By Mike Bedard
Thursday, October 15, 2009 at 2:57 p.m.
Two weeks left in the High School football season, CAN YOU BELIEVE IT!!! Where did this season go?? The snow is starting to fall across the U.P. so the playoffs will be here in no time. Plenty of good match ups left after we survived rivalry week.
Looking over the schedule this week, the one game that's pops out to me is in the Great Northern Conference, Kingsford against Gladstone. Both teams lost to their cross county rivals last week. The Flivvers dropped a heartbreaker 7-0 to Iron Mountain. Gladstone didn't fare to well against the mighty Escanaba Eskymos losing 40-0. I think Kingsford definitely has the stronger team here. They have played two common opponents in Menominee and Marquette. Both teams blew out the Redmen which is understandable, however Kingsford shut out the Maroons in Menominee and Gladstone lost 38-21 to Ken Hofer's team in Delta County. Both teams need the coveted 6th win to clinch a playoff berth. I like the Kingsford defense. they've only given up 63 points on the year and have scored 168 on offense thanks to Justin Heupel and company.
Gladstone has had some mixed results against stronger teams this year. We mentioned the loss to #1 Escanaba and to #3 Menominee already. They have beaten a good Negaunee team at home and defeated #4 Calumet up in Copper Country, so this team can play. The problem is they don't seem to have the same offensive firepower they did last year. They've only scored over 30 points twice, but those games were against the Sault Ste Marie and Marquette. RB Kollin Jensen will have to find the end zone a couple of times to give his Braves a chance at a homecoming win.
I like the Kingsford defense alot in this one. The offense will score enough points to give Chris Hofer that playoff berth. Flivvers 28-7.
OTHER GAMES TO WATCH FOR THIS WEEKEND: (Last Week: 3-2, Season: 29-6)
Manistique at Westwood: Ivan Niemi and the Patriots get the job done two weeks in a row. Westwood 21-14.
Marquette at Negaunee: A week after the Miner's laid an egg at Ishpeming, they'll get to fry some eggs against Marquette, Negaunee 35-8.
Rhinelander, WI at Escanaba: This one looks like an easy one for Esky if you look at just records, but it won't be for Dan Flynn's boys. Esky 32-28.
Houghton at Ishpeming: After shocking the U.P. with that 50-0 win against Negaunee, the Hematite's keep rolling, this time over the Gremlins. Ishpeming 42-15.
Ironwood at Calumet: Copper Kings just too strong 45-0.
Stephenson at L'Anse: Winner moves up in the West PAC standings. It'll be the road team. Eagles 29-16.
Marinette at Menominee: Hopefully Bart Stupak will share his cheese curds with me for picking the Maroons too. Menominee 21-7.
