Article Photos

Advertisement

By CHRIS DOBROWOLSKI

News Sports Editor

JOHANNESBURG - The Ski Valley Conference flexed its muscles and delivered a knockout blow to the North Star League on Friday night.

Johannesburg-Lewiston, co-champions of the Ski Valley, opened the postseason by pounding Hillman, champions of the North Star League, 38-0, in a Division 8 playoff contest at Johannesburg-Lewiston High School.

Joburg quarterback Darren Dobbyn and halfback Joe Yeskey each scored two touchdowns to lead a Cardinal power attack that marched up and down the field offensively, while the Joburg defense swallowed the Hillman offense.

Yeskey led the Cardinals (9-1) with 160 yards rushing on 19 carries. His total was part of a 321-yard night rushing by Joburg, which carved big holes in the Tigers' defense behind its huge offensive line. Many of Joburg's linemen tipped the scales at over 200 pounds.

"We didn't play up to our capabilities at all," said Hillman coach Bill Koenig. "We came out flat and you can't do that against a team like Joburg."

The contest was played under bouts of heavy rain, which made the field a muddy quagmire early in the game. Joburg didn't seemed to be fazed by the conditions, jumping out to a 16-0 lead at the half, then scoring on its first three possessions of the second half to get a running clock going.

"It's just power football," Koenig said. "We'd stop them on the first three sets of downs, but they'd get big plays on the third or fourth plays. They controlled the clock way more than we did."

Hillman's offense looked like it was spinning its wheels in the muddy turf as the Tigers only managed eight first downs - three of which came on the last possession of the game. Hillman was plagued by turnovers, giving the ball away four times, the mostly painful being an interception that came on Hillman's first drive of the second half with the Tigers marching to the Joburg 21-yard line.

Lance Safford had 108 yards rushing on 14 carries to pace the Tigers. Devon Shumaker, who led the Tigers this year in rushing, was limited to six yards on eight carries. In the last game of his four-year career, Hillman quarterback Andy Smith went 6-for-10 passing for 44 yards.

Dobbyn had both of Joburg's first-half scores, punching the ball in from 2 and 1 yard out. Yeskey had a 10-yard touchdown run, followed by a 1-yard score. Dallas Vandoren had Joburg's final touchdown on a 5-yard run. Yeskey ran in two conversions, while Vandoren and Jonathan Peterson also had conversion runs.

The loss snapped a six-game winning streak for Hillman (6-3), which overcame an 0-2 start to the year to win the league title with an undefeated record.

"The kids are disappointed," said Koenig. "They know they didn't play their best, but they still won the North Star League outright. It was the first time in 15 years. I'll miss the seniors, but I have some good players coming back next year."

Joburg advances to face St. Ignace, which came back to knock off Gaylord St. Mary on Friday.