Muskie ‘Bees’ run away with victory

The Muskie “Bee” football team ran Jock Gemmell left. They ran him up the middle. And they also ran him to the right.
And in the end, Gemmell ran the ball into the end zone from one yard out to pull the Muskies into a 6-6 tie with the Roseau Rams in junior varsity football action yesterday at Westfort.
Then, after lining up for the point after, the black-and-gold faked the kick and got the two-point conversion when Nathan Miller hauled in a Ryan Calder pass to make it 8-6.
And that score held up the rest of the way to give the “Bees” the victory in their season opener.
Jason Kabel, in his first year coaching with the Muskie football program, said he was proud of the way his team came back to tie the score in the waning minutes.
But if there was a game ball to give, it would have gone to Gemmell, who was simply sensational in grinding his way to big yardage all afternoon.
“He’s probably our most important player,” said Kabel, adding the offensive line did a decent job in creating holes for him to run through.
But the key was the drive that scored the game-winning touchdown. With Calder at the helm in the fourth quarter, the Muskie offence went to the air with success and also used Calder’s running ability to roll out of the pocket on the naked bootleg for an all-important first down.
Calder’s eight-yard rollout on third-and-nine with about five minutes to play kept a drive alive at Roseau’s 24-yard line. Then, with a second-and-four from the Rams’ six, Roseau was called for pass interference at the goal line.
Gemmell then plunged his way up the middle from a yard out for the major.
But as solid as the Muskie offence was, so, too, was their defence, which held the Rams to limited yardage all game. In fact, they swarmed Roseau’s carriers play after play and did not give up a big play all afternoon–the big downfall of past Muskie “Bee” teams.
“The defence played great. They tackled well and they attacked the ball well,” enthused Kabel on the sidelines.
The Muskie “Bees” return to action tomorrow when they travel to Warroad for a 4:30 p.m. showdown.