Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
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By JASON JUNO [email protected] IRONWOOD — Ironwood’s Aubrey Smith added another honor to her special senior season. The Division 2 U.P. champion was named to the All-U.P. Dream Team by the U.P. Cross Country Coaches Association after the season. Smith was the only D-2 runner on the seven-member Dream Team. She was joined on the team by U.P. Runner of the Year, Pickford’s Talya Schreiber, who won the D-3 title; two-time D-1 champion Tessa Rautiola of Houghton, who competed against Smith at many regular-season meets; Marquette’s Ella Fu...
By JASON JUNO [email protected] MERCER, Wis. — Thursday night’s Mercer-Prentice sectional semifinal matchup lived up to the hype. Like the last two postseason meetings, it went all five sets. Unlike those two thrillers, though, Prentice came out on top, handing Mercer a heartbreaking 25-22, 21-25, 23-25, 25-20, 16-14 loss Thursday night. The top two players in the Northern Lights Conference, Jenny Klopatek and Eiley Schoeneman, played their final game. And their coach, Robyn Schoeneman, ended her varsity coaching career with 400 win...
By JASON JUNO [email protected] IRONWOOD — GCC hopes a grueling schedule to start the season will make them better the rest of the way. The Samsons start with a string of long-distance road trips — they played at downstate Petoskey over the weekend, head to Iowa Falls this weekend with trips to Milwaukee, Kansas and Escanaba before their home opener against Bay College on Nov. 26. One of those games is against defending national champion Hutchinson CC in Kansas, which was ranked No. 1 in the Division I preseason poll. They play Roc...
By JASON JUNO [email protected] Three players from Gogebic, two from Ontonagon and one from Ironwood were named to the Great Lakes Eight West all-conference First Team in voting by coaches after the regular season. Gogebic’s Bode Lynott earned the offensive hybrid spot with Wyatt Aspinwall at linebacker and Jayden Verrett in the defensive hybrid slot. Ontonagon’s Austin Gordon was selected at quarterback with teammate Caden Besonen chosen at wide receiver and defensive back (he was also a Second Team running back). Ironwood’s Evan Oja w...
By JASON JUNO [email protected] HURLEY — Hurley’s Devin Soltis earned Offensive Player of the Year honors in the Northwoods East Conference in voting by coaches. Soltis led the Northstars with 1,379 yards on 172 carries and 18 touchdowns. He also caught 11 passes for 176 yards and three scores. He even threw for 298 yards with four touchdowns and four interceptions. Soltis also made the all-conference First Team on both offense and defense. Hurley lineman Gavin Moore also was named to the First Team on both sides of the ball. He finishe...
By JASON JUNO [email protected] MERCER, Wis. - It took Mercer a little bit of time to get going Saturday night. But once they kicked it in gear, they were celebrating their ninth straight WIAA regional championship in a hurry. The No. 1 seeded Tigers rallied past No. 4 Mellen in the first set for a 25-18 win, won the next easily 25-8 and led the third 18-1 before closing it out for a 25-9 win. "This is our ninth one in a row, it feels amazing," Mercer senior Jenny Klopatek said. "We had...
By JASON JUNO [email protected] BESSEMER — Gogebic scored five straight touchdowns in the middle of the game to run away from Ironwood for a 50-12 win Friday night. The Miners beat their archrivals for the first time since they both became 8-player programs in 2021. Ironwood won the first three meetings, including a come-from-behind 34-30 win a year ago. “The kids had this marked on their calendar since last year,” Gogebic coach Nick Heikkila said. The Miners finished above .500 for the first time as an 8-player team and just misse...
By JASON JUNO [email protected] MINONG, Wis. — Jared Schultz did it all for Northwood-Solon Springs Friday night. What he did right before half might have been the most impactful thing he did against Hurley on a night he had a hand all seven of their touchdowns. The Northstars fought back from a brutal first quarter where NSS took a 24-8 lead in the WIAA playoff opener. After a 34-yard touchdown pass from Jack Rowe to Devin Soltis with 13 seconds left, Hurley looked to enter halftime down by just one touchdown, 30-22, while getting the...
