ISHPEMING, MI – Most MPC football fans would have predicted the Ishpeming Hematites to beat the Gwinn Modeltowners this Thursday night in a normal year. Give coach Jeff Olson an extra week to prepare? It doesn’t look good for the black & yellow. The Hematites, who weren’t able to fill their schedule this season, are coming in to the last week of the season with an undefeated record for the second consecutive season. The Modeltowners are coming off of a 20-54 loss to the Norway Knights at home last Friday night.
This is a game where the Hematite starters may not need to be around past halftime. Ishpeming is a team stacked with talent, leaders, and a well engrained game-plane, where the Modeltowners are very young and still trying to find their identity offensively. The youth of the ModelTowners is due to the fact that they’ve had a myriad of injuries and a few
off-the-field issues, resulting in them having to suspend their JV Football team to pull up the players to varsity. The Hematites have outscored opponents 258-46 through seven games this season, and haven’t allowed a point in their past three contests. On the other side of the coin, the Modeltowners have been dominated all season long to the tune of 333-130. However, there is a reason that they play the games. So the Hematites have to gear up, and get ready for their division-7 title defense. If they come in, and are a little out of sync, that can stay with you. You can’t treat this as a game that is already decided. If you allow a team that you should beat handily to hang around, that can affect you mentally as you begin to go up against stiffer competition. Coach Olson will have the team ready, you can bet on it.
Mike Plourde is still recovering from a minor procedure, so won’t be in the booth on Thursday. We’ll be combining stations for this one as you’ll have Gordon Melke from 103-FXD calling the game alongside 98.3’s very own Bob Nadeau. You can catch this game on either station starting at 6:30pm for pregame, followed by a 7pm kickoff. GO HEMATITES!
-Carl Leander Johnson