Hancock's quarterback Vanden Jacques looks to evade tackles by L'Anse's 51 Eddie Bice (left) and Danny Nieske 56 (right) Thursday in L'Anse. Eddie O'Neill/Daily Mining Gazette

L’ANSE – If there was any doubt as to who was going to dominate Thursday’s football opener between the L’Anse Purple Hornets and the visiting Hancock Bulldogs, it didn’t take long for an answer. In fact, it took just two plays in the opening minute of the game and the Purple Hornets led 6-0 in route to a 40-7 victory.

L’Anse’s Kellen Koskinen was the driving force on the opening drive as he carried the ball twice for 59 yards and a touchdown.

They missed on the two-point conversion.

To say that Purple Hornets’ head coach Mark Leaf was excited and relieved to have such a start, would be an understatement.

“It was a great way to start the season,” he said. “I’ve been worried because we have such low numbers on the team, but the kids hard work came out strong on the field early tonight.”

The Purple Hornets would score again at around the 5:30mark in the first quarter. This time it was their senior quarterback Dean Magaraggia who helped his own cause with a six-yard run into the end zone. The two-point conversion was good to make it 14-0.

To close the first, the Bulldogs put together a strong drive that put them in the Purple Hornets red zone, however, the drive was short-lived.

As Hancock’s quarterback Vandan Jacques launched a throw, a 5-foot-11 and 235-pound defensive lineman with the name of Javon Shelifoe jumped in the way and took 85 yards to the house for the touchdown.

“We got dominated in that first quarter,” said Hancock’s head coach Ramon Sague. “Those opening two plays were a real deflater, and I could see it in our guys. It seemed to go down hill from there for us. We didn’t seem ready to go emotionally or physically. We were very flat today. We weren’t in the game. Every time we did something well, we took two steps back.”

Hancock did finally get on the scoreboard at the end of the second quarter. With less than two minutes to go before half, Jacques scampered nine yards for a touchdown. Luke Mikkola kicked the extra point to make it a 28-7 L’Anse title at the mid-way point of the game.

The second half looked a lot like the first with L’anse dominating on both sides of the gridiron. In short, they came prepared and stayed one step ahead of the young and flustered Bulldogs’ squad. They scored twice in the third and blanked Hancock in both periods.

L’Anse’s first touchdown of the second period came three minutes into the third period. That was when Magaraggia stepped back and flipped the ball to Cage Osterman who threw a 28-yard touchdown pass to Ross Biekkola much to the pleasure of their coach.

“I liked the big plays,” said Leaf. “We varied things up and seemed to be working on all cylinders. Dean (Magaraggia) had an outstanding game. He varied things up and was sharp. It was a good start for him.”

Magaraggia would go on to score L’Anse’s final six points with an 85-yard interception that he sprinted into the end zone to make it 40-7 game with a minute left in the third quarter.

Leaf also noted the strong defensive effort his team mounted in order to keep the Bulldogs out of the end zone. In particular, he liked the outstanding play of junior Eddie Brice.

In the second period, Brice singlehandedly stopped a red-zone drive by the Bulldogs. With 2 and 1, Brice took down the Bulldogs half back twice before sacking the quarterback and forcing a turnover on downs.

Coach Leaf said, “He had a heck of a game on defense. He is a spark plug in our arsenal. He is very quick off the ball and that is good to see.”

The Purple Hornets will hit the road to face the Houghton Gremlins on Thursday, Sept. 1. Meanwhile, the Bulldogs will travel to Ishpeming to take on the Hematites on Friday, September 2. Both games kick off at 7 p.m.