By JASON JUNO [email protected] IRONWOOD — Turnover in junior college sports happens pretty fast all the time. It still seems pretty sudden for the GCC Samsons this season as they enter a new year without two-year standout Jaden Borseth and last year’s star Eli Talsma. “I’m not sure what to expect from the 2024-25 version of Samson men’s basketball,” Gogebic coach Dennis Mackey said. “We return four guys and have 11 new players, so the learning curve is severe right now. Thus far, I like our athleticism and the attitudes our guys put...
By JASON JUNO [email protected] HURLEY — The home crowd roared as loud as it has all season as Hurley looked to get a stop and secure a win Friday night. When they got it, the two Northstars in on the sack jumped off the ground and led the enthusiastic celebration amongst the players. After the clock went to zero not too long after that, no player was more emotional than Brodie Erickson, because who else would know better than him how important a win that really was. The Northstars extended their remarkable run of playoff appearances t...
By MATT “SWEETS” MCCARTHY For The Globe POWERS — Despite an early touchdown that brought the game within a point, and four quarters of physical play, the third-ranked North Central Jets prevailed, as the Gogebic Miners dropped a Great Lakes Conference matchup 40-13 Friday night at North Central High School. After a Miners three-and-out on their opening possession of the contest, the Jets, who are two years removed from their third of three consecutive MHSAA 8-player Division 2 state championships, got into the end zone on their fourth play...
By JASON JUNO [email protected] MUNISING — Ironwood’s Aubrey Smith and the Ewen-Trout Creek girls lived up to expectations on Saturday as they became U.P. champions at the Upper Peninsula cross country finals at Pictured Rocks Golf Course. — — — Division 2 Smith had recorded the fastest time among the Division 2 runners during the regular season and she led the entire race Saturday, finishing in under 20 minutes with a time of 19:57, more than 25 seconds ahead of runner-up Ella Keranen of Hancock. There’s some pressure to being the f...
By JASON JUNO [email protected] IRONWOOD —A couple of key fourth-quarter plays went Lake Linden-Hubbell’s way as the Lakes beat Ironwood 16-14 in a heartbreaker for the Red Devils Friday night. Ironwood led 14-8 until the Lakes scored the go-ahead touchdown midway through the fourth quarter. The Lakes converted on fourth-and-long to the Ironwood 1 to keep that drive alive. The Devils nearly responded with a score of their own, but a holding call stalled the promising drive, giving Lake Linden-Hubbell the win. “I was happy how they...
By JASON JUNO [email protected] BESSEMER — The Gogebic Miners dispatched Lake Linden-Hubbell for the first time as an 8-player team, 29-12 Friday night. Gogebic last beat the Lakes in 2012, in a 39-12 win when both teams were 11-player teams. “It’s been a minute since Bessemer, Wakefield has beat Lake Linden, so definitely a big win for us,” Gogebic coach Nick Heikkila said. Miners’ quarterback Bode Lynott accounted for four touchdowns. He threw two long passes to Patrick Perron, a 67-yard pass to start the scoring midway through t...
By JASON JUNO [email protected] PHILLIPS, Wis. — The playoffs are starting a week early in Hurley. The Northstars likely need to win their regular-season finale against Rib Lake at Veterans Memorial Field Friday night to ensure a spot in the WIAA 8-player postseason field. Hurley won their first six games and then fell 48-32 at Phillips Friday night in a battle for first place in the Northwoods East Conference. It seems a bit cruel to be fighting for your playoff life with a 6-1 record, but that’s the reality. “That’s the way it is w...
