ELY - If there was any thought that Ely might be looking past Saturday’s Section 7-Nine Man semifinals, they were erased early.

Make that immediately.

The top-seeded Wolves executed a perfect onside kick on the opening kickoff and never relinquished control on their way to a 43-24 victory over visiting fifth-seeded Northeast Range.

Senior standout Josh Heiman recovered the kick, then scored on an 8-yard run less than a minute into the contest. Matt Gerzin followed with a two-point conversion run to make it 8-0.

“That gave us momentum right off the bat,” Ely head coach Brian Lamppa said.

The Wolves would get great field position on their next possession following a botched punt, but the Nighthawks’ defense came up with a fourth-down stop in the red zone.

Ely would not be turned away the rest of the half, building a 36-0 lead with a crushing ground game. Blaise Lah scored on an 8-yard run, Gerzin broke free from 32 yards away, Evan Omerza ran in a 17-yard score and Lah added another touchdown from 14 yards out.

“Being part of an offense like ours, it is very exciting,” said Omerza, who also reeled in a 55-yard catch in the second quarter. “You don’t know when something big is going to happen. It is also really nice that we have many people that can carry the ball so if someone is in a slump, we can give the ball to the guy right next to him.”

Ely would extend its lead to 43-0 early in the third quarter as Braxton Casey powered into the end zone on a 1-yard rush, with Felipe Reis kicking his third extra-point of the game.

Northeast Range would not go quietly, however, closing the game, and its season, on a strong note.

The Nighthawks rattled off the final 24 points on a series of three touchdowns and three two-point conversions in the fourth quarter.

Alex Scholl scored on runs from 18 and 17 yards out and Travis Loewen powered in a 1-yard score, with Aaron Saari, Loewen and Zach Anderson picking up two-point conversions.

“Being it was our final game, I was going to let my seniors finish out the game,” Northeast Range head coach Mark Fabish said. “I don’t know if it was a satisfaction thing or not, but I was not going to take any of them out in their last game.”

The Nighthawks displayed resilience throughout the fall, bouncing back from three one-possession losses in the first half of their schedule to finish with a 4-6 record and win a road playoff game. 

“We had three games that, minus a miscue, we could have been the winner,” Fabish said. “So naturally I will feel that our record could have or should have been better. But we finished the season strong with lots of winning and playing good football.”

Heiman led Ely’s offense with 176 yards rushing, with Gerzin adding 82.

Lah registered 16 tackles, Augie Richter had 13 and Adam Porthan collected 10.

Anderson ran the ball 13 times for 89 yards to lead Northeast Range, while Jon Wenzel had 21 carries for 53 yards to wrap up the season with 1,360 yards and 21 touchdowns.

Seniors on this year’s roster for Northeast Range were Loewen, Max Posey, Joe Wenzel, Scholl, Jon Wenzel, Saari, Chad Wills and Ben Novak.

Next up for Ely (9-0) is a rematch with second-seeded North Woods (8-1) in the Section 7-Nine Man championship in Esko tonight at 4:45 p.m.