Hurley kicks off playoffs with win

HURLEY — Hurley did what a 2 seed in the playoffs is supposed to do. The Northstars never gave No. 7 Bruce life, taking care of business for a 62-16 opening-round win Saturday afternoon.

Charlie Haanen rushed for 193 yards on nine carries and he returned a pick-6 for a touchdown with all of it coming in the first half. Bruce sophomore quarterback Blake Nyhagen rushed for 161 yards and threw for another 116, but the rest of the team combined for 17 yards and the Hurley defense limited his big plays.

Hurley will host No. 6 Athens (6-3) Friday night at 7 p.m. The Bluejays upset No. 3 Turtle Lake 44-20 Saturday.

Northstar coach Chris Edvyean was happy his team earned another home playoff game.

“I’m just happy with how everyone played,” he said. “We got everyone in and everyone took the best of their opportunity. I thought everyone played very hard and made some good plays, made some crazy things happen.”

The Northstars scored on their first possession with Haanen, who made some of those crazy things happen throughout the first half, running 31 yards for his first of three rushing touchdowns.

Bruce got to the Hurley 33 on the ensuing possession, but Trent Tijan tackled Nyhagen for a two-yard loss to set up fourth and long.

The Northstars took over on the 35 after an incomplete pass. It took seven plays to go the 65 yards with Max Caudill running five yards for the score.

Landen Christoferson intercepted a Bruce pass at the goalline and a penalty put the ball at the 17. Haanen ran 71 yards for the touchdown on the fourth play of the drive, giving Hurley a 22-0 lead after the first quarter.

The Red Raiders got their only touchdown of the first half early in the second quarter as Nyhagen ran 46 yards for a touchdown.

Hurley answered with three scores to end the half. Bodyn Gilbertson ran three yards to cap an eight-play, 56-yard drive. After a turnover on downs, Haanen ran 32 yards for a touchdown. After Bruce got into Hurley territory, Christoferson got his second interception of the day, this time in the end zone.

The Northstars fumbled it back and Bruce decided to go for it with 1:22 left while taking over on their own 20.

On the third play of the drive, Christoferson defended a deep throw well and tipped it to Haanen, who was behind the play. Haanen dodged tackle after tackle and ran it 72 yards back for a touchdown.

“We had a couple guys make some key blocks downfield, especially Landen,” Edyvean said. “He had a huge block that really sprung Charlie on that run. It was a heck of a run on Charlie’s part as well.”

Hurley led 42-8 at the half.

After a three-and-out by Bruce to start the second half, Max Caudill ran 16 yards for a touchdown on a 57-yard, five-play drive.

On Bruce’s next drive, Marshall Lotzer forced a fumble and Gavyn Koski completed the scoop and score from 30 yards out for another Hurley TD.

Wesley Schilling ran seven yards for Hurley’s final touchdown of the day midway through the fourth quarter.

Nyhagen ran 80 yards after that to give Bruce its second touchdown. It was one of the few big plays he had all day.

“We prepped for (him) and I thought we were able to maintain him all day,” Edyvean said. “Like I said before, he’s the heart and soul of that team, offense and defensively, we were able to get to him with our blocks and we were able to get pressure on him, not let him make too many throws downfield and didn’t let get out and scramble.”

Bruce coach Adam Malinowski said he’s the “entire offense” on a team with one junior and one senior.

“So if you can contain 23, it’s gonna be difficult,” he said. “(The Northstars) have a good group of older guys who are well coached, who are disciplined. They knew their assignments and they got through it. The pressure up front really hurt our quarterback, so they were just able to get good steps right away and just were able to stop him.”

Hurley now gets ready for Athens.

The Northstars last saw the Bluejays in the playoffs in their 2013 run to the state semifinal. Hurley won the Level 2 game at home 36-0 in what was a battle of 9-1 teams on a muddy field.

