Before the high school football season even started, Munising head coach Matt Mattson felt like their week two home contest with Lake Linden-Hubbell would be a good early season measuring stick for his team. The Lakes were a semi-final team in last year’s Division 2 8-player playoffs and annually churn out competitive teams; but Mattson and the Mustangs got the better of them in this match-up, 48-22.
“You look at the schedule and see they are week two and a state semi-finalist last year, they are a quality program and we have played them in the past and they just do things great and are very sound fundamentally,” Mattson said. “We knew it wouldn’t be an easy task by any means, but I thought our kids played well. It wasn’t an easy ball game, but we are certainly happy to get the win.”
The Mustangs built a 22-6 lead by the half and kept the offense going in the second half to keep a comfortable lead throughout.
Carson Kienitz continued his early season success through the air; going 12of-20 passing for 258 yards and five touchdowns, and he added 63 yards and a touchdown on seven rushing attempts. Wide Receiver Jack Dusseault had a big game as well, getting seven receptions for 190 yards and two touchdowns.
“I think Kienitz’s play has been phenomenal,” Mattson said. “He has 10 touchdown passes for us in two weeks and ran in for another one this week; those are scary numbers. Dusseault has seven touchdown catches in two weeks. We’ve had a couple of nice weeks on offense so hopefully we can keep it rolling.”
One of Dusseault’s touchdown receptions didn’t come from Kienitz. Instead, it came thanks to some trickery, with Trevor Nolan throwing a 77-yard touchdown pass.
“Kienitz tossed it back to Nolan and Dusseault acted like he was blocking and went deep,” Mattson said. “Nolan is an ex-quarterback and he threw it up, Dusseault went up and got it. It was a trick play that worked for us. It was a nice pass, a nice route and when Dusseault gets going you aren’t going to catch him.”
Also on offense, Nolan Connaughton had three receptions for 130 yards and two touchdowns.
“Lake Linden – they have some good size up front, we were worried about them and we didn’t want them controlling the football,” Mattson said. “I think our explosive plays on offense counteracted what they were trying to do.”
Munising (2-0 overall) hosts Bessemer (1-1) on Friday. So far this year Bessemer has defeated North Dickinson 44-26, and last week they lost to Norway, 54-22.
“They have some players back from last year, they give you a lot to prepare for, with a lot of formations on offense, so our defense will have to play an ‘A’ game against them,” Mattson said. “Offensively, we will try and do what we do, we have been using the pass game more this year so we will stick to that. They are a good team, better than what they have been in years past and we are going to have to play well to beat them.”
