L’ANSE — Friday night’s match up between the L’Anse Purple Hornets and the Bark River-Harris Broncos started out as balanced football game.

Both teams scored in their opening drives. Bark River earned a quick eight in their first possession and the Purple Hornets followed suit. However, as the first-quarter clock wound down, this game turned lopsided. The Broncos (5-1) went on to score five more touchdowns in the first half alone, while the Purple Hornets (4-2) only posted one more. The Broncos won 44-16.

“The key to victory tonight was our offensive line,” stated Broncos coach Caleb Adams. They executed well. They are the heart and soul of our team.”

The Broncos capped off the first 12 minutes with a 51-yard drive finished by Andrew Johnson’s six-yard scamper into the end zone. That was followed by a 59-yard run by Gionni McDonough to make it 22-8 score after one.

It only got worse for the Purple Hornets in the second as the Broncos scored three more times to make this a 44-8 game at half.

L’Anse didn’t know what had hit them.

“We knew coming into this that they had some size and were going to be super physical,” stated co-head coach of Purple Hornets Jon Boever. “They outplayed us. They won the trenches on just about every play. We couldn’t contain them.”

With the 36-point lead at half, the third quarter started with a running clock. Nobody scored in the third, but L’Anse added eight in the fourth. At the 11-minute mark Reese Laitila found daylight for a 51-yard trip to the end zone. This one ended 44-16.

“They beat us on the edges and we couldn’t contain them,” Boever added.

“We knew that they were fast and had that in our game plan, but Bark River was the better team tonight.”

Up next

L’Anse will travel to West Iron to face the Wykons on Friday. Kickoff is slated for 7 p.m.