The photo collage shows the catch, score and subsequent celebration after Negaunee receiver Eli VanBuren made a touchdown reception in the second quarter that involved a lot more than just a catch of the football in the Miners’ MHSAA Division 6 playoff game played against Menominee at Miners Field in Negaunee on Saturday. In the inset photos, counterclockwise starting from top left, VanBuren reaches high to make the catch; he fends off the tackle attempt by the Maroons’ Trevor Theuerkauf; he carries a pair of Menominee defenders into the end zone; and he points back to quarterback Ty Jacobson after the play was over. In the main photo, VanBuren gets a hug from Negaunee head coach Paul Jacobson. (Photo illustraion by Daryl T. Jarvinen)
NEGAUNEE — Who’ll stop the rain?
John Fogerty warbled that chorus for a song of the same name for Creedence Clearwater Revival in 1970, but the question became current when a cold shower soaked Miners Field in Negaunee throughout Saturday afternoon.
An MHSAA Division 6 playoff football game was moved from Friday night after the tragic death of Negaunee High School student Addison Perala in a traffic accident early Friday morning.
Several tributes were paid to her and a fellow student injured in the crash before the game started, including a moment of silence and the presentation of a bouquet from the Menominee High School football team to Negaunee coach Paul Jacobson.
The rain that came down Saturday could’ve represented the tears shed because of the tragedy, but it did certainly help a Miners defense that rendered Menominee’s pass-happy offense ineffective for most of the game.
And it led to Negaunee’s 44-0 shutout for the district championship.
The whole experience seemed to be cathartic for a Negaunee team and its fans who braved the wet weather.
“Menominee has some really good athletes, some hard-nosed players,” Jacobson said. “We played well. Our guys got themselves ready to play this game.
“We look at today and the adversity faced by the community and we’re grateful to see the support that we’ve had.”
Asked about the Menominee presentation to him, “That was a tremendous gesture,” Jacobson said.
“Our team’s work ethic has just been tremendous this whole season,” the Negaunee coach added. “The amount of work they’ve put in, it’s great to see how it’s being paid off.
“This was our first district title since (our seniors) were sophomores, so they saw that great group of leaders and what it took.”
The Miners were able to grind out 377 yards on the ground Saturday, and probably more importantly, limited themselves to just two pass attempts. One of those by quarterback Ty Jacobson turned into a 40-yard touchdown pass to senior Eli VanBuren, but it wasn’t the typical NFL-style, bomb-throwing toss.
Listed at 225 pounds, VanBuren backed up a couple yards to catch the pass about 20 yards downfield before he turned around, shook off one defender, then dragged another into the end zone.
Meanwhile, the Maroons turned the ball over five times, three times on interceptions thrown by QB Trevor Theuerkauf, who was forced to put up 29 passes as he completed 11 of them for 141 yards.
“This weather didn’t work out for us,” said Menominee head Chad Brandt, whose team won a 44-39 shutout the previous weekend vs. Calumet and scored at least 36 points six times during the regular season playing in the Great Northern Conference and against nonconference competition entirely from Wisconsin.
Led by the 1-2 punch of Nico Lukkarinen and Kai Lacar, Negaunee rolled up 377 yards rushing compare to 71 for the visitors.
Lukkarinen finished with 208 yards in 17 carries, while Lacar had 132 yards in 12 attempts.
The game didn’t start well for either offense. After a Menominee punt on the opening possession, Negaunee readied to return the favor following a three-and-out. But a low snap to Miners punter Philip Nelson delayed his kick as a Maroons player partially blocked the kick as it turned into a zero-yard punt.
So Menominee had the first golden opportunity at the Negaunee 31-yard line. But a couple Maroons’ penalties — and one by the Miners — turned a dropped pass on fourth down into another turnover after the visitors gained just a handful of yards.
Then Negaunee got to work. After a holding penalty negated most of a nice gain to start things by Lacar, the Miners’ offense put its nose to the grindstone.
Ten straight runs of between 1 and 8 yards by Lacar, Lukkarinen and Jacobson set up Lacar for the game’s first points, a 28-yard TD run by Lacar where he started up the middle and then shifted left and crossed the goal line into the corner of the end zone with 1:41 left in the first quarter.
The weather prompted Coach Jacobson to forego the Miners’ usual extra-point kick try by Nelson, and instead Lacar had an easy 2-point run for an 8-0 lead.
On the ensuing kickoff, Menominee answered with a nice return while moving the ball about 30 yards. But the Miners’ James Thomson knocked down a Theuerkauf desperation pass on 4th-and-16 to end that threat.
Negaunee didn’t put up much of a drive to answer — but that’s because the Miners didn’t need to.
After Lukkarinen gained 10 yards on the first play, Lacar broke loose again, this time juking right to start the play and heading back toward the middle of the field for a 60-yard TD run less than a minute and a half into the second quarter. With VanBuren catching a Ty Jacobson pass for two points, NHS lead 16-0.
Negaunee was off to the races as the rain let up — for awhile.
The Miners tacked on two more TDs before the second period was half over to make it 30-0 at intermission. Lukkarinen got in on the scoring with a 49-yard run with 8:13 to go, then VanBuren caught his catch-and-chuck-the-tacklers pass with 6:09 left before halftime.
Negaunee lost a pair of fumbles over the remaining time left in the first half, the second one particularly painful as Lukkarinen coughed up the ball just before crossing the goal line for what would’ve been a 25-yard score.
But it just meant the Miners would have to wait into early in the second half to force a running clock.
Negaunee cashed in the opening possession of the third quarter as Lukkarinen got some redemption with a 47-yard TD run up the left sideline to make it 36-0.
The Miners put a bow on their day less than five minutes later when defender Ryan Reno stepped in front of a Theuerkauf pass and not only intercepted it, but immediately took off for a 60-yard TD on the return.
By the time Saturday’s game was played, Miners fans knew that to keep playing, they’ll have to drive to Gladstone for the regional finals this weekend. No official word was released by the MHSAA on Sunday afternoon of the game’s time.
Steve Brownlee can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 252. His email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.
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