Hematites advance to state semi-finals
ISHPEMING — Only a few things in life are certain. Death, taxes, Jimmy Fallon’s unfunny jokes and Ishpeming making a deep run in the football playoffs. The Hematites welcomed downstate McBain to the Playgrounds on Saturday for their final home game of the season and quite frankly, it wasn’t close.
Ishpeming won the game 40–2 and almost everything went right for the Hematites, as McBain fumbled on their first play of the game. Quarterback Ozzy Corp accounted for three touchdowns on the day: two rushing and one passing to Thomas Finegan. The Ishpeming defense also stepped up in a major way, outscoring the Ramblers offense thanks to a 102-yard interception return by Daren Guichin near the end of the first half.
“To come out and do some positive things the way we did…control the line of scrimmage, have some great runs, be able to throw the ball and then play some fantastic defense I thought for the whole game. That’s just a credit to our kids. The way they worked and the type of schedule that they played,” said head coach Jeff Olson.
“We knew they were big, but they stand up really high and we knew our advantage was to get low and get under their belts and then we did that pretty well today. People are starting to key in on me but now we got a lot of threats. We can spread the ball around. We can run with different people and it’s really helpful,” quarterback Ozzy Corp said.
“Our kids are playoff tested. Our kids are competitive so it doesn’t matter who we play. We’re going to prepare the way we do and try to take care of what we do best,” Olson said.
The Hematites advances to their fourth straight state semi–final. They will face New Lothrop at the Superior Dome on Saturday.