It was a truly great season

Here is part of a story that will run in all three of our papers tomorrow. Be sure to also check out the 11/28 edition as the All-Thumb football team will be announced in that issue and you can see how your favorite players and team did.
Historic season comes to an end
BY CHRIS OGRYSKI
Sports Editor
They just ran out of gas.
After three consecutive playoff games, all of which went down to the wire (they were decided by a total of 13 points), Harbor Beach didn’t appear to have much left physically, as they lost 42-0 to Traverse City St. Francis in state semifinal action at Grayling last Saturday.
“It definitely creates mixed emotions,” coach Troy Schelke said about the disappointing end, to what was otherwise an amazing season.
“These guys are real competitors and really like playing football. I think we were all down with the way we performed, but we also realized that we had a really good year,” he explained. “It was a fun season all the way around.”
Against TCSF, the Pirates got behind 7-0 in the first quarter when the Gladiator’s Jacob Schell scored on a three yard run. Schell rushed for 51 yards and a pair of scores, including a 64 yard fumble recovery returned for a TD later in the game.
Harbor Beach had several chances to tie the game in the first half, but was unable to get into a flow on offense. “Offensively we had a hard time getting much going at all. We had a few running plays that got us some yards early on, but they are very quick (defensively) and their holes would close really quickly,” Schelke explained.
The Pirates were held to just 71 yards of total offense, including 58 on the ground. Brion Gornowich, who saw his first action since breaking his leg against Mayville, led the team with 39 yards on 12 caries, while Shane Ginther added 22 yards on eight totes. Overall, Harbor Beach had eight different runners carry the ball, with three players having negative rushing yards.
Despite the struggles, the Pirates were still in the game until late in the second when TCSF scored twice late to take a 21-0 edge. The first score was set up by a 42 yard punt return by the Gladiators, which led to a score on the next play on an 18 yard scamper from Andrew Rushlow (122 yards and two TDs).