Hurons take on Ishpeming in Division 7 playoffs

Rogers City has one more day of practice before taking on Ishpeming Hematites in the first round of the MHSAA playoffs. The Hurons will travel to Ishpeming for the game which begins at 7 p.m. Friday. The schools have never matched up in football, but the Hematite basketball team defeated two of the best Huron basketball teams in recent years in the quarterfinals. The winner of the Ishpeming (7-2 season record, 60.000 playoff points) vs. Rogers City (7-2, 54.556) pre-district game will play the winner of the Mancelona (6-3, 41.667) at Norway (7-2, 62.889) contest for the district title. The other half of the regional has Onekema (6-3, 41.667) at Traverse City St. Francis (8-1, 79.079) playing the winner of the Mio at Merrill contest. Thirty-two teams make up each division in the MHSAA tournament with the championship game set for Ford Field in Detroit five weekends from now. Making its first appearance in the playoffs under coach Mike Kosiara, the Hurons have beefed up their line up with all of the sophomores from the junior varsity, along with freshman quarterback Patrick Quaine.

LAST WEEK at Gilpin Field, the Hurons lost 42-19 to defending Division 6 state champion Kingsley (7-2). The Stags used a variety of formations and offensive schemes based on slick ball fakes of the quarterback and running backs. Many times several Stag runners were tackled, even if they didn?t have the ball. After spotting the Stags to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter, the Hurons roared back. Lennan drilled a pass to flanker Bret Karsten good for 29 yards up the middle. Two plays later McLennan and Karsten hooked up again on a 38-yard TD pass down the left sideline. Karsten reeled in the ball at the five and ran the final yards. Joe Finch?s PAT kick brought the score to 14-7 with 11:28 left in the half. Kingsley answered quickly with a four-play, 63-yard drive capped by a 12-yard run from junior running back Anthony Lawhead. Kingsley led 22-7 with 9:46 left in the second quarter.

MCLENNAN WORKED the middle of the field with three different receivers on the Hurons? next possession. A 15-yard run by senior back Tyler Schuiteman moved the ball to the Huron 47. Two plays later McLennan hit T.J. Sobeck with a pass down the middle, good for 12 yards. An 11-yard pass to tight end Trent Holmes set up a 17-yard TD pass to Karsten, who made a juggling catch in the end zone. The lead was cut to 22-13 after a two-point attempt failed. With 6:56 left in the half, the Hurons were in the hunt with the defending state champions. ?We did not start well. It?s tough to beat a great team when you spot them 14 points. But once our kids realized they could play with Kingsley, they gave a tremendous effort,? Kosiara said.

KINGSLEY HANDED the Hurons a break, then took it away moments later. Senior linebacker James Bruning recovered a Kingsley fumble at the Huron 29 setting up a long drive and an opportunity to draw closer. A pass to Karsten, and runs from Dustin Hein and Schuiteman brought the ball to midfield. A pair of passes to Holmes moved the ball to the Stag 13 with four minutes on the clock. McLennan showed the ability to survey the field before finding a receiver. ?On every pass play, Chase followed a read progression. Kingsley was double-covering Bret, so Chase followed his progressions and hit the other kids,? Kosiara said. The opportunity slipped away when the Hurons lost a fumble in the end zone with 2:05 left in the half. That proved to be enough time for the Stags to drive the field in eight plays giving the visitors a 28-13 halftime lead and a ton of momentum. The Stags took the opening kickoff of the third quarter and marched to the Huron eight before losing the ball on downs. In the drive, the Hurons were aided by an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on a Kingsley player who reacted poorly to a clean, but hard tackle by Jerome Gapczynski. The Stags lost possession on downs, but four plays later Finch?s punt gave the ball right back to the Stags. This time, they took advantage of great field position to score on a 31-yard drive in five plays to go up 36-13 with 5:44 left in the game.

THE LAST Huron score came on a spectacular play. McLennan avoided going down while a blitzing linebacker hung onto his leg, and lofted a pass down the right sideline where Karsten hauled it in for a 44-yard touchdown. Kingsley scored on its next drive at the end of a nine-play, 67-yard drive which took nearly four minutes. Overall, coach Kosiara said his squad is physically and mentally in good shape headed into the playoffs. ?We competed with an outstanding Divis

ion 6 team. They were the state champs in Division 6 last year. Once again, we started slow against them. I believe our kids were a little intimidated again but once we got over that, we played better,? he said. ?If we could play with Kingsley, we can play with anybody.? The playoff game will be played at Ishpeming Westwood High School, due to renovations on Ishpeming?s home field. Ishpeming Westwood is located at 300 S. Westwood Drive, south (a left turn) off US-41 approximately 10 miles west of the intersection of M-28 and US-41 as one drives from the east. Ishpeming is approximately 240 miles from Rogers City.

Statistics: Total offense, Rogers City 110 rushing, 275 passing. Kingsley 359 rushing, 196 passing. Passing: McLennan 17-of-28, 275 yards, 3 TD, 1 INT. Receiving: Holmes 7/86/0, Karsten 6/148/4, Sobeck 3/35/0; Matthews 1/6/0. Rushing: McLennan 17/76/0, Schuiteman 4/20/0, Hein 4/11/0, Freel 1/3/0. Tackles: Schuiteman 11, Holmes 11, Gapczynski 10, Schleben 9. Fumble recovery by: Bruning.

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