ISHPEMING, MICH – After a wild off season that did not guarantee any football, football is back. Ishpeming JV took the 20-minute drive down to Marquette to face off against the Redman Freshman Football team.
First Half-
Ishpeming won the coin flip and deferred, giving Marquette the ball to start the contest and the season. A stingy Ishpeming defense forced Marquette of the field in three plays, and that would be much of the story in the first half.
Once Ishpeming got the ball, Hunter Smith delivered the first touchdown of the season at the seven minute mark after a great drive by the Ishpeming offense.
Jack Quinnell opens second drive with deep pass to Adam Duvall for 23-yards for Marquette, Ishpeming stopped the run for a few plays before a false start by Marquette on third down, making it third and 11, a big blow instead of 3rd and 1, after an incomplete pass, the Redmen would go for it on 4th and fail the conversion after a nine yard reception.
A big block in the back would kill a big Touchdown run for Preston Gauthier after the turnover. Brayden Batiste would keep the drive alive after shaking off a few tacklers on a 19 yard run, dragging tacklers.
Ishpeming would nickel and dime their way down to the goal line before the end of the first quarter, first play of second quarter saw Brayden Batiste run it in from a yard out, 12-0 Ishpeming, Hurkmans would scramble in the conversion to make it 14-0.
Ishpeming would convert an onside attempt on the ensuing kickoff and recover a fumble to retain possession with 11:57 to go in the second. Ishpeming would keep the drive going with a fourth down conversion but would then pick up an unsportsmanlike penalty, pushing them back 15 yards and setting up first and 25 from the 36 yard line. Ishpeming would flounder a couple plays before picking up their fifth penalty of the first half.
Hunter Smith was looking for a miracle on fourth down, ultimately, not receiving one. So the Redmen offense would take over for the first time in the second quarter with six minutes to go.
The Marquette offense still couldn’t find a groove after all their time off the field, Ishpeming would sack Quinnell for a huge loss on first, followed by an incomplete pass on second. Preston Gauthier would pick off a wobbling pass on third down for the Hematites, he would shake a couple Marquette tackles before bringing the ball down to the Marquette 12-yard line with five minutes to go in the half.
After failing the first couple attempts in the red zone, Hunter Smith would find the pay dirt for the second time this season, A.J. Prosser would convert the ensuing two-point conversion to make the score, 20-0, Ishpeming.
Marquette would get the ball at the Ishpeming 40-yard line after a bad kick, giving them their best field position of the first half. Unfortunately for the Redmen, they could not net any yards before a beautiful punt inside the Ishpeming 2-yard line, forcing the Hematites to drive 98-yards if they wanted to score any more points before half.
That is exactly what the Hematites would do. Preston Gauthier would go 77-yards to the house for Ishpeming after breaking a couple tackles and getting some great blocks, putting them up 28-0.
An interesting end to the first half saw the Redman not take the field for the final 20-seconds of the half, electing to head for the locker room.
Ishpeming, in typical fashion, did not complete a pass in the first half (technically, a two-point conversion completion does not count towards statistics).
Second half-
Sam Dyer would score for the Hematites to start the second half after Ishpeming led a commanding drive. Ben Rubick would score on the two-point conversion, 36-0, Ishpeming. That score triggered a running clock as the Redmen got the ball for the first time in the half.
Marquette would convert their second first down of the half on a 40-yard bomb. That play would set up the first touchdown of Marquette’s season as Quinnell placed a perfect pass to Jan Van den Ende from 15-yards out.
The rock would not back down.
Ishpeming would respond with a monster drive capped by a Batiste, 16-yard touchdown. Two-point conversion no good, 42-6 after three quarters.
The fourth quarter would start with a running clock and the ball belonged to the Redman, they would convert one first down before kicking the ball back to Ishpeming.
Ishpeming would at this point try to milk the clock out, ending the game rather quickly in the fourth, but not before tacking on another touchdown, Conner Gauthier would scamper in to increase the Hematite point total to 48.
Marquette would go on to score a touchdown on essentially the last play of the, they would also convert the two-point.
Ishpeming would take this one, 48-14.
There would be no handshake line, just a simple wave to each other as they exited the gridiron.
Ishpeming would finish the contest with 420-plus yards on the ground.
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LISTEN TO THE FULL GAME HERE – ISHPEMING VS MARQUETTE
