Two 8-player football squads with playoff aspirations met up in Munising on Friday. The seventh ranked Mustangs were taking on visiting Norway, a team ranked 10th. The Mustangs and Knights battled it out in the Great Lakes 8 Conference East Division game, but it was Norway leaving town with the hard-fought win, 40-28.
“Norway is a very good football team,” Munising head coach Matt Mattson said. “Our kids played extremely hard, I made a couple coaching mistakes which didn’t help us. Hopefully we can get a couple wins down the stretch and maybe see Norway again in the postseason. First step in that process is a tough road trip to Rudyard [on Friday].”
The Knights, who improved to 5-1 with the win, turned what was an 8-8 deadlock after the first quarter into a 16-8 lead by the half. Norway continued to hold the usually potent Mustang offense down in the third quarter, and pushed their lead to 24-14 entering the fourth; where both teams scored two touchdowns.
Munising did rack up 487 yards of total offense in the game. Carson Kienitz completed 24-of-32 passing for 348 yards, to go along with two touchdowns and one interception. Kienitz also found success on the ground, running 11 times for 95 yards. Trevor Nolan completed one pass for 25 yards and he hauled in five passes for 53 yards. Jack Dusseault led the receivers with nine catches for 164 yards and two touchdowns and he also had 16 yards and one touchdown on the ground. Zack Lindquist had three receptions for 62 yards and Carter Deatsman tracked down six passes for 53 yards. Nolan Connaughton made two receptions and 31 yards receiving.
“Our passing game (was a positive), it went for over 300 yards, five different receivers caught passes,” Mattson said.
Munising (5-1 overall, 1-1 Great Lakes 8 Conference East) will attempt to get back on track Friday, over at Rudyard (3-3, 1-1). The Bulldogs were able to defeat St. Ignace 45-28 last week and have won three of their last four contests. They are led by Damon MacDowell who ran for 412 yards and four touchdowns in their win over the Saints; and he also threw for 34 yards and one touchdown.
“Rudyard is much improved from the start of the season and is playing very well,” Mattson said. “They are still in the playoff race so it will be a great game.”
