Braves Struggle In Red Zone; Fall To Copper Kings

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GLADSTONE---The Gladstone High School football team missed out on multiple chances in the red zone Friday night, and lost to the Calumet Copper Kings, 19-6, at the Marble Athletic Field.

Ben Anderson scored two touchdowns and rushed for 173 yards as Calumet (4-4) stayed alive in the playoff race. Gladstone's Issac Ketchum returned from a concussion to run for 166 yards, but the Braves could not take advantage of their chances deep inside of Calumet territory.

"It's just frustrating," Braves Coach Craig Ness said. "You know, between the 20's, I thought we were the better team. We got down there, and we'd have a penalty, or we'd have a negative play, and it takes us out of what we were doing, which was running the ball extremely well tonight. But, I'm just a little frustrated."

Things went badly for the Braves from the start, as they fumbled the opening kickoff. Three plays later, Anderson raced into the end zone for a 25-yard Calumet touchdown run.

"It seems like when we make a mistake, it's always a big play," Ness said. "The thing is, I usually defer (after winning the coin toss) to the second half. I tried to change thungs up and get us on the field because I thought our offense could get rolling. You know? Just snakebit a little bit."

It stayed 7-0 Calumet all the way until halftime despite Casey Alworden intercepting a pass inside Copper King territory. The Gladstone drive stalled, however, and the Braves tried to get on the board as Luke Inghram tried a 38-yard field goal with the wind at his back.

The field goal ended up sailing just to the right on the final play of the first quarter.

The Copper Kings took over from there and went on a time-consuming drive, taking nearly ten minutes off of the clock with run after run after run. Finally, a couple of penalties hurt Calumet (they had nine for the game), and after 15 plays, they turned it over on downs.

Gladstone got into the locker room down just 7-0, but Calumet went on another long drive to start the second half.

This one went 63 yards and ended on a 16-yard TD run by Anderson to make it a 13-0 game.

After the Braves got one first down but had to punt, the Copper Kings essentially put the game away with a 65-yard touchdown drive with quarterback Ted Loukus running for 44 yards on 4th-and-3, and then scoring the touchdown from 16 yards out.

Trailing 19-0, the Braves and Copper Kings exchanged making errors. Gladstone threw an interception. Calumet fumbled. Gladstone had the ball at the Calumet 15 yard line, but went four-and-out inside the Copper King ten yard line. Calumet got a couple of first downs and then fumbled again. That set the Braves up in Copper King territory again.

Ketchum broke off a 32-yard run into the red zone, but the Braves went backward when Pepin was sacked by Mutty Frantti. Gladstone faced 4th and 15 when the Copper Kings were called for a personal foul penalty, so the Braves had new life.

Finally, on 4th-and-15, Pepin found Nehemiah Blair in the end zone for a 20-yard touchdown pass with 4:01 left to play.

Gladstone nearly got the on-side kick, but Ingrahm's bouncing ball barely went out of bounds, and Calumet ran the final four minutes off of the clock.

The Braves (1-7) close out the season next Friday with a home game against the arch-rival Escanaba Eskymos, who at 4-4, are still playing for a possible playoff spot. It will be one final chance for the Braves to salvage something from a very difficult season.

"Well, it's Esly, so let's get 'er done," Ness said. "I would love to send the seniors out with a win. If we can bring the effort that we brought tonight, it should be a heck of a game."

Kickoff next Friday is set for 7:00 and the game will be broadcast live on FM-93.5, AM-600, and on-line at www.rrnsports.com.