By PETER NOCERINI

Iron County Reporter

IRON RIVER - West Iron County's football season came down to the final seconds Saturday.

Westwood quarterback Ivan Niemi passed 46 yards to Justin Young for the winning touchdown with 61 seconds remaining as the Patriots earned their first-ever football playoff win with a 26-22 decision at Nelson Field.

"A good game by both teams," said Wykons Coach Mike Berutti. "They made that last play and we missed a couple of tackles on it.

"But give Westwood credit. Both teams played hard in a pretty evenly matched battle."

The Patriots will visit Ishpeming in the Division 7 district title game Friday.

"That was a classic high school football game," Patriots Coach Jim Marana said. "I'm real proud of my kids for hanging in there, coming from behind a couple of times. They showed a lot of poise and character."

West Iron had taken the lead midway through the fourth quarter when quarterback Paul Angeli passed to Davin Lindwall for a 79-yard touchdown, tying the score at 20-20. The Wykons moved ahead 22-20 when Beau DuBois ran in the two-point conversion.

The Wykon defense then forced Westwood to punt, but the Patriots got the ball back at their own 25-yard line when Matthew Yaeger recovered a fumble with 3:22 to play.

From there, Niemi led the team downfield, converting a fourth down play with a 6-yard pass to Yaeger.

Then, a major scare: Niemi's pass was tipped and then intercepted by Angeli, who ran it back for an apparent touchdown. But the Wykons were flagged for pass interference on the play, giving the Patriots a first down at the Wykon 45.

One play later, Niemi connected with Young for the game-winner. "That interference call was huge to us," Berutti said.

A 65-yard punt return by D.J. Hebert set up the Wykons' first TD, on an 11-yard Angeli keeper.

The Patriots drove 68 yards to score after taking the second half kickoff, with Schultz scoring from the 2-yard line. West Iron came back, as David Pellizzer's 44-yard kick return to the Patriots 41 led to Cody Stachowicz's five-yard TD run, tying it at 14-all.

Westwood went ahead early in the fourth quarter, riding the back of fullback Justin Farley, who took the handoff on six straight plays. The highlight was his 30-yard burst to the Wykon 10. He scored from the 3-yard line, putting Westwood up 20-14.

The Patriots' joy was short-lived. Three plays after the kickoff, the Wykons went ahead on the long TD pass to Lindwall.

West Iron closed out the regular season with five wins in the last six games.

"Our kid had a good year," Berutti said. "They don't have anything to hang their heads about."

Westwood 0 8 6 12- 26

WIC8 0 6 8- 22

First quarter

West Iron: Paul Angeli, 11, run (Paul Angeli run), 1:17

Second quarter

Westwood: Mitchell Schultz, 12, run (Ryan Ball, pass from Ivan Niemi), 3:54

Third quarter

Westwood: Mitchell Schultz, 2, run (run failed), 6:23

West Iron: Cody Stachowicz, 5, run (run failed), 3:37

Fourth quarter

Westwood: Justin Farley, 3, run (run failed), 8:29

West Iron: Davin Lindwall, 79, pass from Paul Angeli (Beau DuBois, run), 7:29

Westwood: Justin Young, 46, pass from Ivan Niemi (pass blocked), 1:01