Click the thumbnails to see photos and videos. Also click the AUDIO buttons to hear halftime interviews with Gladstone seniors Andy Howes and Ian Gray, and post-game comments from Coach Dennis Cannoot.
GLADSTONE---The Gladstone Braves and Calumet Copper Kings combined to score more than 70 points in a non-conference football game Friday night, and the Copper Kings kept their playoff hopes alive with a 44-28 win at the Marble Athletic Field. Three different Copper King players scored two touchdowns each as Calumet (5-3) kept its playoff hopes alive.
The Braves moved the ball well offensively, but 13 penalties slowed the team's progress as Gladstone lost its seventh straight game (1-7).
The gam, e took almost three hours to play, with the stadium clock having technical issues multiple times throughout the game.
Trent Anderson scored on runs of 15 and one yards for the Copper Kings, while Keith Koivisto sprinted for tou8chdown runs of 20 and 60 yards. Oskar Loukus also had two long touchdown runs, covering 20 and 56 yards.
Gladstone took its first lead of the season since its Week One win over Gwinn in the second quarter when Wyatt Forvilly scored on a ten yard run in the first quarter, and after a Calumet fumble that was recovered by Ryder Forvilly at the five yard line, Nick Proehl ran it in for a five-yard touchdown. That gave the Braves a 14-8 lead midway through the second quarter.
But Calumet responded with three straight touchdowns before Gladstone could get another offensive play (other than one with seven seconds left in the half). The 14-8 lead lasted only 95 seconds because the Coipper Kings returned the kickoff into Braves territory and three plays later, Koivisto went into the end zone from 20 yards out to tie the game at 14.
Calumet then tried an on-side kick, but touched the ball before it went ten yards, so a penalty was called. On the re-kick, the Copper Kings tried the on-side kick again, and this time, they got it leagally. And they bled all but seven seconds off of the clock, with Anderson scoring on 4th-and-goal from the one yard line. Loukus ran in the two-point conversion and it was 22-14 at halftime.
Calumet then got the ball to start the second half after deferring the opening kickoff, and the Copper Kings quickly took advantage with Koivisto's 60 yard run down the sideline in front of the Copper King bench. A two-point conversion pass made it 30-14. A :"three-for-one" for the KIngs turned the game around.
When Gladstone finally touched the ball, the Braves put on an impressive drive. They went 66 yards in 16 plays, with quarterback Landon Pepin calling his own number for a 14-yard touchdown run around the edge, crashing into the pilon. The Braves came up inches short on the two-point run, so they were still down by two scores at 30-20.
Once again, Calumet responded quickly. It took just three plays this time, with Loukus scoring from 56 yards out, restoring its 16-point lead late in the third quarter.
The next Gladstone possession was a three-and-out that went backwards, forcing punter Ben Wilson to kick from his own five yard line. The Copper Kings used six plays to navigate the 54 yards, with Loukus scoring on a 20-yard sprint. The two-point pass gve Calumet a 44-20 lead with just under nine minutes left in the game.
The Braves put on another nice drive, with sophomore Jack Wilson scoring his first varsity touchdown on a two-yard run, and senior fullback Aiden Burie tacking on the two-point conversion run to make it 44-28 with three minutes to play.
The Braves, though, couldn't get the on-side kick, with Loukus recovering at the 48 yard-line.
Gladstone did get the ball back one final time with 1:07 left, but the game ended on an interception, the Braves' third turnover of the day to go along with 13 penalties.
For Caumet, a win at Aggasiz Field next Friday over L'Anse should get the Copper Kings into the state playoffs. For the Braves, it's a play-for-pride game against the Escanaba Eskymos at the Marble Athletic Field to close the regular season.
