Bark River-Harris senior Troy Johnson (44) runs through the Iron Mountain defense on Oct. 11, 2024 at Mountaineer Stadium in Iron Mountain. (Sean Chase/Daily News)

IRON MOUNTAIN — It was parents’ night at Mountaineer Stadium and the Iron Mountain varsity football team put on a show against Bark River-Harris on Friday.

Although they started off slow, the Mountaineers righted the ship and rolled to a 40-7 win over the Broncos in a WestPAC Iron Division clash.

“We knew it was going to be a tougher game than the first time we played them,” coach Marttila said. “Bark River’s very stout. They’ve got some good size on both sides of the ball. They play hard and they’re well coached. We were able to get the job done but it was a tougher game than week two.”

Iron Mountain won the week two match, 42-6, on the Broncos’ home turf.

“It’s always tough to come here,” Broncos head coach Caleb Adams said. “Some things just never go our way here, I like to think it’s cursed. But, we fought. We fought more than week two when we saw them. We were physical and the guys tried hard.”

Entering the contest, Bark River was focused on slowing down the Mountaineers’ senior running back Alex Jayne. He ended the day with 122 rushing yards and a TD.

“If you watch any sort of film or watch Iron Mountain at all, you know (Alex Jayne) is the key to their offense,” Adams added. “So you align to stop him and I think we did a pretty good job of that. Now we just also have to stop (Oskar Kangas).”

With the Broncos keying on the Mountaineer rushing attack, senior Oskar Kangas took over the passing game. He ended the night with four catches for 65 yards and two TDs.

Both teams’ first drives stalled out, however, Iron Mountain’s second drive things began to click. After stringing together seven plays for 62 yards, Mountaineers’ senior quarterback Ian Marttila hit Evan Copley in the back of the endzone for a three-yard TD as the second quarter began.

“Bark River is a better team than the first time we played them,” Ian Marttila said. “They’re very physical and they hit hard. But, we knew that coming into the game. So we just had to lock in and play our game.”

Oskar Kangas blocked a Bark River punt on the ensuing drive and Marttila connected with Brayden Kassin for a 21-yard TD pass as the IM lead increased to 14-0.

The Broncos turned the ball over on downs and Jayne finally broke free. This time for a 12-yard TD run as the lead grew to 20-0 after a field extra point attempt. The Mountaineers took that lead into halftime.

Iron Mountain opened the second half with a 10-play drive that Kangas capped off with a 10-yard TD catch. Four minutes later, Kangas hauled in a 15-yard TD pass and the lead ballooned to 33-0.

While the offense was clicking, the Mountaineers’ defense was holding its own. After three quarters, the Broncos offense had a total of negative-three total yards.

“I told the kids, ‘I was going to do a better job coaching them defensively,'” coach Marttila said. “Because there were some things early on in the year, and you can point the finger at me. I try to get better and our kids are trying to get better and I think we did that. The kids understood what they needed to do and they got the job done.”

Senior running back Aiden Ellis wrapped up the IM scoring in the fourth quarter with a seven-yard scamper that pushed the lead to 40-0.

Despite facing a large deficit, the Broncos weren’t going to roll over. In the fourth quarter, Troy Johnson broke through the Mountaineer defense and rumbled for a 36-yard TD.

Marttila led the way for Iron Mountain with 113 passing yards and four TDs.

“He’s very capable,” coach Marttila said. “We want to have a good balance. Ian’s capable of running the ball and throwing the ball. He’s got some weapons to throw the ball to and he had a good night.”

Defensively, the Mountaineers received contributions from Alec Haferkorn (5 solo tackles, 5 assisted), Jake Powell (2 solo tackles), Bryce Davis (4 solo tackles), Aiden Ellis (4 solo tackles), Marttila (2 solo tackles), Kangas (1 solo tackle), Jayne (2 solo tackles), Daniel Manier (1 solo tackle) and Adam Krackenberger (1 solo tackle).

The Broncos are in Iron River on Friday against West Iron County while Iron Mountain heads to Manistique.