Iron Mountain senior Alex Jayne (24) carries the ball around the edge against West Iron County in Iron River on Sept 20. (Sean Chase/Daily News photo)

IRON MOUNTAIN — Beal City has ended the Iron Mountain varsity football team’s state title hopes in each of the past two seasons.

However, those games have been played below the Mackinac Bridge. The Mountaineers (10-1) have a shot as revenge today as they welcome the Aggies (9-2) to Mountaineer Stadium at noon for an MHSAA Division 8 Regional 29 title clash.

Iron Mountain has leaned on its rushing attack all season with senior running back Alex Jayne leading the way. Through nine games, Jayne had racked up 1,353 yards and 23 TDs on 166 carries.

But in the district title game against East Jordan on Nov. 9, the Mountaineers rushing attack had a hard time getting established. Iron Mountain ran the ball 33 times for 102 yards.

If the Aggies take the same approach, senior quarterback Ian Marttila will need to have another performance like he posted on Saturday against the Red Devils. He was 8 for 11 on the day for 140 passing yards and two TDs. Through 10 games, the West PAC Iron Division Player of the Year has racked up 906 passing yards and 16 TDs while going 53 for 83 through the air.

Wide receiver Oskar Kangas has led the Mountaineers’ passing attack this season, hauling in 32 passes for 517 yards and 9 TDs over 10 games.

“You have to be able to run the ball in playoff football and at times we struggled with that,” IM head coach Robin Marttila said on Saturday after beating East Jordan to secure a district title. “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.”

As a whole, the Iron Mountain offense is averaging 43 points per game compared to 38 points per contest for Beal City.

But the Aggies struggled in their own district title game narrowly beating Maple City Glen Lake, 21-14.

Defensively, the Mountaineers have held teams to 15 points per contest. In order to contain the Aggies’ attack, IM will lean on back-to-back West PAC Iron Division Defensive Player of the Year Alec Haferkorn. The First Team West PAC Iron Division defensive end is leading the Mountaineers with 79 tackles. He has also tallied five sacks and a fumble recovery.

Tickets for the event are $9 and must be purchased at https://gofan.co/event/2226905. The game is also being streamed live at https://www.nfhsnetwork.com/events/iron-mountain-high-school-iron-mountain-mi/gam404e949673.

Report compiled by Daily News sports editor Sean Chase.