The conference’s Lineman of the Year that season was Edyvean, now Hurley’s coach.

“Athens is another team that has a really solid history of hard-nosed football,” Edyvean said. “Any team that has that kind of experience, they can be dangerous.”

The Bluejays bring a more balanced rushing attack than Bruce with four running backs with season totals between 400 and 550 yards. Freshman Isaac Bingham leads at 545 yards on 116 carries with eight touchdowns, followed by senior Daxton Diethelm with 529 on 65 carries, sophomore Nick Paul with 516 on 52 carries and seven touchdowns and junior Cris Velazquez with 428 on 83 carries with six scores.

Quarterback Garrett Frahm has thrown for 514 yards, seven touchdowns and three interceptions and is 31 of 67 on the season.

The Bluejays shut Hurley out last season 30-0 with 14 fourth-quarter points among the tally.

Both teams are different.

Athens’ leading rusher from that game Evin Passehl, who rushed for 132 yards and two scores, along with quarterback Kamden Zarnke, who threw for a TD and ran for another, have both graduated.

The teams aren’t in the same conference like they were last year.

Hurley won the Northwoods East Conference title and earned a 2 seed in this year’s playoffs after being a 5 last year.

The Northstars also saw Athens this year, in the preseason scrimmage at Wausau Newman Catholic.

“We already got a look at them earlier this year, we have some history with them being in our conference last year and all the kids are gonna wanna win after getting shut out at home last year,” Edyvean said.

Athens has scored at least 26 points in its wins, but they’ve scored 20, 6 and 0 in their losses. The zero was at Gilman, the No. 1 ranked team in the state.

“Their offense is good, they’re definitely able to put up points,” Edyvean said.

Hurley’s offense has been solid all year, too.

“I’m still confident in our offense, being able to move the ball on them. Like I said last week, I think we’re gonna be able to move the ball on almost any team as long as we communicate and continue to block well,” he said.

Bruce 0 8 0 8 — 16

Hurley 22 20 14 6 — 62

First Quarter

Hur — Charlie Haanen 31 run (Max Caudill run), 10:25

Hur — Max Caudill 5 run (Haanen run), 4:23

Hur — Haanen 71 run (run failed), :18

Second Quarter

Bru — Blake Nyhagen 46 run (Caleb Wester pass from Nyhagen), 11:07

Hur — Bodyn Gilbertson 3 run (run failed), 6:52

Hur — Haanen 32 run (run failed), 5:01

Hur — Haanen 72 INT return (Max Caudill run), :10

Third Quarter

Hur — Caudill 16 run (run failed), 8:25

Hur — Gavyn Koski 30 fumble return (Haanen run), 6:03

Fourth Quarter

Hur — Wesley Schilling 7 run (kick failed), 6:38

Bru — Nyhagen 80 run (Gavin Golat pass from Nyhagen), 3:47

Bru Hur

First downs 6 18

Rushes-yards 22-176 46-485

Comp-Att-Int 8-20-3 2-3-0

Passing 116 44

Total yards 292 529

Penalties-yards 2-10 4-30

Fumbles-lost 3-1 1-1

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — Bruce, Blake Nyhagen 17-161, Gavin Golat 3-14, Demetri Lahr 1-8, No. 18 1-minus 7. Hurley, Charlie Haanen 9-193, Max Caudill 9-83, Bodyn Gilbertson 13-71, Landen Christoferson 5-69, Marshall Lotzer 6-46, Wesley Schilling 2-14, Trent Tijan 1-6, Nolan Sain 1-3.

PASSING — Bruce, Blake Nyhagen 8-20-116-3. Hurley, Max Caudill 2-2-44-0, Landon Estrada 0-1-0-0.

RECEIVING — Bruce, Caleb Wester 3-57, Gavin Golat 3-40, Demetri Lahr 1-12, No. 18 1-7. Hurley, Wesley Schilling 1-29, Landen Christoferson 1-15.