The Saints offense on their second scoring drive under the direction of senior quarterback Gerrit Mortensen. The St. Ignace football defense stepped up with big plays and coupled with the return of quarterback Gerrit Mortensen, this sparked the Saints to a 22-12 road non-conference win over the Manistique Emeralds at Ron Rubick Memorial Field in Manistique Friday, October 23.

The Saints, 5-4 on the season, qualified for the playoffs for the second consecutive season with the win over the Emeralds.

The Saints held Manistique to 17 first-half yards and 115 total yards during the contest, while St. Ignace tallied 221 yards, 180 on the ground and 41 passing. The action came during a game played in a steady rain, strong wind, and temperature at 38 degrees.

The Saints’ Joey Ostman recovered the Emeralds fumble 27 yards away from the end zone. Seven plays later Gerrit Mortensen scored on a quarterback sneak from one yard out over the blocking of his younger brother, Dane Mortensen, who started his second game at offensive center. This is the first time that two brothers have started as quarterback and center for the Saints.

Joey Ostman St. Ignace On the Saints next possession, Austin St. Louis backed the Emeralds to the seven-yard line with a 60-yard punt. Four plays later, freshman Richard Bentley blocked the Manistique punt out of the end zone for a two-point safety at the 10:05 mark of the second quarter, for a 8-0 advantage.

The punting of St. Louis, who averaged 40 yards on four kicks, kept the Emeralds from good field possession and that led to an 8-0 halftime edge.

On the second play of the third quarter, St. Louis dashed 56 yards for the Saints second touchdown and Caleb Litzner added the twopoint conversion for a 16-0 margin.

Manistique recovered two St. Ignace fumbles in the third quarter. Following the second recovery, the Emeralds went 32 yards as quarterback Gunnar Mickelson scored from two yards out to cut the Saints lead to 16-6.

Louie Radecki St. Ignace The Saints defense held the Emeralds on downs and took possession at the Manistique 20-yard line before St. Louis scored his touchdown on a two-yard run to build a 22-6 lead with 5:53 left in the game.

Manistique's best scoring drive of 65 yards ended on a Mickelson one-yard score, but with only 1:47 on the clock to close the margin to 22-12. The Emeralds recovered the onside kick, only to have the Saints defense hold the Manistique offense to negative yards on four plays in the closing seconds of the game.

One statistic that might play a part is fumbled snaps. The Emeralds had more than 12 bad snaps from center to quarterback, while the Saints had one between the Mortensen brothers.

Saints defensive statistics: Grant Simmons, 18 tackles; Joey Ostman, 10 tackles, one fumble recovery; John Evashevski, 10 tackles; Louie Radecki, Dan St. Onge, nine tackles; Richard Bentley, eight tackles, blocked punt; Mike Barthelemy, Austin St. Louis, eight tackles; Curtis St. Louis, five tackles; Cody Swagger, Cole Christiansen, four tackles; Chris Moran, two tackles.

Saints offensive statistics: Austin St. Louis, 17 carries for 102 yards; Caleb Litzner, 19 carries for 68 yards, two receptions for 21 yards; Gerrit Mortensen, four of seven passing for 41 yards; Dan St. Onge, one reception for 18 yards; Cody Swagger, one reception for two yards.

Emeralds offensive statistics: Derek Lambert, 13 carries for 66 yards; Gunnar Mickelson, 25 carries for 40 yards; Kyle Tiglas, five carries for nine yards.