By JASON JUNO [email protected] IRONWOOD — Ironwood lost to the top-ranked team in the Upper Peninsula, Crystal Falls Forest Park, 58-8, Friday night. They’re back home this week with Lake Linden-Hubbell coming to town for a 6 p.m. game Friday night. The Red Devils are hoping to have Nick Miskovich back from injury that has kept him out for much of the season. Forest Park proved to be as formidable foe as they’ve faced this year, worthy of their top ranking. “Very tough, quick team off the ball and then getting into space makes it very...
By JASON JUNO [email protected] IRONWOOD — Four Ewen-Trout Creek girls placed in the top 10 at the final Copper Mountain Conference meet of the season Thursday at Gogebic Country Club in Ironwood, giving them their sixth straight meet victory of the season. Their success throughout the season earned them the league’s Team of the Year award. Ironwood’s Aubrey Smith has been the best individual runner throughout the season; she won her home meet Thursday and earned the league’s Most Valuable Runner award. The Panthers are hoping to wrap...
By JASON JUNO [email protected] MERCER, Wis. — Mercer will enter the WIAA postseason as a No. 1 seed once again. Coaches voted the Tigers the top seed at Sunday’s seeding meeting ahead of the Oct. 22 start to the playoffs. The powerhouse program has been the No. 1 seed for six straight years and in eight of the last nine. They’ve won the regional championship the past eight seasons, including as a 2 seed in 2018, the only time since their regional title streak started in 2016 that they weren’t the 1 seed. All of those seasons were pl...
By JASON JUNO [email protected] IRONWOOD — Ontonagon got back on track, ending a two-game skid with a 32-20 victory over Ironwood Friday night. “That was a must-win for us there,” Ontonagon coach Kadin Mustafa said. “We’ve got a tough schedule the rest of the way and this was a pretty good team.” It proved to be a frustrating loss for the shorthanded Red Devils, who kept Ontonagon’s big-play offense from putting up crazy numbers but also committing costly penalties and giving up a key fumble. “It stings looking back, for sure,” Iron...
By JASON JUNO [email protected] HURLEY — Hurley has navigated its first season as an 8-player team without a loss through the first six games. The Northstars now need to beat the other two top teams in the Northwoods East Conference to stay undefeated entering the playoffs. Hurley goes to Phillips in a battle of league unbeatens for a 7 p.m. Friday night matchup, followed by a home matchup against Rib Lake, which has just one league loss — to Phillips — on Oct. 18. The Northstars are worrying about the Loggers first, a game they figured...
By JASON JUNO [email protected] WAKEFIELD — Gogebic was hoping to build some momentum off of a huge win against Ontonagon the week before. But that was a tall task against the No. 3-ranked team in the entire state. Gogebic moved the ball early and late, but Crystal Falls Forest Park was just too much to handle as they spoiled the Miners’ homecoming game with a 33-13 victory Saturday afternoon. “They’re tough, they’re a tough team,” Gogebic coach Nick Heikkila said. Through the switch to 8-player football, and the constant roster turnove...
By JASON JUNO [email protected] EWEN — Gogebic rushed for 124 yards, scored three touchdowns, intercepted Ontonagon twice and stopped them another two times on downs. Then the first quarter ended. The Miners did it again in the second quarter, putting up another 21 points before Ontonagon got in the end zone for the first time. They rode that fast start that saw them lead 42-0 to a 56-21 Great Lakes Eight West win Friday night at Ewen-Trout Creek. The Miners kept Ontonagon’s big-play offense in check and countered with a rushing att...
By JASON JUNO [email protected] HURLEY — Hurley improved to 5-0 with a dominating 46-0 victory over Washburn Friday night. The Northstars haven’t run the ball the way they would like to this season, but they rushed for 313 yards on 34 carries last week, their first time clearing the 300-yard mark this season. “The bottom line is we found some running game and that’s what we have to get to,” Hurley coach Scott Erickson said. “And, again, the defense was really good, giving up 40 yards for the whole game.” Hurley has given up just 26 po...
