The Munising Mustangs football team led for the majority of their contest with the Indian River-Inland Lakes Bulldogs on Friday, Sept. 22, but a late score and successful two-point conversion led the visitors to the 26-24 victory.
After a scoreless first quarter, Munising started with a short field after a Bulldog turnover on downs at their own 26 yard line. Blake Walther scored first for Munising with a two-yard quarterback keeper just five plays later. Walther would connect with Jack Dusseault later in the quarter on a 60-yard strike and Reece Cotey returned an interception for 45 yards to give Munising an 18-0 lead at the half.
After another Walther-Dusseault connection for 52 yards, Munising increased their lead to 24-0 with 9:52 left in the third. It was at this time Bulldog quarterback/safety Aidan Fenstermaker took over the contest.
Fenstermaker scored on runs of three and 12 yards on the next two Bulldog drives, ending the third quarter 24-12. He would then throw a touchdown pass to Payton Teutheorn with 6:58 left in regulation to bring the Bulldogs within a score.
Munising tried to run out the clock, but late penalties stopped the drive on a turnover on downs at the Indian River-Inland Lakes 36 yard line. Once again, Fenstermaker made the play, as he scrambled for 40 yards for the equalizing score.
The Bulldogs then converted the two-point conversion on a quarterback draw on the left side. It was the only two-point conversion completed by either team in the game, as the Mustangs and Bulldogs went for a combined 1 of 8 after touchdowns.
Munising still had 1:19 left when recovering the kickoff at midfield, but Fenstermaker made the defensive play by picking off Walther with just a minute remaining to guarantee the victory.
This was the second victory of the season for Indian River-Inland Lakes, who defeated Lake Linden-Hubbell in week 2. Similar to the Munising game, Fenstermaker scored the game-tying touchdown, converted the two-point conversion to take the lead and intercepted the quarterback on the final drive for victory.
Munising (1-4) will continue its difficult season by traveling to Great Lakes Eight-East leading Pickford tonight. The Panthers defeated Rapid River 73-0 last week after surviving a two-overtime thriller against Rudyard the week before.
