Eskymo Freshmen Complete Football Sweep, 32-26

GLADSTONE---It was a clean sweep this weekend for the Escanaba Eskymos football program over their arch-rival Gladstone Braves....just barely.

The Eskymo freshman football team held on to beat the Braves, 32-26, Saturday afternoon at the Marble Athletic Field. The Eskymos had to survive a late kickoff return for a Braves touchdown and a mad scramble on an on-sides kick to preserve the win.

Escanaba also won the junior varsity game, 47-7, and the varsity contest, 37-25.

It appeared that the Eskymos had put the game on ice when they chewed up most of the fourth quarter with a 91-yard drive that was capped by a nine-yard touchdown run with 1:42 left.

That gave the Eskymos a 32-20 lead.

But Hunter Garling took the ensuing kickoff and raced down the sidelines 73 yards for a touchdown to keep the game going.

Then, the Braves lined up for an on-sides kick that was a hard, line-drive knuckle-ball. It hit an Eskymo player in the hands and ricocheted back to the 50 yard-line. The big pile-up ensued, and the Eskymos managed to get the ball. They ran out the clock from there.

The wild ending capped a game that went back-and-forth all afternoon long, and was played under a variety of weather conditions. For a while, it was sunny. The, it was sunny and very windy. Then big, black clouds rolled in, bringing snow and rain drops. Then, it was sunny again. The only thing that never happened was warm weather.

Escanaba took the opening kickoff down the field as Dylan Gauthier raced 45 yards into Braves territory, and Lamb sprinted 35 yards for a touchdown.

But the Braves took advantage of an Eskymo fumble to score on a short 19-yard drive, capped off by a ten-yard run by Garling on fourth and one. He also scored the two-point conversion after a low snap on an extra point kick attempt.

In the second quarter, Gladstone went ahead 14-6 after quarterback Matt Chenier found Jake Greenfield for a 22-yard pass reception, and Garling ran it in from one yard out.

The Eskymos closed to within 14-12 on a six-yard touchdown pass from Lamb to Brandon Punzel, and then in the third quarter, Escanaba took advantage of a Braves mistake. Garling fumbled the second half kickoff, and five plays later, Gauthier raced into the end zone for a nine-yard touchdown to give Escanaba an 18-14 lead.

But back came the Braves, as Chenier completed a 4th-down touchdown pass to Derek Venderlinden, putting Gladstone in front, 20-18. The Eskymos drove down to the Braves ten yard-line, but Lamb was stopped on fourth-and-six...making the second time in the game that Escanaba failed to score when inside the Braves ten.

Gladstone could not take advantage of the good defense, though. The Braves had to punt after three plays, and then Gauthier broke off a 40-yard touchdown run to put the Eskymos back in front, 24-20. Gauthier added the two-point run on a sweep play.

That made it 26-20, and after the Braves had to punt again, the Eskymos were on their own nine yard line.

But Lamb connected with Punzel on two big pass plays of 13 and 31 yards, and the Eskymo offense methodically moved the ball down field for Lamb's third touchdown, and it was 32-20, setting up the wild final two minutes of play.

Lamb had 188 yards rushing on 24 carries, while Gauthier contributed 121 yards on 13 carries. Punzel chipped in 67 yards on seven carries, and Devin Congleton had 25 yards on seven carries. That added up to a whopping 401 rushing yards on 51 touches.

Braves quarterback Matt Chenier rushed for 40 yards on 11 carries, and he completed four of ten passes for 92 yards and a touchdown. Garling had 40 yards on 16 carries, with two touchdowns...plus the special teams score. Gladstone had 176 total yards.

Escanaba's freshmen improved to 2-5, while Gladstone fell to 2-4.

Click the thumbnails in the "ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS" box to see more pictures from the game. The picture at top of this article shows Escanaba's Logan Lamb. Thanks to the EHS boys for taking these pictures for us.

Date	Time	Opponent	Score	Record

8/24	7:00 PM	Gwinn Model Towners	49 - 12 (W)	1-0

8/31	7:00 PM	at Bark River-Harris Broncos	34 - 6 (W)	2-0

9/7	7:30 PM	at Negaunee Miners	34 - 36 (L)	2-1

9/14	8:00 PM	at Menominee Maroons	6 - 47 (L)	2-2

9/21	7:00 PM	Marquette Redmen	14 - 35 (L)	2-3

9/28	7:00 PM	at Sault Ste. Marie Blue Devils	19 - 49 (L)	2-4

10/5	7:00 PM	Escanaba Eskymos	25 - 37 (L)	2-5

10/12	7:30 PM	at Kingsford Flivvers	28 - 49 (L)	2-6

10/18	7:00 PM	Calumet Copper Kings	12 - 36 (L)	2-7