Iron Mountain senior Alex Jayne (24) celebrates a touchdown run against East Jordan during the MHSAA Division 8 District 57 championship game at Mountaineer Stadium on Saturday. (Terry Raiche photo)

IRON MOUNTAIN – With their 2024 season and potential third straight district championship hanging in the balance, the Iron Mountain Mountaineers were backed up against the brick walls on Saturday at Mountaineer Stadium.

With less than a minute to play in the game and clinging to a three-point lead, the Mountaineers were desperately trying to stop an East Jordan offense that had amassed about 400 yards during the afternoon.

With the ball resting on the IM 10, Red Devil senior quarterback Korbyn Russell, a Michigan State University baseball recruit, took the snap and rolled to his left.

From the opposite side of the line of scrimmage, Iron Mountain senior linebacker Alex Jayne was coming hard on a blitz. To Jayne’s surprise, no East Jordan blocker picked him up, and with the speed of the sprinter he is, Jayne caught up to Russell in a blur, sacked the lefty quarterback from the blind side and forced a fumble.

Mountaineer senior defensive lineman Bryce Davis fell on the football. And in a blink of an eye, Iron Mountain secured its third consecutive district crown and a berth in Regional 29 final with a nail-biting 21-18 victory.

One play meant the difference between marching on in the playoffs and walking home after a dream cut short.

“I guess that’s the way it should be,” IM coach Robin Marttila said. “When you’re playing for a district championship on a Saturday afternoon, it’s going to come down to making that play and today we were able do it.”

Kind of ironic that Jayne, who rushed for more than 1,000 yards during the regular season as a running back, made the play of the season on defense.

“It was a blitz formation off the edge,” Jayne explained. “I don’t know what they called, but there was no blocker there and I just chased (Russell) down. I looked behind me and we had the ball. It just happened so fast.”

All that was left was for senior quarterback Ian Marttila to kneel on the next play and the Mountaineers (11-0) clinched their spot in the regional round against Beal City (9-2) at Mountaineer Stadium. The game is set for Saturday, beginning at noon Central.

The Aggies are no stranger to the Mountaineers, having ended Iron Mountain’s season twice in the past three years. Both of those games, however, were played in Beal City.

To earn that chance for revenge against their recent nemesis, the Mountaineers had to fight off a Red Devils (8-3) team that pushed them harder than anyone else this season. While the Mountaineers led all the way after Jayne rushed for a 4-yard touchdown with 3:42 left in the first quarter, Iron Mountain had a tiger by the tail for the remaining 39-plus minutes of action.

After falling behind 7-0, East Jordan answered almost immediately. Just 27 seconds later, senior running back Logan Shooks took off on a 50-yard burst to pull his team within one.

East Jordan, with its no-huddle offense, seemed to keep Iron Mountain on its heels much of the contest.

“A couple of times throughout the day, I just thought we didn’t look ready,” Marttila said. “There’s a lot of moving parts out there for East Jordan that we had to contend with and it was tough sometimes.”

The extra point kick attempt fell short and the Mountaineers stayed in front. On the other hand, the Red Devils were chasing that missed extra point the rest of the day.

After their two other touchdowns, the Red Devils attempted 2-point passes but both failed on incomplete passes.

“Those 2-point conversions that they tried to do, we had to come up big and stop them,” senior quarterback Ian Marttila said. “And in the end, that’s what won us the game.”

The Mountaineers punched right back after the East Jordan score when Martilla found an open Aiden Ellis up the seam for a 49-yard strike that put IM up 14-6 with 1:48 left in the opening period.

The score stayed the same until Russell capped off a 13-play, 73-yard drive with a 1-yard plunge to pull his team with 14-12 at the halftime break.

The tenor of the second half was established in the opening four minutes. After Iron Mountain went three-and-out, East Jordan took over at the Mountaineer 35-yard line after a short punt.

Three plays later, the Mountaineers forced a fumble, which Daniel Manier recovered to turn back that threat.

With the Red Devils aimed at stopping Jayne from getting to the outside on his rushing attempts, the Mountaineers went more to their passing game midway through the third quarter.

Marttila connected with 6-foot-6-inch tight end Oskar Kangas twice early in the possession before finding his other tight end, Evan Copley, for a 14-yard gain on third down.

On the 11th play of the drive, Marttila found Kangas again, this time on an 11-yarder to the East Jordan 3-yard line. On the next play, Jayne ran in and with Davis’ PAT, Iron Mountain took a 21-13 edge.

Marttila finished 8 of 11 for 140 yards on the day to support a run game that produced just 102 yards on 33 carries.

“You have to be able to run the ball in playoff football and at times we struggled with that,” Coach Marttila said. “But we made some plays in the passing game. Oskar is a big target and he made some plays there and Evan Copley caught a ball on a critical down.

“You want to have guys make plays when the pressure’s on.”

On its ensuing possession, East Jordan drove to the IM 28-yard line but Russell’s pass on second down was deflected and intercepted by Aiden Ellis.

After a Mountaineer punt, the Red Devils took over on their own 20 and drove 80 yards to pull within three with 7:28 left. Russell once again finished the march with a 1-yard run.

The Mountaineers covered on onside kick, but punted on fourth-and-seven at the East Jordan 35. The Red Devils then embarked on their final attempt to overtake the Mountaineers and score the upset.

But Jayne’s sack and Davis’s recovery prevented that and the Mountaineers both celebrated and took a deep breath of relief.

“We talked before the game about riding the wave and that’s pretty much what we did,” Coach Marttila said, speaking of staying even keeled throughout the 48 minutes. “The kids dug deep and I’m proud of them. We made one more play than East Jordan did.”

The person who made that play spoke afterwards.

“It just feels great,” Jayne said. “Defense wins championships. So, to make a play like that on a Saturday for a district championship, there’s no better feeling.”

Maybe just the one Ian Marttila had. The quiet senior quarterback nearly lost his chance to play the sport, let alone win two district titles, when he suffered a horrific foot injury while cutting grass two summers ago.

“It’s very special,” he began. “You look back on that injury, in the back of your mind, that’s motivation. And as seniors you’ve got to go out and give everything you’ve got. It’s your last year playing football with all the buddies you grew up with.”