FIELD TWP- The Mt. Iron-Buhl Rangers football team came to North Woods on Friday and showed why they’re a contender for the state nine-man title this year by rolling over the Grizzlies 56-6.
The bigger, faster Rangers scored every time they touched the ball in the first half, ringing up their first touchdown just over two minutes into the game with a five-play, 62-yard drive to go up 8-0. By the end of the quarter they were up 32-0, and scored three more touchdowns in the second quarter to lead 56-0 at the half.
Meanwhile, the Grizzlies could get nothing going on offense, failing to chalk up a first down in the first half against a totally dominant Rangers defense.
MIB was poised to continue the beatdown at the start of the second half after North Woods surrendered the ball on downs at their own 33-yard line, but a fumbled pitch at the Grizzlies 7-yard line was recovered by Louie Panichi to snuff out the drive.
North Woods finally found success after the Rangers subbed in some second-stringers on defense. Swinging out of the backfield, Talen Jarshaw pulled in a Panichi pass and dashed 50 yards down the sideline for the Grizzlies’ biggest gainer of the night. Nick Abramson broke through the line for another big gainer to the MIB three-yard line, and scored the Grizzlies only touchdown with 9:35 remaining in the fourth quarter.
With the running clock in effect, North Woods got the ball back one more time after Vinny Pascuzzi recovered an MIB fumble at the Grizzlies 35 with 2:13 remaining, and Head Coach Joel Anderson let his reserves get some time as the clock expired.
Abramson was the only North Woods rusher with double-digit yardage, running for 68 yards on 13 carries. Panichi was two-of nine through the air for 56 yards.
The Grizzlies will have another stout challenge when they hit the road on Friday to take on 3-0 Littlefork-Big Falls. The Vikings rolled up 96 points in their first two contests before slipping past Cook County 20-13 last week.