt return into the end zone by Danny Marcotte.

Milkey tacked on two more touchdown runs, one of 9 yards and one of 2 yards to close out the second quarter. In between, Sam Roberts scored on a 22-yard jaunt to make it 38-0 score at half time.

“I give credit to our offensive line,” Gervais said. “They played strong and created spaces for our backs to find holes. In particular, Kirby Koskela and Gabe Popko got the job done on the inside. They made a huge difference in this one.”

The Lakes kept the heat on in the second half and didn’t allow the Miners to even get close to the redzone. Gogebic had just four first downs on the afternoon while the Lakes posted 15. That offensive consistency led to a 58-yard touchdown run by the Lakes’ Matt Jokela at the start of the third.

In the fourth Danny Mikus capped off the Lakes scoring at 50 with a 24-yard dash to the end zone.

“We laid an egg today,” said Gogebic’s third-year coach Nick Heikkila after the game. “Bottom line is Lake Linden is a very good team. They came to play, and our guys didn’t.”

Up next

The Lakes will close out their 2022 regular season next Saturday with a home game against the Ontonagon Gladiators. According to Gervais, the team is on the fence in terms of making the eight-person football playoffs. However, a win he said against the Gladiators would certainly secure a post-season spot.