Eskymos Overwhelmed By #1 Detroit Country Day

ESCANABA---The Escanaba High School football team battled hard, especially on defense, but fell to the state's top-ranked team, Detroit Country Day, 26-0, Saturday afternoon at the Escanaba Athletic Field. The EHS defense stopped the Yellow Jackets several times in the red zone, but could not take advantage on offense.

Escanaba's running game could get no traction at all against the much-bigger Country Day defensive line.

And when the Eskymos did manage to covert a first down, they couldn't put together enough yards to get another first down to get an offensive drive going.

After stopping the Yellow Jackets on their first posession, the Eskymos fumbled the ball back on the very next play. And Country Day took advantage with a 29-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Steve Mann to receiver Roy McCree.

After the Eskymo offense sputtered, Country Day scored its second touchdown on a 39-yard pass from Mann to Mike MacLean on 3rd-and-long. That made it a 13-0 game.

Escanaba could not run the ball effectively, but got first down passes from Logan Lamb to Tyler Willette, and to Brandon Punzel, in the first half. Both drives went nowhere.

Escanaba's Cody Roberts quarterback sack

Escanaba's defense kept this a competitve game all afternoon long, stopping the Country Day offense in Eskymo territory on several occassions.

The Eskymo offense, as a result, had poor field position to work with throughout most of the game. Country Day expanded its lead to 19-0 in the third quarter as Chris Bergin returned a kickoff for a long run for a touchdown.

The Yellow Jackets scored one final touchdown in the final quarter, and then the game ended with a mix of starter and reserve players.

The game took quite a toll on the Eskymo players.

The temperatures were only in the low 70's, but the sun was hot, and the Yellowjacket players were mostly bigger than the Escanaba boys.

That combination led to boys being either banged up, or cramping up, as the contest wrapped up.

Paul Carne and Cody Roberts were both hurt, but they both returned to the line-up and finished the game.

Detroit Country Day improved to 4-1 on the season, and the YellowJackets posted their third straight shutout. Escanaba's record fell to 2-3, and it doesn't get any easier next week, as the Eskymos face the #2 state-ranked Menominee Maroons in Menominee.

Click the thumbnails in the ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS box above to see photos and videos taken during Saturday's game.