Jason Juno | Ironwood Daily Globe Manistique’s Wyatt Gierke (12) celebrates a touchdown during Saturday afternoon’s game against the Gogebic Miners in Wakefield.

WAKEFIELD — The Manistique Emeralds kept the football out of Gogebic’s hands for most of the first half here Saturday in a 12-0 triumph over the Miners.

Manistique ran 37 offensive plays, and Gogebic had 15 before the intermission of this WestPAC Conference Iron Division match-up on this partly cloudy and chilly afternoon near the shores of Sunday Lake.

This marked the Iron Division opener for both teams, with Manistique improving to 1-2 overall and Gogebic dropping to 0-2

“This was a good win for us,” said Emeralds’ coach Todd Kangas. “We had our best week of practice all year. I thought we had a pretty good plan and were able to do enough misdirection to keep them off balance.”

This was the 21st straight loss for Gogebic, dating back to Oct. 7, 2017, when it posted a 14-0 victory over Bark River-Harris.

The four-hour bus ride to the Gogebic Range seemed to have little effect on the Emeralds.

Senior linebacker Lucas Gould set up the Emeralds in favorable field position by blocking a punt and recovering the ball on the Miners’ 40-yard line.

Manistique found the endzone nine plays later when sophomore running back Carter Miller scampered seven yards to his left on a counter play for a 6-0 lead.

The Emeralds, converting on several third-and-long and fourth-down situations, continued to keep Gogebic’s defense on the field through much of the second stanza.

Senior quarter Wyatt Gierke then scored on a nine-yard run keeper through the right side for a 12-0 cushion 59 seconds before halftime.

The Emeralds forced four turnovers, including a pair of interceptions by freshman defensive back Parker Graphos.

“The opportunities were definitely there,” said Gogebic coach Nick Heikkila. “We have to capitalize on those. When you don’t win the turnover battle, you’re going to have a hard time winning the game. We’re an offense that has to execute. We have to be ready for anything. Weather, and of course, turnovers can change a game.”

The Miners kept their hopes alive by forcing a pair of fumbles in the fourth quarter, including a recovery by senior cornerback Griffen McLaughlin at their 30 with 5:13 left in the fourth.

Gogebic then moved the ball to Manistique’s 18 before Graphos recorded his second interception inside the five and returned it to the 14, enabling the Emeralds to run out the clock.

Gierke was Manistique’s workhorse on offense, gaining 54 yards on 34 carries and completing 6-of-11 passes for 46. The Emeralds, who outgained Gogebic 168-130 in total offense, host BR-H Friday.

“Wyatt had a real good game,” said Kangas. “We had two freshmen, two sophomores and two juniors on the line. We lost arguably our best player (senior Rusty Schroeder) for the year to a knee injury last week. One of our linemen couldn’t be here, and we lost his replacement (freshman Jon Lund) to a knee injury today. When you come off a four-hour bus ride and play a lot of younger kids, you never know what’s going to happen, but they did a pretty good job. Only, we would have liked to have hung on to the ball a little better in the fourth quarter.”

McLaughlin ran nine times for 37 yards for Gogebic, which hosts Negaunee Saturday.

Manistique 6 6 0 0 — 12

Gogebic 0 0 0 0 — 0

Scoring plays:

First quarter

M — C. Miller, seven-yard run (run failed), 5:24

Second quarter

M — Gierke, nine-yard run (run failed), :59

Statistics

Total offense — Manistique 168 (122 rushing, 46 passing); Gogebic 130 (96 rushing, 34 passing).

Rushing — Manistique (Gierke 34-54, Graphos 13-36, C. Miller 4-27, M. Miller 1-minus-1); Gogebic (McLaughlin 9-37, Solberg 7-32, Matrella 7-20, B. Kirtland 3-7, Fingeroos 3-2).

Passing — Manistique (Gierke 6-11, 46 yards); Gogebic (Fingeroos 2-5, 14 yards, two interceptions, Matrella 1-2, 20 yards, one interception).